This is a recent photo of Wild Strawberry. She is out of Bride of Frankenstein x Back to the Future. Strawberry's mother is a Red and White and her father, is a large and cuddly Tortoise shell and white.
Wild Strawberry turned out to be a very intelligent and sassy young lady who loves to be held and has earned the knick name Zipp, because when she is held she likes to chew on zippers or cloth. I am very excited about this girl and can't wait to see how her coat turns out and would love to show her in the future!
Wednesday, April 17th marks the arrival of these two cuties, our third litter out of Turtle Dove a TSW sow. The boar is Dallas, our REW. Both of the babies are now six days old and eating solid food and doing great! I love their markings, not from a show stand point but, from interest!
This is a picture of the mother, Turtle dove she has a lovely large cobby body and at one time nice dense curly coat, since cut down obviously! The picture to the right is also, Turtle dove. This image shows her other side for comparison.
They have black patches over both eyes however, one has blotches of orange and the other has only one other black spot on lower rump and a tiny orange splotch around his eye. It will be fun coming up with creative names for these guys!
When marzipan was born, his patch was pale. With in a short period of time the color changed. When you look closely, you see dark hairs mixed in with the beige colored hairs in the patch. The color in the patch darkened, started to look more chocolate. It took on a more cinn agouti look, like his mom, Happy.
Meet Serendipity Cavies' Marzipan. He is a Chocolate and Cinnamon Broken. Although, the jury is out on that. It is possible that he is a sepia. Only time will tell. He has ruby eyes and is the son of Happily Ever After and CC Dallas! I think that although his shoulder spot is small, he shows a lot of promise.
I think that he has a really nice face, ear and eyes. Marzipan also looks like he has some pretty intense curl developing too! He is also a really big boy!
His mother, Happy, is a very alert and curious piggie that has cinnamon, red and white markings. She had a lovely coat and is very petite. His father is the formidable, Dallas, a red eyed white. His genotype might be aa Bb Ep pp Ccd He carries chocolate, red and white and TSW in his lines. So, I think that it is possible that Marzipan's genotype may be Aa B Ep Pp cdcd or Aa bb Ep Pp cd
This cutie is, Bride of Frankenstein! She is a lovely piggie that I planning to sell but, after I watched her grow, I realized she had more potential than I originally thought. Her coat has nice curl and density all around but, her coat was chewed when she was younger so it was hard to tell what the hair around her shoulders would be like. So, I decided to breed her back to her father, Serendipity Cavies' Back to the Future. I was hoping for a baby with some color, increased size and nice dense curl across shoulders. Today, I was surprised by this lovely baby, that I have named: SRDP Wild Strawberries!
The baby is very interestingly marked. The baby is mismarked but, I will still take it to show in a month and get a judges opinion. The pic above is the grandmother, Apples. There is a striking resemblence right down to the white on the chin! lol The father is pictured below, Back to the Future, I call him, Bobby. He is a BIG BOY and has lovely dense curl and has a winning personality. :) I can't wait to see how this baby turns out. I would love to have a discussion with some of my fellow Texel breeder friends about the color distribution on this baby. I wonder whether I should cull him/her from the breeding program... We shall see.
I am a Science teacher that loves small animals. I even bring them into the classroom to teach students about the proper care of animals. I was formally trained in Science at Cornell University and love the study of genetics. My guinea pigs are pets and are given the best care possible.