Baby Steps

I am totally in love with my latest foster family. That's Arwen sitting in the nest, various baby limbs sticking out from under her.She is the most amazing mom - I'm happy to say that all 12 babies are still doing well and thriving. In fact, I think there might thirteen.

They still look like little aliens, but they're mostly over the dangerous age when they might not thrive, or Arwen might eat them. Here you can see one of them yawning, and you can see a little bit of a tooth. They have little incisors and are able to chew on solids, which they do with relish.

Arwen will take up any food we give her and place it on top of them to encourage them to chew it. Here you can see one of the (adorable!) fawn babies chewing on a piece of peanut. We're giving Arwen lots of different foods to keep her healthy and fatten up the babies - peanuts for protein, fresh greens for hydration, pieces of carrot and fruit.

This little guy, one of the black & tans, has actually started wandering around the cage. This is driving Arwen crazy - she keeps picking him up and throwing him back into the nest. She'd better get used to it, though, because over the next few days the whole group of them should start wandering and exploring.

There are about 5 little black & tan babies, including the adventurous ones. There are also 5 (or maybe 6!) that look white or pale cream - it'll be interesting to see what those guys look like when they're older. And rounding out the group are two golden/fawn ones - they're my favourites.

All the photos probably look the same in small-view, so I suggest clicking large view. I love that little brown guy resting his head on his brothers. All the babies will be named after Lord of the Rings stuff, following their mom's name. We've made a big list, since there's so many of them!

They're about 11 days old now. Over the next two days, they'll start opening their eyes and running around, and eating more solid foods. By Saturday, I can start handling them without disturbing mom so much. A week after that and they'll be weaned.
They grow up so fast!