I was recounting this story to a friend and wondering out loud how my super-coated Teddy boy could have produced such flat- soft-coated babies. The sow has a pet-quality coat, but it's still obvious she's a Teddy-she just has flat sides and could use kink. I was mentioning how they look almost like my Texel babies, except they have no waves.

That's when the lightbulb went off. I grabbed my Harry Claus book and turned to his article "Attention: Texel Breeders." Texels, one of the newest breeds, were reportedly produced by combining Silkies with Rexes. Rexes are a European breed similar to Teddies -- their coats are similar -- but the similar coat is reportedly controlled by a different gene than the Teddy coat.

Apparently you can also make Silkie x Teddy Texels, for Claus noted people had been wondering what we're showing in the US-- if our Texels came from Rexes, or our own Teddies. A simple cross can give you the answer, he said. Breed a Texel to a Teddy. If your Texel carries the Teddy coat gene, you will get Teddies. If your Texels are based on the Rex gene, the babies will all be Americans.

Well, I breed Texels AND Teddies. Those are the only breeds in my caviary and they are all purebred for at least many generations. I've had the odd Lothario jump cages, so I started to think... Hmmm Texel x Teddy = American babies...

I finally remembered that when the super-coated slightly older Teddy boy was seen jumping the young Teddy sow, he WASN'T the only older boy in the cage. There had been another Teddy and a Texel of approximately the same age. I had held all three back, then sold the one Teddy and the Texel when they didn't mature as well as I'd hoped. My Texels are red and white. Just because I saw the Teddy raping the little sow didn't mean she hadn't just been impregnated by the TEXEL boar!!

Well, it WAS a total mistake and the babies aren't going to be sold with pedigrees or used for breeding anyway, but eureka! Now I solved the mystery of the unexplainable American litter in the Teddy and Texel caviary, AND I know my Texels (most of them anyway!) are based on Rex genes.

THANKS Harry Claus!!

Backing up a bit, I had this litter I had checked for gender and I was sure I had remembered who was a girl and who was a boy.

You know where this is going, LOL. I put the baby "boys" from the litter in with a slightly older boar. Everything was peachy for several weeks--they all got along so well!!

Wll after a couple weeks I hear this screeching to see the older boar raping a younger one. Even then it didn't occur to me--boys will be randy boys, LOL!-- but I just thought I'd check for the heck with it. OMG it's a GIRL!! I put her immediately in with two young "keeper" sows and here it is 70-whatever days later.

So this morning I hear the tiny squeaking of a newborn, and checked and she'd had three. Number four came along right after. They all seemed  bit perturbed, but they took turns cleaning the babies, after sniffing and not knowing what else to do with the little aliens, LOL.

So everything seems to be going well--they're a good size for being from a small sow. There are three red and white brokens (ugh) and a self red. The mom is a self red with a so-so coat--she was to be sold as a pet. The dad is a mismarked red and white with one big roaned patch. I assumed he's genetically roan, but not sure. His mom is roan; dad is TSW with an excellent coat and type and son inherited both so I decided to keep him despite his iffy markings.

So anyway, the wet babies looked not impressive, so I waited til they dried. They have the softest, flattest coats I've ever seen. If I hadn't seen the breeding myself I'd've sworn she'd been with an American. There's just the very slightest wave to the coats, like straight Texel babies. And the parents aren't related, at least not very closely, or I'd have thought some sort of recessive brought about by inbreeding...

Oh well. They're cute except for the flat coat, and very soft. Mom and babies will be sold to pet homes anyway. It's the first "oops" litter I've ever had so I don't feel too guilty for overpopulating the world with crap Teddies, LOL.

These guys will have the cleanest ears in town because the cagemates keep coming over and cleaning them and so does mom. Ears seem to be a fave, LOL. I'll be separating them right after work though.

The other day I was cleaning piggies and tossed an adult sow and boar into an extra tub lined with a bath towel while I cleaned their cage. I looked down to see them tug o' warring over the tag attached to the towel!

It was the funniest thing--she'd nabbed it as something interesting to nibble and he spies her chewing with something hanging out of her mouth and, in typical piggy fashion, HAS to check it out and grab it out of her mouth, but nuh-uh, she wasn't letting go of THIS prime tidbit!