3y/o first timer - Success!

[Nyctra]

She had me so worried!
Silly me thought if I didn't name her, I wouldn't get attached. But then she missed the first bus to camp, and the second, and the one after that...I hung onto her so long that having no name became her name in a way, so for 3 whole years she's been purely for petting, because she was such a soft love-bug. I'd only tried breeding her once or twice, but it wasn't important and she wasn't that into it, so I didn't really push it.
Well, she was acting rowdy lately, so I gave her a shot and hoped for the best.

She worried me with nest building and then sudden disinterest until the last-minute preparations. They were a day or two late, so that really worried me extra!
But!
She delivered 6 lovely kits. She did great! She's still a lovebug, but now she's an aggressive lovebug who wants to box me first in her furious demands for love and affection. :lol: All 6 are doing well. I'm in the habit of keeping all kits shelved now, but she's always eager to jump in the nest every morning to feed them. I'm so relieved everything's running smoothly!

 

[Ghost]

Silly me thought if I didn't name her, I wouldn't get attached. But then she missed the first bus to camp, and the second, and the one after that...I hung onto her so long that having no name became her name in a way…

It is strange how attachments work in the situation of food animals. At David's place it is weird that I give some of the guinea pigs nick names. Since David harvest all the time without my input, I can't prevent a favorite from being culled. In a way I try against the names but when I see the same partners every visit the names just jump in my head. Names like, White Foot, Many Spots, Black Butt. Many GPs are utilized at a young age so I especially try to avoid naming the very young.

I try my 20 seconds rule, where I allow myself 20 seconds of intense sadness to acknowledge the death of a "furry edible". It is usually many hours or a few days when reflecting the sadness comes. Most times I can stick to it but with the culling of the old breeding sow, I took a quite a bit more than 20 seconds.

Usually only the ones I've known long enough to have nick names have any significant sadness now. And many with nick names don't have much sadness. Before I eat me 3rd GP, I was deciding on who I was going to eat and three possible 2LB males came into focus. They got nick names in my head and 2 are still in the herd now. Maybe it was that he did not have a nickname for long but the 20 rule was easy for the 3rd GP that I ate. In that case having a nick name made it easier who to thank for such a nice meal.