pigs

[lobelia321]

I just bought guinea pigs. Two, one per offspring. I found out via the net that they are of the 'Abyssinian' breed, or, in German, 'Rosettenmeerschweinchen'. I just call them Struppischweine. They are in the garden in a hutch.

!!!

I've never had guinea pigs. But they've got to make better pets than the tadpoles. Fur tends to help.

Comments

[lazulus]

I love guinea pigs! We had two when I was young. Martin's was called Bobby and mine was called Gus.

Have the boys named them yet?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Are they allowed out at night? Am anxious.

[lazulus]

There are many dangers in an urban garden [as there are in the countryside!] so we always kept ours inside at night.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I have no indoors cage. It cost 90 pounds! I'm going to try to get one secondhand. Last night I ventured out at 1 am and lugged the entire hutch into the kitchen in a sudden fit of anxiety. I just thought what a nightmare should something happen to them on their very first night - the boys would never recover.

[lazulus]

Oh! You have an outside cage!! Sorry, I misunderstood! thought it was weird you wanted to leave them outside running free! An outside cage should be fine, Fear not.

Sorry to panic you!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ming/]

I had two guinea piglets a while back! GP and Piggy, rest their little furry snouts. Very sweet, affectionate, and playful, but my favorite part about them were the noises. They make such cute little snuffles and squeals!

<3

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

their squeals are very cute. But are they allowed out at night??

[bfootgirl.livejournal.com]

to answer your question? for practical advice that helped me tremendously (and no, you don't have to follow *everything* they say!), try this site:

http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/Guineas/careguide.html

i've had my two piggies, lucy and ethel, for about 4 years and they are absolutely wonderful. each has a distinct personality (given their names, maybe you can guess which one is the troublemaker? ;-), )they're relatively easy to take care of (buying fresh veggies all the time, for some reason, is the hardest part) and if you're patient, you can "train" them to do simple tricks. piggies, as lovable as they are, can be rather stupid. ;-)

good luck!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link! I'd already discovered it myself, as happens, last night when feeling anxious about the pigs being left outside.

What tricks did you teach yours? i am actually astounded how lively they are. I expected them to be *much more* sofa cushionish. But they are extremely cute.

[bfootgirl.livejournal.com]

oh, those tricks aren't really tricks, per se, just little things i've "taught" them to make MY life easier.

for example, i keep them in their cage at night but during most of the day, i let them out to run around their playpen (pop, pop, popping all the time). grabbing them to pull them out of the cage can be a real pain so i've "taught" lucy to climb up on my hand/arm whenever she sees me. i've taught ethel (who, for some unknown reason, poops more than lucy) to use the litter boxes i've put in their playpen so the weekly cleanup goes easier....see? just little things that aren't really tricks.

OTOH, they do sit up, beg and speak/squeak loudly when they hear the refrigerator door open. heehee.

i highly recommend holding them as much as possible while they're still young so they get used to you and your smell. just watch your clothes because they LOVE to nibble (and they NEED to nibble--we haven't thrown away an empty toilet paper roll in 4 years!).

when i first got my piggies, i was absolutely terrified that i would screw it up--give them too much vitamin C or not enough, place their cage right in a draft, blahblahblah...piggies are a bit more complicated than taking care of cats or dogs but per usual, a healthy dose of common sense goes a long way. :-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you! These are such useful suggestions! Especially the cuddling one because when you first get a kitten, you need to give it some space. But then, all of my 'give them space' flew into the wind, anyway within the first 3 seconds because the children cuddle them *all the time*.