Alpine Baby Crop for Year

[Scotts1au]

Here are the babies from this year. They got off to a bit of a rough start but coming along well now. Born in late Feb. Ready to go to new homes.

They have been slow to start developing their colours this year too for some reason, but getting there.

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[alichamp]

I always love seeing your tubs of new babies. How many litters for these lot?

[NickBrahz]

Ah nothing better then seeing tubs of bubs,looks to be 3 or so litters to me.

[Scotts1au]

I don't really know how many litters. Unfortunate run of extreme weather in the lead up to birth while I was on holiday so had a number of stillborns. I haven't yet fixed that problem. Also one gave birth that I didn't expect - now looks like a limp pancake. I think there are at least 4 mothers involved here. The father is probably the bright orange one I call George, but I put another male in late in the season after George ran out of steam, but probably all George's babies.

[Richard.C]

Nice looking bunch scott,like the variety of color showing

[Scotts1au]

Funny that I took this photo with my old iphone but 1 day later they were dull coloured. They had been allowed to cool for a couple of days prior. Then heated again so try all ate st the same time. This mesnt they syncronised shedding cycle when normally at different times. This could be a tip for getting a good photo in the future. Just make sure sll at the same stage if their shedding cycle . At this stage they are shedding about once each three weeks.

[kl]

Nice looking litter. When you say extreme temps, do you mean too hot or too cold?

Kim

[Scotts1au]

Kim - hot, it was over 43C here for a few days (over 110F) and locally probably 45-47C which is normally OK cos I water them down and can take them to a cooler place etc. I have measured the temperatures in the enclosure at bluey level even in their shelters at between 47C and 50C (around 120F) - but not sure what it got up to while I was away - it sort of gets to a point where there is nowhere to hide and no way to alter the enclosure to prevent them overheating. I had someone caring for them but it is not reasonable to expect that they would know all of these nuances. I'm just glad that my females got through OK.

Several people I'm aware of in my area lost blueys to the heat. Up until a couple of years ago temps here had not been recorded above 43C but are becoming a new normal.

[kl]

If you remember, last yr I had several babies born with defects and we had a very warm May which got my females much warmer than I'd have liked.

Kim

[Scotts1au]

I had one this year that was deformed, see top left hand corner of the photo. It has a crooked spine and the eye that you can't see on the photo is non functional. Not sure what I'll do with it in the long term - we are calling it "Quasi" for Quasimodo. I can't rule out that heat played a part in bringing on a congenital deformity.

[StaceyLeigh]

Love these! Thanks for sharing pics! Saving up to hopefully get one this next season, if available here in the states!