Anyone else have 'nightly rituals'?

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MummyAndEthan

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Whilst I was cleaning the cage, topping up the food bowls, preparing fresh veg, refilling the cardboard rolls and tunnels with hay and refilling the water bottles, I started to wonder what everyone elses 'nightly rituals' are.

Without fail, every evening the indoor cage is cleaned, the room hoovered, hay and food bowls topped up, fresh vegetables are prepared, water bottles are refilled and all their activity bits (cardboard rolls and tunnels) are refilled with hay.

As soon as my 2 year old is in bed, it is my time to sort my piggies out. Being a single mummy, my evenings were pretty boring and lonely before the boys came along. My dad already had a female pig (had 2 but one went to piggy heaven last weds :-(), I didnt have much but since things have changed at home in the past few months I now do everything for all of them. Having had my boys for just over 3 months they know our routine and love the attention they recieve.

Obviously they recieve attention pretty much all day as they live indoors. Bowls are topped, bottles refilled and vegetables given as they need it throughout the day. My 2 year old has taken to preparing the vegetables in the morning and ** chooses what they are too have. Its soo sweet that now asks to feed the 'pyramids!' Haha. Anyone elses children/family love their guinea pigs as much as them?

They have been loving the weather the past few days but today was just too hot for them to be outside. Hoping tomorrow is not as hot and they can run around. I feel soo gulity for them spending the day inside!

Sooo, all my chores are now done for the evening- time for snuggles with my Buzz and Woody whilst I surf the net.

Hope youve all had a lovely day.

Lucy xx
 
am a single mum so when my two year old daughter is in bed i get alice outgive her a cuddle then put her in her run while i clean her out and refil her hay, water, foodbowl ( same with the mouse ) lock the rabbit in his hutch then sit down and get alice back out and watch telly i live a very exciting life :) my daughter is animal mad her fave snack is red pepper so loves sitting alice on her knee and sharing it ( i give them seprate pices to eat :) she thinks its funny
 
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Great to hear that others have nightly rituals too! I have three boys who have been with us from babies since January and who are now housed outside in their hutch. After my children have gone to bed, I do all all the things that you guys do with the added extra of heating up their snuggle cushions as well, just to keep any chills at bay, as they are outside. They've also been out in their run as well for some of the day today. The difference is though, I am not single and have a partner who is struggling with the fact that he is not first in the pecking order any more.....:-)!

Enjoy devoting your time to your piggies while you can x
 
Cleaning the cage, scooping the poops, filling the hay racks, sweeping up dirty hay, and kissing the piggies on the tops of their heads.x)
 
I have two daughters who are 6 and 4 the guinea pigs belong to them they have 1 each but obviously i'm the one who looks after them but they love to help so every evening before my daughters go to bed they sit and stroke the guineas while i clean the cage and put in the hay, food, water. We then put the guineas back and my daugters put there veg bowls in.
Once my daughters are asleep then i get the guineas back out for hugs.

I love how caring my daughters are to animals they love to help with the cat and rats as well.
 
My nightly ritual starts about 9.30 when Dindy starts wheeking and sets everyone else off.
I fetch the carrier bag of grass out of the fridge (picked every 3-4 days from a nearby hay field) While they are munching away I do a poo patrol and general tidy for them and then settle down to watch them nomming. Several times this has amused Alison from the Guinea Pig Magazine while I've been talking to her late on the ****, "It must be about half nine" she says when the grass chorus starts. I wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Ours starts at around 9pm when we start doing the nightly poo clears and hay top ups, fill 5 piggy water bottles, 6 hamster bottles and 1 mouse bottle. Then we start on the nightly meds, we have 1 on Cystease for bladder issues, one on pain relief long term as he is mycotic, plus currently 1 on heart meds, another on diuretic for a week and 6 having Canesten on little fungal strips on their noses. Once that's done, the nightly veg is chopped. Then there's any hamster cage cleans due that night. That's in addition to the main poo clear and fresh hay fill ups that are done as as soon as we come in at night.

Oh and wheeking starts at around 9 too, usually led by the skinnies or little Rose, and occasionally Terk.
 
Dindypig said:
My nightly ritual starts about 9.30 when Dindy starts wheeking and sets everyone else off.
I fetch the carrier bag of grass out of the fridge (picked every 3-4 days from a nearby hay field) While they are munching away I do a poo patrol and general tidy for them and then settle down to watch them nomming. Several times this has amused Alison from the Guinea Pig Magazine while I've been talking to her late on the ****, "It must be about half nine" she says when the grass chorus starts. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Click to expand...

**** = f o n e, ie tellingbone. Must google that to see what naughty word it is to be censored by the forum software.
 
sarah20 said:
am a single mum so when my two year old daughter is in bed i get alice outgive her a cuddle then put her in her run while i clean her out and refil her hay, water, foodbowl ( same with the mouse ) lock the rabbit in his hutch then sit down and get alice back out and watch telly i live a very exciting life :) my daughter is animal mad her fave snack is red pepper so loves sitting alice on her knee and sharing it ( i give them seprate pices to eat :) she thinks its funny
Click to expand...

Lovely to hear from other single mummies. I have been told by my family many times that I already have 3 men in my life (my son and 2 pigs) and have no room for any others.

Lucy x
 
sparkles2 said:
I have two daughters who are 6 and 4 the guinea pigs belong to them they have 1 each but obviously i'm the one who looks after them but they love to help so every evening before my daughters go to bed they sit and stroke the guineas while i clean the cage and put in the hay, food, water. We then put the guineas back and my daugters put there veg bowls in.
Once my daughters are asleep then i get the guineas back out for hugs.

I love how caring my daughters are to animals they love to help with the cat and rats as well.
Click to expand...

My son is soo good with all our animals (3 dogs, a cat, 3 guineapigs and 3 ferrets). I'm hoping he got his love for animals from me. Athough he has only just turned 2, he is soo interested in them and loves helping out. Even calling them his 'pyramids!' He comes down every morning, got to the fridge and chooses their vegetables and proudly carries them to their cage calling 'dinner pyramids!'. Haha

Lucy x
Lucy x
 
helen105281 said:
Ours starts at around 9pm when we start doing the nightly poo clears and hay top ups, fill 5 piggy water bottles, 6 hamster bottles and 1 mouse bottle. Then we start on the nightly meds, we have 1 on Cystease for bladder issues, one on pain relief long term as he is mycotic, plus currently 1 on heart meds, another on diuretic for a week and 6 having Canesten on little fungal strips on their noses. Once that's done, the nightly veg is chopped. Then there's any hamster cage cleans due that night. That's in addition to the main poo clear and fresh hay fill ups that are done as as soon as we come in at night.

Oh and wheeking starts at around 9 too, usually led by the skinnies or little Rose, and occasionally Terk.
Click to expand...

Wow, it sounds like you have your hands full! x
 
I refill the water, give them some more veg- normally some bargains I've picked up in asda, today they've had baby cabbage, melon and a little bit of courgette. I go and sit outside on the floor by the hutch, and just watch them tucking in- I love chilling with them :)
 
I make sure their hay is topped up and they have food and water. I give them some veggies and then if they are in the shed I turn off the light and say "goodnight Piggies" and if they are in their pen on the grass I cover them all up with their blankets and a couple shower curtains on top in case it rains.

Then I give my rabbits a treat and say goodnight to them too. Then go inside and do periodic checks on them to make sure they are safe. Once it's dark I go to bed!
 
Yes whee do....

8pm i go down stairs and clean out their house, always in the main areas where they tend to wee and poop big time :p, this means taking out the hay and newspaper and replacing it. Then water bowl and bottle are emptied and cleaned out and fresh put in, then food bowl is emptied and rinsed out and refilled. The little cartons that i have with the two different types of timothy hay are taken out for the night as they have an extra food bowl that has their veggies in it, this is a little variety for them too. A fresh towel is put in, or i can recycle the day one if not too messy, then a small cardboard box is put under the mezzanine level for more comfort and warmth.
The girls are then lifted out and come up stairs for snuggle time. At the moment (well it has been for 2mths now) Onyx has a little feed of CC, whilst Velvet has some broccoli and cauli as a treat. Then i get Onyx a bean and a piece of capsicum/pepper. Snuggles with both of them, this is strokes, brushes, kisses on their tummies and heads/faces.
Then about 8.50 i go and start to cut up the veggies (as it's winter i get them out a little earlier so not too cold), they have a small bowl as well as a little extra on a plate that i'm giving them at 2am when i get up to feed Onyx.
Around 9pm whee go downstairs and i tuck them in for the night.....

SIM SIM MY PRINCESSES, SLEEP TIGHT YOU"RE FRIENDS WILL LOOK AFTER YOU.....

Then i put sheets/light blankets over the top with a gap to keep them warm, it's getting to around the 15-16 degrees now downstairs thru the night.

And i find this enjoyable everynight x)


p.s. i'm not totally regimented to times...often they'll have more time upstairs...but this roughly the ritual.....
 
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