Preparing For A Hot Day

The weather has been nice and mild since we got our girls but the weekly forecast showed a 40 degree day approaching.  I read everything I could find on heat stress and preparing for heat.  Guinea pigs don't sweat and are very prone to heatstroke so I was a little concerned about how they'd go.

We put a frozen bottle into a sock to place under their wooden bridge and another wrapped in a dishcloth on top of their wooden hut.  Removed the plastic pigloo as they can trap the heat a lot. 

 

A dampened cot sheet over one end of the cage with a fan blowing.  Freshened up the water a couple of times during the day and fed vegies with lots of water content - cucumber etc.  

 

 

They seemed to like popping under the bridge to rest near the frozen bottle.

Glad to say they seemed quite happy all day and then we were back to our lovely 20s weather again.  

Cheers, Sue

Paper Bag Fun

The simplest things amuse our girls - today it was a paper bag filled with fresh hay. 

They had fun eating the hay, playing in the bag and nibbling the bag too. 

Cheers, Sue

Life In The Cage

I love sitting and watching our guinea pigs go about their day.  Here's some photos I snapped while spending time with our pets.

  

And one more of our cuddly Cinnamon having a snuggle with my sister.  

 

Cheers, Sue

Guinea Pig Parcels

Our guinea pigs seems to be getting a bit of mail lately.  Here's their latest parcel. 

 

 

A little soft bed, some fleece, some paw ointment, some syringes just in case we need medicine, and a hay thingy.  All from Guinea Pigs Australia. 

 

Filled with yummy Timothy Hay and into the cage it goes.  

 Curious little creatures - they seem to like checking out new items and exploring.  

Cheers, Sue

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