INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Costumes are a great way to help set the mood and create the world that your dance will live in. Costumes can take a great deal of time to create and can be very expensive, so determine a monetary and time budget before beginning.  If you don’t want to spend a great deal of time and money, ask your dancers to come dressed in their own clothes. Make sure they wear clothing they can easily move in. You can also buy costumes at a thrift shop or work with an artistic friend to make them from scratch. If your dancers will be dancing in a big venue, make sure they wear stage makeup so their faces can be seen clearly. Dress rehearsal is the perfect time to run through the dance, in costume, with any props. It’s important to make the dress rehearsal mimic the show as closely as possible so the dancers will be prepared.  If the dancers have never performed in front of an audience before, invite some friends to the dress rehearsal so the dancers can get used to it. If possible, hold the dress rehearsal in the same space as the show. Make sure to practice using the lights and the audio during the dress rehearsal. Whether you’re dancing in your dance or watching from the wings, the performance of your dance will be nerve-wracking. Channel your nervous energy into excitement and enjoy the show!  Don’t worry if someone falls or makes a mistake. The show will go on. Take pictures or ask someone else to. Creating a dance is a big accomplishment and you’ll want to remember it.

SUMMARY: Select the costumes. Have a dress rehearsal. Let go of control and have fun.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Their eyes should be open and they should have fur, they should be able to hear and they should be able to walk and eat immediately.  If any of the pups is definitely alive, but is not alert or able to see or walk then contact your vet immediately. The pups do not require a heat lamp or heating pad. They should be kept at the same comfortable temperature as the adults. It’s best to give the mother and pups some uninterrupted rest if they seem to be doing fine. If you are concerned about the mother or have serious health worries about one of the pups contact a vet immediately, however. Guinea pig pups and new mothers can decline quickly and the only real way to tell is from their weight. You should be able to handle the pups from birth, the mother won’t mind. At birth the pups should weigh roughly 2½ to 3½ oz. It is likely that all of the pups will have lost a little weight, but if one of the pups is significantly lighter than the others or has lost more weight, provide some hand-feed mix from a spoon and give them 15 minutes of one-on-one with their mother three times a day. Wait 24 hours after the birth to give additional feeding for one of the pups as it takes this long for some pups to begin feeding at all. Use this to determine if any pups require any additional feed and if the mother is doing well or becoming ill. Toxemia and calcium deficiency are still a threat for the first week after birth, so look out for signs of illness in the mother and continued weight loss. Daily weighing should continue for the first three weeks.  The pups will likely lose weight for the first three days, but after this it should pick up again. If the weight does not pick up, or a pup does not improve with additional feeding, consult the vet. The mother’s weight will vary for a few days whilst she re-adjusts but should settle within five days. If it declines every day or continues to change after 5 days, consult the vet. If the mother and all of the pups appear to be doing well there is no need for an immediate trip to the vet, but they should be seen in the first week in case there is something you have not picked up on. Use alfalfa hay as well as grass hay for both the mother and her pups, and vitamin supplements for the mother. Provide additional vegetables and increase the amount of these over the next few weeks as the pups begin to grow and eat more. Continue to provide fruit for the mother, but not for the pups as the acid will be too much for them. The pups will be able to eat solid food from day one, and the mother will introduce them to new food herself. Have a vet sex the pups to avoid any accidents. The female pups should be kept with their mother and the males removed. Introduce the male pups to the father and any other boars you have. Make the introductions gradual as the adults will be a lot larger and could do them serious harm. Whilst brothers will be fine to be housed together throughout their lives, they may never get on well enough will other boars to be permanently housed with them. Some pups will be weaned a few days before or after, but this is the average. The pups should weigh 5½ to 8 oz.  Once the pups are weaned, the mother should not require vitamin supplements anymore, unless you gave them to her as part of her regular diet anyway. If you are not certain that the pups are weaned at 21 days, the males should be removed anyway to prevent pregnancy. They will have been eating solids from a few days old so will cope without their mother’s milk at this age. Gradually introduce the other females and carefully monitor the situation. It may take several days for them to begin living together. Just because they are the pups of a familiar guinea pig, this does not mean that they will be accepted immediately.

SUMMARY:
Expect that the pups are born alert and ‘ready to run’ as miniature versions of adult guinea pigs. Leave the mother and pups alone for a couple of hours. Weigh the pups and mother the same day as the birth. Weigh the pups and mother again the next day. Continue to weigh the pups and mother daily. Get the vet to check the mother and all of the pups. Continue to provide the enhanced diet. At three to five weeks, the males become sexually mature, so sex the pups and separate them at this age. The pups will be weaned at 21 days. Reintroduce any sows you may have removed to the female pups at three to four weeks.