Christmas Eve Morning 2016 Babies Arrive

Christmas Eve morning 2016
Karma gave birth to 5 little piglets.
So adorable.
2 girls and 3 boys.
All healthy and active & ready to chow down.

Pigs are pregnant for 3 months
3 weeks
3 days
and can have from 1 to 12 piglets.

Whew, thankfully she only had 5.
They are born eyes open, with teeth
and tons of energy.
And boy can they scream
when they want their way at a nipple.

Noises I have never heard before come from those tiny little creatures.

But they are so cute and cuddly and are open to touch as long as you move slow and touch lightly.

After a few hours they were coming to us craving to be touched and pet on. Makes my heart melt remembering that day.

When piglets are born they cannot regulate their own body temperatures for about 2 weeks so you must keep them warm. The recommended temperature is around 90 degrees fahrenheit so we setup a bell lamp up with a incandescent light bulb in it. Puts off great heat. Since we live in Florida it wasn't terribly cold outside and Karma was inside with the babies we did not have to provide too much more heat for them to keep them warm. Plus they hardly leave the mommas side and she keeps them pretty warm along with blankets.

January 1, 2017 - 1 week old
Now at 1 week old they are really getting bigger and starting to look more like piggies instead of tiny rhinos or hippos.

And they are now also LITTER TRAINED. Only took them watching their momma use the litter box once and they are all using the litter box. Wow. I did not have to teach them or show them or bribe them.

So much smarter than any dog or cat I have ever known.

They love to hang out out on the screened porch. Weather is still warm so they are not cold. They also like hanging out inside on their blankets too. Cuddled together under the heat lamp. They really do like it warm. A few have gotten the 'zoomies' - where 1 sec the pig will be calm and next zooming around the room like it is on fire or something. Scares the crap out of me sometimes when they go whizzing by my feet or bounce off a wall or chair. Lots of energy in very short bursts then they go back to sleeping. But they are sleeping less and getting curious about everything.

January 4, 2017 - Discovered the water dish/Piggy Pool

January 6, 2017 - Discovered Piggie Pellets

2 Weeks old now and momma not feeding them as often as the first week and the babies are getting more active and want something more substantial than momma milk. Mazzuri Pig Pellets - Youth for ages 0 weeks - 4 months is what we feed them.
Since they are so small we moisten the pellets in water.

Makes a mush

they love it

They shove their little faces into it getting it all over - absolutely adorable to watch. Hungry little piglets filling their bellies. Grunting and making happy piggy noises.

Welcome to a new blog about mini pigs

Welcome to It's a Mini Pig Life!
You will find posts and articles about Mini Pigs here and fun stories and facts about Mini Pigs too.
My name is Robin and I will take you on my journey with mini pigs.

As you can imagine, life with mini pigs can be an adventure. When we first decided to get a mini pig, I was rather nervous after reading about how head strong they can be and that they often will boss you around if you let them. She has tried to push us around but we established ourselves as Alphas which took care of that. We also used "Move the Pig" techniques I will tell you about in a separate article.

8 months old - Day 1

I did have realistic expectations of size when we first got Karma, a 8 mth old potbelly & Juliana mix. She was 40-45lbs when we picked her up Oct 2016. Hard to weigh a piggy, they don't stay still for long, so I am guessing at her weight. At full adult size potbelly pigs can weigh up to 150lbs and Juliana mini pigs are typically under 80lbs. Now that said, mini pigs are dense so they are only about as big as a medium to medium large dog.

From day 1 we could look into Karma's eyes and see she was thinking.

Much more than a dog or cat. Often people say "Cats look down on you - Dogs look up to you - Pigs see us as equals". So true. Smart they are. Jeez, starting to sound like Yoda. But they are super smart and if left to their own devices they will run your life and get pushy. Owners must take control and establish Alpha status or forever suffer a stubborn piggy.

At first Karma was shy. Kept to herself while she sized us up. We gave her some space and a private room to call her own. She quickly got comfortable and was roaming about the house investigating everything. She also quickly discovered that she liked to watch TV. One of her favorites is Kung Fu Panda movies. So I would play it on loop in her room which was also my office at the time. She would sit in her bed and focus on the screen watching and I know I heard her giggle at parts. She would grunt at certain scenes and huff and others. So cute and always at the same parts of the movie.

After getting comfortable with us she would demand attention and petting and time on the sofa with us. We were so freaking happy she was a love bug and wanted to be pet and cuddled and loved on. Took time though so don't expect your piggy to warm up the first day or even sometimes the first week at home with you, but be patient, your piggy will come around, they are social creatures and love to be loved. But don't we all want love?

Pet piggies have emotion and they will show it. Sad and they will cry. Happy they will swing their tails and pop their mohawks up ( a ridge on their backs and necks), angry they will get irritable. Every pig has his own personality I have learned.

Not too long after getting Karma we noticed she was getting heavier, thought I was feeding her too much, but turns out she was pregnant when we got her. Oh boy. Pigs are pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. We were gonna have babies. She came to us in Mid October and it was now Mid December.
She had babies Christmas Eve morning at 12:30am. 5 babies. All healthy - all up and able to see, walk, run, scream, eat. They come out with eyes open and teeth.
Milk teeth but teeth none the less. Crazy huh?


That's when the adventure really begins, lol.......