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Small pets

Guinea-Pig Wedding :)

20 replies

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 07/08/2014 00:26

This weekend sees our 1 yo boar reach his Sterile Phase so he can officially be bonded with his ladies. Grin

We will put them out in the run while I empty the Pighouse, throw out all the bedding, clean and disinfect. Then while it dries, we'll set up the State of the Art Neutral Territory (aka the paddling pool) in the kitchen. (Also cleaned and disinfected after GP1 met GP3 in there)

Then, we'll bath them ( fun and games, DD has a hand in plaster) so I'll be washing them, she'll be on guinea-pig wrapping and towelling dry duty. They'll have some Gorgeous Guineas Shampoo to make them all smell nice and the same aroma.

Then we'll put a mahoosive pile of hay in the middle, some newspaper for them to walk on..........and stand back.


Today, DD and I cuddled the pigs. We sit on the floor, with GP3 on a blanket between us so he can mosey about and chat (if DH is home we have a pig each)
GP3 exchanged pleasantries with GP5, circling round her face with his nose, purring, then climbed up on my lap Shock (I moved GP5 up onto my shoulder). GP3 sat on my lap, purring, then , little toad, peed on me. Alot

So, there will be pictures taken.
There will be cake (not for the guinea-pigs though, they can have a Special Layered Salad)
Then they (if all goes well) can go to The Pighouse. I'll move as much as I can to confuse GP3.
The girls will be Grin at all the space.

They'll be Judgey won't they ?

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 07/08/2014 00:29

My sows have both had piglets.
GP3 used to live with his Step-Dad (GP1)
I fear they might take advantage of his innocence. Wink

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FernieB · 07/08/2014 21:18

Ooh good luck 70 - hope it all goes well. Suspect your boy may not rule the roost with 2 worldly wise girls to sort him out. Looking forward to the pictures. Also what kind of cake? Grin

PS. Your poor DD - hope her hand is better soon

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fortifiedwithtea · 08/08/2014 09:29

Our first SFA wedding Grin

This being MN there must be a grabby bride(s) Wink and groom poem

We have our hutch we like so much
We have run tis such fun
Of money we have no use
What we'd like is juicy fruits

Cauliflowers fluffy and cabbages green
Strawberries sweeter than ever we've seen
Carrots orangey and parsnips cream

Oh the apples are ripe and the peppers are red
We like to snuggle in our lovely hay bed

Cake for DD hope her hand is better soon

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 08/08/2014 11:20

Awww Thanks for the poem fortified Grin

DD has broken her thumb so she has a fibreglass type hand cast on (she tapes a rubber glove on when she has a shower) she has to be careful lifting the pigs in case she catches them with the plaster.

GP5 (Himaylan) has been wearing her white wedding outfit with brown slippers since we got her Grin (obviously prepared)

We had scheduled today or tomorrow but having had a major downpour this morning, the lawn is too soaked for them to go out just now (to allow the neutralising of the Pighouse).

Good job GP3 did his Save the Day invitations in pencil Wink

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 08/08/2014 18:33

We bathed them (the girls were furious, GP3 was Hmm )
Dried them (note to self, Dill is ok with the drier on low setting, the girls not so keen Grin )

Then popped in the paddling pool with hay and their Cavy Cake

GP4 and GP5 tried to scare GP3 by pushing their heads into mounds of hay and charging at him, like some low budget American Horror film set in a cornfield.
But , he did try to mount them head on Hmm so he deserved it.

After a while, we put them in the Pighouse, (there are 2 houses + the big hayhouse, I've washed the tunnel, they can have that tomorrow)
The girls have taken up residence in the Haybox and trug, GP3 is sitting between the two.

There was a bit of rumblestrutting, he tried to 'get it onnnnn ' but the told him to raffle himself. Poor Dill Grin

Guinea-Pig Wedding :)
Guinea-Pig Wedding :)
Guinea-Pig Wedding :)
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fortifiedwithtea · 08/08/2014 19:34

Aww poor Dill, he looks such a handsome ball of fluff after his bath Smile

GP5 looks more interested in wedding cake Grin

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 08/08/2014 20:38

DD took a photograph of Dill's rump "Christmas Pudding like Fatimus's rump"
Grin

They are all in the haybox together now which is nice, GP3 will have someone to chat to like having midnight feasts.
He will find out ,soon, that the sows are very untidy little urchins.
It'll be like The Odd Couple Grin

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/08/2014 20:12

Day One - GP3 with his new wifeys.
He looks excited, estatic and under the thumb already Grin

He tries his luck with GP4 (Tri Colour) and rubs faces with GP5 (Himmy) I'm sure she;s told him in no uncertain terms Don't think so Sonny Jim

They have a lovely long summer of lazy grazing time ahead of them and unlimited cuddles (DH and GP4 are getting on famously. GP5 is too flighty for him and GP3 pees on everyone him. So we regularly swap piggies )

Guinea-Pig Wedding :)
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fortifiedwithtea · 10/08/2014 10:52

Gorgeous photo. One for the mantelpiece Smile

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agnesf · 11/08/2014 23:26

Aww how cute. He looks very smug although wives a tad unimpressed with his smooth smouldering good looks - imagine the sow to sow conversations over a mid morning parsley snack.

My old married couple have never looked back since their special day 2 years ago.

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FernieB · 12/08/2014 08:00

I must get on a 'proper' device so I can see the photos - will do that today. So glad they are all getting on well. I'm guessing bigamy is okay in the GP world Grin

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FernieB · 12/08/2014 10:32

Lovely photos 70. GP3 looks very pleased with himself.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 12/08/2014 19:50

Grin

agnesf it was your male piggie that married Beyonce wasn't it? Nice to hear they're getting on well.

We were planning to get GP3 neutered this summer in preparation (I knew GP1 wouldn't last the Summer Sad ) but in a way, it worked out better that he had the separate time to get familiar with them and them used to us.

GP4 is his wifey , GP5 is too scatty to look twice at him. Yesterday I was cuddling GP5 and GP3. She stuck her nose under his belly (on his Don't Touch Me Side) , I thought "Oh bum, she'll get bitten" but he just sat there.
He rounds them up for dinner, prowls round while they head for the plate then he joins them Grin

DD and I thought he'd be like Max and His 10 Guinea-Pig Wives from PetSchool. But they've taken over all the space in the Pighouse so we couldn't put any more in

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 13/08/2014 09:45

I'm guessing bigamy is okay in the GP world Grin

GP3 says it's pigamy when a boar has 2+ wives. Wink
And he positively encourages it (he's thinking of cold weather snuggles in the hay box)

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WyrdByrd · 17/08/2014 09:52

Awwww! Just seen this - they look so cute together.

I want more piggies Grin!

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/08/2014 10:21

They are much easier now that Dill's neutered, when we got them (and the girls were quarentined) it was a case of - GP3 out first and returned to Pighouse only once the girls were safely tucked away. Just in case one escaped into the Pighouse and ........well it takes a nano second doesn't it.

Now they can all travel to the house in the same box, go in the same run, I don't have 2 sets of plates/bottles/bowls because they share nice.
I have been considering adding another sow, but them I smack my own hand away from the computer mouse Grin

There are loads of boars out there, but , it's a big decision to have them neutered.
Dill's only known (since we got him as a piglet) living with a boar. He was with a boar piglet in Rescue.
Now he's got his laydeez it's a whole new (I was going to say BallGame but he hasn't got any fnarr fnarr Grin ) kettle of fish.
But he's coping well, they are bossy.
GP5 cannoned into him when she was running. C'mon - I know you're pink-eyed GP5 but look at the size of GP3 Wink

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WyrdByrd · 17/08/2014 10:48

Perhaps you could look out for an already neutered rescue boat for GP5?!

Were you not tempted by the thought of baby piggies?

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/08/2014 11:32

Ah, if I got another boar, I'd have a 2+2 set up, so they'd have half the Pighouse each (so 6'x3' per couple). With one boar . they have all the space to pooter about.
They are working together quite nicely, Dill is very protective of them but I haven't seen too much activity (ie him bonking them Wink ) apart from when they first met up in the Bonding Pool. He soon realised his card was marked, but maybe when they come into season they'll act differently?
GP5 is still very pigletty, like a tiny unicorn with her white fur ,ruby eyes and little coronet on her forehead (I must get a side view photo of her) she likes being part of the menagerie but no interest in GP3 apart from to protect her .

Yes, I was very tempted by baby piglets (so was DD) but we had already decided adult females was fairest all round- for GP3 and the new ones .(There were some gorgeous piglets with mums, we didn't dare look in case we wavered Grin )

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WyrdByrd · 17/08/2014 11:44

I meant letting Dill & his girls have some piglets Grin

I see your point re the space & having to divide it.

Some friends of ours got 2 boar piglets recently. I told them about your pighouse as I knew they had an outgrown kids playhouse in their garden & they have converted it for their boys.

If I could only persuade DH to relinquish his veg patch we'd have a bit more space for piggies!

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/08/2014 14:24

Veg patch could be dug up and re-grassed to make into piggy grazing Grin (but if you have potatoes you can never get rid of them they come up every year, even if you think you've got every last one.
Then tell DH that you're doing crop rotation to rest the ground - and improve with natural guinea-pig fertilizer.
Once he sees a load of guinea-pigs roaming about he'd need a heart of stone to say "Nope, I want my veg patch back"


Dill and the girls all came from the same Rescue (him last year, them last month) part of their Terms of Adoption is they don't breed.
The girls had already had litters at the Rescue ( brought in pg) so they deserve a nice retirement now.


DD wouldn't let her GP1 (boar) get neutered which is why we got GP3 as his cagemate.

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