Spot the babies!

We got a young adult female hog (Toffee) about 6 weeks ago, she was extremenly nervous and we thought that some company would help her settle down (from our previous experience with APH's when our male lived very happily with two females for over a year with no problems and no offspring - we now have been told he might have been gay)
Our new male (Fudge) is so friendly and chilled out that we thought that living with him for a while might help her relax and become more at ease.
However he had other ideas and mated her three times in the space of 15 minutes or so! 36 days later we were presented with 4 beautiful babies which she has looked after in exemplary fashion. In fact as the pregnancy progressed and since the babies have been born she has steadily chilled out and doesn't seem to mind us having a peek into the nest box ( it has a hinged lid so we can lift it up slightly and see in without disturbing her).
Sorry about the quality of the pic but it was taken very quickly when she was out having something to eat and without disturbing the babies at all.
They are one week old today and are already starting to show some colour, one dark, two lighter and one very light one which is also the biggest.



We will take some better pics when we can without risking the welfare of the babies. Tan we will need you to tell us the colours as we haven't got to grips with this yet.

Congrats John :)

That's great news

Oh John, you fell for the sweet male trick, you should know (unless a homo of course) he will have his wicked way with her and he did lol I would only put an intact male and female together if I wanted to breed. My own mating attempts are in the air. I'm trying to use homo hog for his excellent genetics but he's still wanting to go shopping and paint his nails rather then anything else, one of the females presented within seconds and he looked at her as if to say what the hell are you doing, put that away :) but I will persevere. It is my theory that, as has been seen in humans, even if sexual orientation leans one way, if persistent or for the sake of reproducing, eventually he should give in. Two years and still no joy BUT we'll keep trying.

You're very lucky as many people who breed so soon after acquiring an animal (even if accidental) especially a nervous one will loose some if not all of a litter to filial. Many females calm down when a litter is in the nest (some go bonkers as I've written about in the past in our water dish article on EE) and she seems to be a good mum from what you've said. Looks like two browns you got there but photo is unclear and still two early to tell but I'm sure you're over the moon. If they where mine I'd already be handling, with gloves of course. The 10day rule really can be debated away but of course it's your own choice.

I'm really looking forward to this progression, never get sick of the little hoglets.

nice looking babies John,i bred them quite a few times,never really got to grips with the colours!

Congrats John and interesting info Tan, looking forward to seeing how they get on! Was so tempted to smuggle some babies home from haam with me last yr...

Now 15 days old its easier to get some better pics of the four of them. Looking forward to when their eyes open and they start coming out of the nest.

Great images John...check the little guy yawning in the second shot...excellent....

They're looking great John, i didn't realise they grew so quick, only 15 days and look how much they've grown already.

They should open those eyes soon (I've had some open before now) but have none of them wandered even a little yet? Loving the colours you've got there, is it three browns one albino I'm spotting? Albino even with eyes closed are easy to tell, you can see through the eye lids and can tell whos dark or light eyes.

I've still no joy. I'm giving him till Sunday then the girls will meet the real men lol

ps (cert to follow weekend, haven't had much time to sit down at program yet)

Tanpira wrote: have none of them wandered even a little yet? Loving the colours you've got there, is it three browns one albino I'm spotting?

Not as far as we know, they do crawl about the nest box but as yet we have not seen them outside. I expect as soon as they open their eyes they will make an appearance. Havent seen them yet in good light but the lighter one seems to have some colour (more cream than white). Will post more pics soon
John