First Successful ASF Litter!!

[PythonChick]

So the ASFs I am babysitting for the summer have finally begun producing offspring. Earlier in the summer this girl had a litter, but none of the babies made it. Eventually I figured out that most of the ASFs in the bin had been improperly sexed. Instead of four girls and one boy in a bin, there were actually hour boys and one girl. I pulled out all of the boys except one and put them in their own bin, leaving just a single pair. So far, mom has tended to the babies well. I have been hesitant to mess with them, given what happened to her first litter, but I ventured to try and count them the other day and I think there are 15-16 little tiny babies! They are in lots of different colors too!

Don't ask me why she had them so close to the water bottle, maybe she likes having water without having to leave them?

Here they are at day 2:


Here they are at day 9:


Here is mom tending to them:

[littleindiangirl]

Awww, I see little fawn spotted babies!

[PythonChick]

I am not really sure what to call each of the colors, any help with that would be appreciated, but I am pretty sure the daddy is solid brown as well. It looks like the babies are a good mix though. I am hoping to hold back as many females as possible. I am hoping the little blaze in the 9 day old picture is a girl. At least one looks to be solid white though, it is so exciting!

[littleindiangirl]

Yup, it looks like you have some that will be the fawn color (yellow) and the grey agouti. There is a lighter color agouti, very brown, they call it cinnamon.

From what I've read, the white "piedbald" where the heads and butts are white, is co-dominant to the head spotting. Mom looks like my cinnamon.

[PythonChick]

Thanks for the info. I can't wait until their eyes open! They are already surprisingly mobile, and getting cuter by the day.

[PythonChick]

More pictures from today. There are 5 fawn babies out of 15-16 babies total. They are really hard to count, because they are so wiggly now. I am only just getting up the nerve to hold them, I don't want them to smell like me and upset her.

Here are the fawns, please excuse the dirty background, it is the parent's hide, chew object.





And here is one my favorite of the brownish ones, I love the blaze, it is adorable, I hope it is a girl.

[SnakesvsRodents]

Thats some nice looking babies..lol Wish i could find some to breed my self.

[PigsnPythons]

OMG!!!! MY BABIES ARE PRECIOUS!!!!!! Emily, you weren't kidding when you said they are cute!!!! OMG OMG....lol ahhh I wish I got to have them with me....Thanks again for asf-sitting...ur such a good auntie/godmother....lol