Look We Got A New Tunnel

New things keep appearing in our cage.  Today we have a new tunnel. 

We are quite curious and like to check out anything new that appears.  

 

I bet you can guess who was the first to have a run through the tunnel.  Yes that'd be me. 

 

Blossom the Brave.   Or Blossom the Always Hungry.  Blossom the First To The Food.

It is a little squishy in our cage once you put a hidey or two and a bridge or a tunnel.  We are looking forward to moving into our new mansion once our humans get the materials delivered.  

Cheers,  Blossom, Mitty and Cinnamon

Veggie Time

Our girls are quick learners.  They didn't take long to figure out that when one of us is at the coffee machine end of the kitchen bench and plastic is crinkling or chopping boards are clunking - it is almost veggie time.  Blossom gets the most excited and does a few laps at 100 miles an hour.  Then puts her paws up on the edge of the cage and wheeks excitedly at us.  "Bring us the food, bring us the food."  This gets Cinnamon and Mitty all enthused too. 

I put 3 bowls out.  Mornings they usually get some sort of lettuce leaves (we alternate between cos, butter and red leaf.)  Plus a couple of cherry tomatoes each or some capsicum.  

 

They get 1/8 cup each of pellets too.  I usually put those in after they're done with the veggies. 

Afternoon or evening (or occasionally both) they get another 3 bowls with something different.  We make sure to include a high vitamin C food each day as guinea pigs can't produce their own so rely on their diet for that. 

They've chomped through everything we've offered so far.  I'm aiming for lots of variety and scoured the internet and guinea pig forums to make up a few sheets of guidelines of what to feed daily or several times a week or infrequently.  So far we've given them lettuce (not iceberg), red/green/yellow capsicum, zucchini, parsley, mint, carrot, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, blueberries, and celery.   All munched down.  

 

And of course, hay hay hay.  They go through lots of that.  We top up the hay rack regularly and usually pop another pile in the corner too.  That's the main part of their diet so it is important they have lots of it.  I quite like the smell of the hay.  

That's it today from Guinea Pig central!  

Cheers, Sue

Lap Time

After a few days of settling into their new home we thought it was time for a little evening lap time.  DD11 and DS 7 sat on the couch with towels on their laps and hubby had the job of catching and delivering. 

Cinnamon and Mitty sat very quietly and seemed quite peaceful and relaxed.  I had Blossom and she seemed more like she was frozen and scared - thinking "if I just stay still this giant creature won't notice me."  

We kept it to 10 minutes or so for the first few times.  It is nice holding them - such soft fur.  Turning into a lovely little part of our evenings. 

 

We've started having some sprigs of parsley or mint so that lap time incorporates a little snack.  Of course Blossom was the first to be in on that one and gutsed hers down straight away - looking around for more.  She's gotten much more relaxed about lap time quite quickly.  

I think Cinnamon is my favourite to cuddle - she's so placid.  

 

Cheers,  Sue

Off To The Vet

My favourite pet store has a vet and animal hospital attached, and a grooming centre too.  I booked our girls in for a little check up on the Friday after we brought them home.

Then spent all week wondering if I was going to be able to get them from their cage to the cat carrier.  Hubby has done all the hands on catching bit so far.  I had a couple of tries during the week but they're skittish little things and my arms are at full stretch to get to the back corner of the cage so makes it a little tricky.

I've been spending a bit of time researching on a few guinea pig forums and have joined a particularly friendly one.  (Guinea Pig Forum UK.)  One of the lovely folk there offered this suggestion:  "Will the cat carrier fit in the cage?"   Genius!! 

So on the Friday the kids and I got all the bits and pieces out ready for a full cage clean and all new bedding.  Then I took all the stuff out of the cage and popped the carrier in.  30 seconds or so and they'd all scooted inside so I could just close the door and lift it out.  Voila.  Rather relieved!!

 

I emptied all the old wood shavings and carefresh into a garbage bag and gave the plastic base a good clean.  A light spray of half vinegar and half water then left it to dry while we headed to the vets.

They all got a weigh and a check up.  All fine.  Teeth looking good.  A little dose of Invermectin on the back of the head just in case of mites or anything.  $60 in total.  The vet seemed lovely and familiar with guinea pigs.  Handy having one so close by and open 7 days.  Hopefully we won't need it often but good to know it is there just in case.  

Then back in the carrier and home again.  

Clean newspaper into the cage then fresh bedding.  Some vegies to tempt them out of the carrier after a stressful morning.  And a new wooden house too since the pet store was having a 20% off everything sale. 

I'll have to practice my catching skills!  Might be easier in our new guinea pig C and C palace.  Coming soon ......

Cheers, Sue

Settling In

I'd read lots about guinea pigs over the month or two before we got our girls and was expecting the settling in period to take a while.  It didn't take long though before our girls were out exploring their new home.  They'd scuttle back to hideys if they heard a sudden noise or there was lots of movement (not looking at anyone in particular - Master 7!!)  But if we sat fairly quietly they were happy to come out and poke around.

  

Here they are enjoying their breakfast.  Some pellets (1/8th cup per GP per day), some vegies (1 cup per GP per day roughly - spread over a few servings) and of course loads of fresh Timothy hay.  

Our girls were eating a sort of muesli type mix at the rescue so we've been mixing part of that with the pellets as a transition.  

We've got a couple of chairs set up near the cage and love to sit and watch them eat.  Love the tug of wars that happen occasionally when two are munching on the same lettuce leaf!  

  

Monday I did notice rather an 'eau de guinea pig' type of scent about the house.  Hmmm - was expecting to do some cage spot cleaning each day and a good clean out every 5 - 7 days, but wasn't counting on a major clean EVERY day.  Replaced a fair bit of bedding and was quite relieved to find that subsequent days it wasn't so stinky.  We've got an open plan living, dining, kitchen type house and really want to keep them with us in the living rooms so that they're part of the family.  But I don't want our house to smell like a pet store so doing a bit of tweaking of the cage to find the best odour control results. 

They do seem a bit crowded in there I must say so after being awake most of the first night rearranging the house in my head - I came up with plan #27.  (I have the most patient husband, putting up with my hairbrained schemes.)  We've ordered grids and are planning the guinea pig palace.  A 2 x 5 C and C cage possibly with a ramp and a 1 x 2 upstairs bit and contemplating going with fleece for the bedding with towels or mattress protector underneath, and our current bedding for the kitchen area section.  Grids don't ship til 10th Jan so plenty of time for researching and planning.   Fun, fun! 

Cheers, Sue

Off To The Rescue

Sunday finally arrived - guinea pig day!   We popped an old towel in the bottom of the cat carrier we'd purchased and headed off with great anticipation to the guinea pig rescue to choose two girls. 

Goodness it was a bit overwhelming.  Lots and lots of guinea pigs - how on earth do you choose?  Some that caught our eye were in larger groups and the rescue lady didn't want to separate them.  Some of the groups of two girls weren't suitable for us for one reason or another.  There were a couple of very gorgeous groups of three.  I was a little worried our cage wasn't big enough for three but she assured us it'd be fine.  We had a little hold of the three we'd chosen and she trimmed their nails.  Time to pop them in the carrier and head on home. 

Into their new home and it wasn't long before they were settling in.  We put a towel over one end of the cage for a bit extra privacy and tried to give them some quiet settling in time, keeping our distance and watching them from afar.  Mostly.  

They had names but we decided to rename them.  Hope they don't mind.   I named Cinnamon, DD11 named Blossom and DS7 named Mitty.  

I'd read that they can sometimes take quite a while to venture out of their hideys when people are around but it didn't take long before Blossom was exploring, soon followed by Mitty and Cinnamon. 

I couldn't sleep that night worrying that their cage was too small and that it might not have been a good idea to get three instead of two.  Had we made the right choice?? 

Cheers, Sue

Back To The Start

DD and DS have been BUSTING to get a pet for quite a while now.  They love visiting friends and family with dogs, cats or other furry friends.  Hubby and I weren't quite so keen to be honest.

Our place doesn't suit a dog and I'm not a big fan of cats (no offence cats.)  One day while stopping by a pet store (the kids drag us into them every time we pass one) there were some guinea pigs in a cage.  They looked quite cute.  I started doing a bit of google searching on guinea pigs.  Then a bit more.  Then a bit more.  Started taking a few notes, printing off pages, collecting care leaflets, calling in to any local pet stores and checking out the supplies, liking guinea pig facebook pages - you get the idea.  Didn't take that long really and I was quite hooked. 

 

We talked hubby into the idea then it was time to gather supplies and equipment.  First off - the cage.  We got the biggest one we could find - 120cm by 60cm.  And a pigloo, a stick bridge, some ceramic food bowls, water bottles, kiln dried dust extracted pine shavings, a bag of carefresh, some timothy hay, some Oxbow guinea pig pellets and a few other bits and pieces.  

DS7's toy lamb kept the cage cosy while we waited for our guinea pigs.  

By this stage I'd read enough to know that it'd be better to get them from a rescue than from a pet store.  We got in touch with one we found about 45 minutes away and made an appointment.  

It was time to go and choose our girls.  A very excited car full of people that day.  

Cheers, Sue

Introducing Cinnamon, Mitty and Blossom

We're very new to the world of guinea pigs.  I've been researching for a few months and last Sunday it was finally time to go and choose some girls from a nearby rescue.

Introducing Cinnamon ......

 

Cinnamon is mother to Blossom.  She's the most peaceful of our three and seems to love curling up on our lap of an evening.  She's white with a gorgeous fleck of colour (which inspired her name.)  

Introducing Mitty .......

Mitty is our shy girl.  She loves to duck out and grab some food (usually off Blossom) and take it back to a hidey to eat in peace.  She's tricky to photograph but if I'm very patient and quiet she'll venture out.  She's black with some lighter stripes.  

Introducing Blossom .....

 

She's the youngest of our three.  (I'm not sure of any ages.)  She's the daughter of Cinnamon.  She's such a cutie.  She is definitely the bravest.  Always the first out to check out the food bowls or some new piece of guinea pig furniture.  She's the first to the food - which is handy as she then gets bumped out of the choice spots by Mitty and Cinnamon.  She's got lots of personality.  

One week in and we love our three girls.  So that I don't fill up my facebook feed with guinea pig photos - I thought maybe they'd like their own blog.  I'm sure they're very impressed.  ;-)

The human family - Me and hubby and two kids - DD 11 and DS 7.    

(Mum - that stands for DD - Dear Daughter, DS - Dear Son.) 

We're enjoying getting to know and care for our 3 gorgeous guinea pigs.  

Cheers, Sue