March 2021: dam - Zephyr Malibu (havana)
sire - Zephyr Hucklebuck (chocolate american mink)

litter 2021-MAL : A litter in the havana line.
Expecting chocolate american mink and havana.
Malibu
Hucklebuck
details: 7th February - mated, kittens due 2nd March
1st March - moved into the nursery cage having gained only 50g
2nd March - 10 kittens born early in the morning, all top eared
16th March - Malibu has become unwell and is now on baby safe antibiotics
20th March - Malibu is still caring for the babies, but they also have some lactol (milk formula) to supplement her poor supply. They are noticeably underweight now, and I will not be posting new pictures until and unless they have begun to thrive again.
23rd March - sadly 4 babies died overnight, and the rest have not been cleaned, I have therefore decided to return Malibu to her main group so that she can switch to a different antibiotic. The babies are now eating some solids, and I will be cleaning them until they can manage it themselves.
25th March - very sad to report that Malibu has died, but I'm relieved the remaining 6 babies have grown at last, and although it will take them a while to catch up, I'm reasonably confident they will be okay.
27th March - the babies are now mostly keeping themselves clean
9th April - bucks and does are now separated, a little later than usual due to their delayed development
12th April - the kittens range in weight from 80g to 90g, roughly half of what they would normally weigh at their age
buck 1 - havana
buck 2 - havana (blue tail)
buck 3 - chocolate american mink
buck 4 - chocolate american mink (blue tail)

doe 1 - chocolate american mink (red tail)
doe 2 - chocolate american mink (red red tail)
Click here for the family tree.

02/03/21: a few hours old

03/03/21: one day old

05/03/21: three days old
the bucks:
 the does:

06/03/21: 4 days old

07/03/21: 5 days old

09/03/21: 7 days old
the havanas:
the choc minks:

12/03/21: 10 days old, the litter palette: havana, chocolate american mink

16/03/21: 14 days old, eyes are opening up, although some babies are looking a bit thin due to Malibu struggling to feed them

25/03/21: 23 days old (before their morning cleaning)

27/03/21: 25 days old, not looking like babies normally do at this age, but making good progress

28/03/21: 26 days old - with a comparison picture showing just how stunted these babies currently are, despite having grown a lot over the past few days
the largest kitten:
 some normal sized 26 day old kittens from a litter last year:

30/03/21: 28 days old - individual pictures
buck 1:
buck 2:
buck 3:
buck 4:
doe 1:
doe 2:

01/04/21: 30 days old

06/04/21: 35 days old
the bucks:
the does:

08/04/21: 37 days old
buck 1:
buck 2:
buck 3:
buck 4:
doe 1:
doe 2:

12/04/21: 41 days old
the bucks:
the does:

15/04/21: 45 days old
buck 1:
buck 2:
buck 3:
buck 4:
doe 1:
doe 2:


I will be keeping buck 2 (Tokyo Joe) from this litter