Mishkapop

Well, after 6 long weeks, it's finally happened, the girls are all in together. No more mites, no nasty pregnancy suprises (phew), everyone is happy and healthy and the tribe welcomed the newbies with open arms. True, I sweetened the rite of passage known as introductions with an ENORMOUS tray of vegetables, but even so, the tribe were absolute stars. Not a single nip was echanged, my good girls.

To ensure they all have enough room to live together in harmony they now have an enormous ...

Yesterday I cut the new girls nails for the first time.

Oh. Dear. Lord.

I don't think they had ever been done. Their front ones were curling out -sideways- and the quick was so long in the hind legs it's going to take a careful trim every few days for a while to get these ladies' feet in a healthier state. Poor babies. It must have been so uncomfortable, walking round like that.

I'm still not 100% sure Crumbs isn't pregnant. She seems to go through phases every ...

Crumbs, Mab and Ingris have been with us a week now and I'm starting to get a feel for them. Mab is a little munchkin, quick to cause trouble. She's chatty too, giving me a few wheeks when she sees the veg bowl already! Ingris is a bossy boots, also a climber. She seems her happiest sat up on top of her log house, silly thing. Crumbs is a lot quieter, I think most of this is down to the fact she doesn't have a cagemate at the moment. I would love to move her in with the other two but I don't have ...

Well, I went to the breeder saturday. She definately was retiring, there were hutches being taken appart and thrown into a skip as I arrived and there were a lot more empty cages. She was stopping because she couldn't afford it anymore and wanted to rehome as many of the animals as she could as quickly as she could. I had a long talk with her, including about how many litters the sows had and how often, saw what they were fed on (redigrass yay, museli boo....)

Then she took me to the ...

It was way sooner than I would have liked. But a breeder near me is shutting down, giving away piggies free.

I have a nasty feeling if someone doesn't take these animals in they will be put down. I'm just not sure though. I don't like breeders. At the same time though, I hate the thought of some little sow being put down because she's been overbred...

I've left a phone message asking more information. If anyone cares to chime in with an opinion, it'd be appreciated.