Kiwi Custard x Bayo Flora - Week One

Hi everyone! How are we all? Global pandemic aside of course... Typical that my first litter arrived as we went into quarantine. Positive side is that I'm now home 24/7 so I get to spend plenty of time with these little ones! I thought I'd do a little weekly round up of the litter as it's my first and I've got the spare time. Not sure whether I'll continue for future litters but we shall see!

So, start of the week (quite literally as it was a Monday), it was the 23rd March and I'd woken up to Flora looking rather large still with no babies. This was also one of my first days working from home thanks to the virus and as I'd set up a camera to watch Flora, I sat at my desk with my phone on the left so I could see what she was up to. She started moving around a bit and rearranging her nest about 11am so I got excited but then decided nothing was happening. I came down for lunch an hour and a bit later and said to my mum "I still don't think Flora's had her babies" then went to check on her and quickly came running back shouting "I lied, I can see two pink things!". I couldn't believe the time had finally arrived! Flora seemed okay so I left her alone and checked again an hour later. 

Day 1 - 23/03/20

When I went back she was sat on top of the babies and I couldn't see the two I'd seen earlier, never mind any new additions! I wasn't sure if she was done but she wasn't interested in coming to see me so I left her again. A few hours later, I returned to check on her and she came bouncing up to the bars and straight out the door as soon as I opened it! Once she was out I could see six little wriggly beans plus one not so wriggly.. It looked like they had a bit of a deformed head so Keera said it was likely they were stillborn. Weirdly I wasn't too upset. I knew stillborns were a possibility and I was just so glad Flora and the other babies were okay. I said my goodbyes and buried them in the garden so they had the company of all my previous pets. 

Flora seemed to take to motherhood very well, just as I knew she would! She spent the majority of time in the nest, only coming out to say hello and grab some food. After all my worrying about blood loss due to the RED gene, and other birth risks, I was so glad that she bouncing around and acting her usual self. 

Day 2 - 24/03/20

Day 2 - 24/03/20

Day two and I still couldn't believe Flora now had six little babies! They generally looked very good, one slightly smaller than the rest but that's not unusual. I was pleased to see that they still all good milk bands so I knew they were getting fed. Flora's sticky out nipples also gave that away! One of the first times I picked her up after feeding the babies, I panicked that she suddenly had a lump as I felt something under my finger...then realised it was a nipple woops!

Day 3 - 25/03/20

Day 3 - 25/03/20

I am amazed how quickly these little ones change and grow! I'd seen it on Facebook through other breeders but that doesn't really prepare you for when it's happening in front of your very own eyes. They slowly started looking less pink and wrinkly but my boyfriend still refused to hold them as he was worried he'd hurt them...he obviously hadn't seen how Mumma Flora picked them up in her mouth!

Day 5 - 27/03/20

Day 5 - 27/03/20

Yep, sorry I skipped a day! Apparently all I got on day 4 was some blurry rubbish pictures on my boyfriends phone which aren't even worth including so here we are. I was amazed at how chunky they got in just a few days. Benefits of a small litter eh? As you can see from the photos, they also started wriggling about a bit more which made me job as photographer a little more difficult. I'm going to get absolutely zero good pictures once they've got their eyes open and are running all over the place, I just know it. 

Day 6 - 28/03/20

Day 6 - 28/03/20

By Saturday I could just about tell who was Topaz and who was Russian Topaz. It was actually easier to tell from the photos rather than in person though...the room they're in isn't the brightest in the evening. You could also see their little fuzzy hair coming through which was very exciting. I couldn't wait for them to look like proper mini rats, as opposed to chunky little hippos haha!

Day 7 - 29/03/20

Day 7 - 29/03/20

Finally, we come to Sunday! The little beans were now almost a week old and I couldn't believe how much I loved them. They'd grown so much already and as much as I enjoyed them being tiny and cute, I couldn't wait for them to get bigger and have more fur so I could spend more time with them. Obviously the issue when they're little is that they're basically naked so they get cold very quickly. Going to see them has become the absolute highlight of my day and I'm glad Flora's allowed me to handle them right from the very start. I couldn't ask for a better way to spend quarantine really!

Abigail xo