What adventure has your Super Furry had today

[fortifiedwithtea]

Its been a sad start to 2013 for guinea pigs so I thought we all needed cheering up by sharing our stories of what our furry members of the family have been doing. This thread is open to all buns, ratties, piggies, hammies the more the merrier .

I'll start, Naughty Girl did this afew days ago but the girls have been very lazy today.

I had the hutch door open to encourage abit of floor time. My kids are not very tidy and had left a package of biscuits out. What I didn't realise was that they had been knocked off the table. Then I heard a crunching sound coming from behind the armchair. There was Naughty Girl chomping down on a package of digestive. In surprise I said her RL name quite loudly and she went running under the hutch with a please don't be cross with me look on her face. Needless to say biscuits in the bin

Iv'e had a rubbish month (more so this week) so I welcome this thread with open arms!

DHammy has taken to sitting next to BigPigs residence whilst he is out for his ball run....thing is he has taken just to sitting there . I swear its BigPigs lazy vibes rubbing off!

Ummm...LittePig peed on my cushion, and BigPig has started to sleep in his cozy cup like a croissant!

Not very exciting

I'll let LittlePig loose for a while soon and see what damage he can do

Oh and naught naight Naughty Girl!

Cleaned the ratties out today and reorganised the cage, honestly they are like children not really interested in you unless you are trying to do something, then they are all over, getting in the way and underfoot. Nearly bloody stood on one of them, they are so cute and funny though, so I will let them off.

It's hilarious when they find some food they shouldn't have, they go lolloping off at great speed hide it before anyone else can grab it.

Welcome aboard PariahHairy I knew there would be rattie stories they are very intelligent .

Waves to Bonkey have a with your digestives. Sorry to give you a craving .

I read the last line as biscuits back in the tin not bin. I thought, hmm ok, GP chewed bikkies, I don't think you can catch anything from guinea spit

DD decided on Saturday that the guineas needed a bath (I needed to dye my hair but ho-hum, I'm still grey rooted and the boars smell of Maluka&Neem Gorgeous Guinea).

As they are in at night still, we lobbed them in the bath with a towel on the base to keep their grip. There was alot of eyerolling -GP1- and poohing -GP2- going on.
GP1 who is the laziest creature known to mankind unless there's food in the offing or he wants to popcorn, decided he wanted to jump out. Little blighter.
DD made me wash him so I kept a good hold of him.
Then we wafted them with the hairdryer, put them in clean hay and paper.
And GP2 ran through his brothers puddle of fresh wee.

Yesterday I cut a good plateful of grass for the boys, took it to their shed and they launched themselves onto the plate.
GP1 sometimes has a little dribble from his nostril when he has grass. I checked him, put him back for his snack.He was fine in the evening and today.

DH said "Oh you should have taken the grass away"
WTF??.
Offer 2 'starving' boars a plate of grass then take it away? What was he thinking.
They'd be on the phone to the rescue before I could say knife .

Love this thread!

My GP's have just been out for their lying down run in the conservatory whilst I cleaned them out. They stood by the door and watched me the whole time whilst squeaking instructions at me. When I let them back in, they hurtled into the rabbits cage and settled down in his bed for a snooze. They have been removed and put back where they should be (current bun was giving them the evil eye).

Current bun spent yesterday evening lying on DD's bed cuddling and licking her toy kangaroo. He loves it - we think he thinks it's a bunny because of its long ears and big feet (either that or he thinks he's a kangaroo).

fortified - I used to have a rabbit who loved digestive biscuits - she lived to the ripe old age of 10.

V jealous of this thread as have nothing to contribute on it re: lack of guineas:(! So it is lovely to hear about all your furries and what they have been up to - keep them coming! It has been a sad time of year for guineas, I reckon spring is on its way tho' and in another month they will be able to get out and about.

We used to bring ours upstairs after tea of an evening, to listen to The Archers and watch TV with us. Loved it when they yawned and stretched on you to tell you it was bed time ( for them and us!) X

me and ds have had the ratties out this morning and they have been sharing our shredded wheat for breakfast. still haven't been brave enough to let them free on the floor yet as we've only had them for nearly 2 weeks but they have been climbing all over us and on the sofa and bed. they will get another run around this evening

Right now my girls, 2 piggies, are sat in the middle of the living room, hidden away inside a big Primark bag. I put a load of hay plus their tea (grass, carrot and broccoli stalk tonight) inside. I can see the bag moving but they haven't appeared for a while. Some nights they race about the living room and others they just don't move. We had them down in the living room with us yesterday (their C&C is upstairs), I brought them down at 12pm and took them back up at 10pm, I think I only saw them move about 5 times. They are sooooooo lazy sometimes!

Fortified I say their names sternly if they are going behind the TV way too many wires for Bertha to chew on and they do usually stop heading that way. I think they are highly intelligent!

Also, we got them since November and today was the first day I've given them grass. They loved it, why have I waited so long? Can they have it unlimited, I assume so as they will be out in the run on grass when it gets a bit warmer?

Curly at the moment I'm lucky to cut a handful of grass for the hogs (the lawn is big but it's waterlogged and covered in dead leaves from my NDN willow tree).

When they do go out, make sure the grass is dry- depends on where your run is how early the sun hits it. Give them something to sit on- I give mine a rubber car mat and an old bat mat. They sometimes sit their lardy bottoms on the mat and stretch their necks out

And build up gradually.Maybe an hour or so to begin with then build up.Ours were out all day in the summer when someone was in the house. But on a work day maybe a couple of hours. They didn't eat all the time,they'd be sheltering in their housie.

Too much grass too quickly can give them BLOAT a fatal build up of gas in their guts.
I have to give them a 'dry' supper (hay,pellets,water) if they've had a grazing day or my little Abby hog gets very loose pooh.
His brother is very judgey "I have magnificent ,firm turds, why should I get hay ". So they get naice hay.

old bat mat should be "old bath mat"

Ahh great advice thanks, I would have plonked them out all day to start with.

I think I'm going to get one of those triangular hutch/runs so they've got a house to hide in. The one I've seen is 4' which isn't huge but I figure they'll have time in that during the day, then free run of the living room on an evening and a 4*2 C&C overnight. Does that sound ok? not that they move a lot, lazy piggies!!!
x

Sorry to hear about all the poorly piggies and piggies gone to the bridge. :(

GP1 had his staples out at the vet yesterday. He was a very brave boy apart from the Kung Fu kick at the vet although DH nearly fainted at one point. :) Wound is healing really well. He has to go back for monthly checks to see the lumps aren't coming back and keep an eye on the smaller lumps on the right side. My vet is just wonderful. He didn't charge for taking the staples out, or for the check up 2 days post op, and the op itself cost about half what I thought it would.

Here's the little dude hanging out on the floor this afternoon.

Kritiq - lovely picture of GP1, although he looks a bit worried.

70 - I liked the 'bat mat'. I know you love your animals and thought it sounded lovely that you had a special mat for your local bats to sit on

Curly - the set up you describe sounds fine. GP's don't always move much. Mine get free run of the conservatory at some point every day but spend all their time sleeping in a corner. About once a month they have a mad 10 minutes and run round everywhere and then don't really move again until the next month. For the summer we have a large square run and I put a couple of little houses in it for them to hide in. Our run's great actually - it's a wooden frame and folds up so it can be moved easily (although it is quite heavy) and half the roof is solid so they have some shade. Can't wait to get it out again and put them to work mowing the lawn (if I keep moving the run I don't have to get the lawnmower out).

Hi all - ta for photo again KRITIQ, he is such a sweetie and glad he is recovering well, long may he do so.
I thought the 'bat' mat gave your two a 'Batman and Robin' type ID there 70 - using their superpowers wisely!
Fernie love the sound of the mad 10 minutes, you'll have to get some photos!

Curly -I agree with all the advice, start them gently on grass and build it up, soon they will be able to be out all day. Triangular hutches are good to deter other animals sitting on the cage and scaring them. IF you want them to have more exercise (!) you can let them freerange and explore round the garden, but they really need to be supervised in case of 'visitors' to the garden> Next doors mangy cat used to sit and watch me put the girls out and then lie there threateningly, would never trust him. I do remember going in to answer the phone once, convinced they would be fine for a few mins. We trained them to come when they were called, and all 5 would line up when they heard their names - on one occasion our ginger girl could not be found ANYWHERE - we were worried if ndmc had finally done the deed, and my daughter was beside herself, we checked everywhere. Then we heard a long low, wheeeeeek, and found her embedded in our lemon balm unable to get out - absolutely STUCK...... not only stuck but rigid with fright, so she had to be put in a dark cage for a few hours to recover from her ordeal..... she smelt gorgeous tho!

Guineapiglet you are brave letting them free range in the garden. Don't think I'd dare in case there was a gap in the fence I didn't know about.

Bless your poor girlie being stuck in the bush. I can imagine how lovely she smelt though!

guineapiglet - very jealous of your Von Trapp family pigs who line up when called. Did they also sing and put on puppet shows? Must work harder with mine - they only come when the fridge door opens.

Mine have just had a lovely evening watching Emmerdale (they like the fields) curled up in the rabbit's basket. My DD's and I were stroking them and all was calm and snoozy until Scruffy decided Smooth was getting more attention and bit his bum. Smooth was quick to retaliate with a warning nip, but sadly he aimed badly and got me .

Guineapiglet, was it like this? Guinea Pig Sound of Music

Kritiq - wish my boys would do anything remotely organised/musical/talented.

LOL!!! :)

I LOVE the Sound of Music!

Kritiq where did you find this! It has kept me and my husband laughing for hours - its fab!

However its Bonkey who has the singing pig - mine didnt have the vocal talent! It is amazing how they did it really, we would go out and call them or whistle and one by one they would appear from what ever corner of the garden they were devouring, and then kind of follow each other nose to tail (!) into the shed where their hutch was - five in a line made a brilliant video, all in that kind of 'follow the leader' blindness they do so well..... they would all wait for each other as well, one wouldnt just go off by herself.

Fernie - your boys need some dedicated training - one of my friends has a house guinea who goes and wheeks at the front door when the postman or whoever knocks. He has his own little mat by the fire, and basically is a dog reincarnated, - he jumps up onto the sofa with them to watch tv.

I have been ill in bed for days with only MNet to keep the boredom at bay. I can still MN that's how I knew its not flu . I briefly made it downstairs sunday to go to out of hours Dr. Naughty Girl spotted me and started loudly wheeking and popcorning and woke Fatimus up who stood up and put her paws on the veggie bowl typical. So I know I am loved been missed by them on some level they have been fed just not had any extras while I've been in quarantine.

Kritiq glad to read GP1 is on the mend.

Guineapiglet Old Boy used to answer the door with me. I know it was the smell of outside air and grass that attracted him. Still I loved the way it freaked meter readers out.

Ha ha, love the idea of meter readers intimidated by a small cute rodent!

Having said that, we have one of those "Beware of the Guinea Pig" signs in the front window. Meter readers don't even get close! :)

Oh, I'd forgot about the Muse Arts site with the guinea pig cartoons until the Von Trapps came up! I remember a dear friend sending me that link when I had original GP1 and GP2 (meaning current swine are actually GP7 and GP8.) So that would be probably about 1999 or 2000. There was that and Oinker Net (first live pig cam that I was aware of!) and the Guinea Pig Daily Digest to keep us pig folk amused back then!

Hi all - sunny here at last! :)

Fortified - hope you are feeling much better now - tea and a shot mixed with honey will see you right.... see how much the girls missed you, they know who spoils them don't they? Loved the story about OB being a guard pig - you do have some lovely memories of him don't you.

It is lovely to have guinea talk with others, Kritiq you seem to have loads of stuff to read and watch, it has really helped me through my times without them this winter... and I do love your photos - most people just do not get guineas at all and used to find my endless fascination puzzling... (its ok for them to drone on about their cat/dog etc!) Hope GP1 is upright and back to usual ways.

Today Fatimus deserves to be on the digusting animals thread. There have been poops floating in the water bowl 3 times and I know it was her. Naughty has been walking around the lounge floor making her I'm happy noise, as she hasn't been allowed out all week. My Mum came to look after me and doesn't have guinea pigs out where she is going to sleep. I'm still very poorly, on second course of anti-biotic for a throat infection I can not remember ever having before like it and its gone to my ear too. Fatimus did not take advantage of floor time. She is a vair lazy piggie who has a vair lardy bum.