I can't believe it!

[Featheryfriend]

They're SO SMALL! For once I wouldn't blame someone for mistaking them for mini hamsters.

Meet Ranch residents #21 and #22, Daisy and Maple! They're camera shy but I managed to snap a couple pics of them venturing out from underneath their shoe box.

They are a bit over two weeks old, shame they weren't left with their mother a little longer but it was outside of my control. They'll be joining Grumpy Sage's herd soon enough, so they'll have some adult company.

And they're so LOUD for such itty bitties! It was kinda cold in the house last night (65 degrees F) and they were complaining about it until they got a blanket over their cage.

Nutmeg hasn't been too pleased about the cold snap either, being a skinny pig and all. We keep it in acceptable range but the chillier it gets, the more she shoots me these beleaguered looks, lol.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Oh my! What beauties and sooooo tiny

 

[Featheryfriend]

They are beautiful.

I think we scared the poor things with our exuberant welcome, lol. I plopped them right into the rolling cage alongside the main cages as soon as I got them home, and immediately 20 other pigs came pouring out, screaming, to peer at them. The dog noticed the new additions and squashed his face right up against the bars to look at them. It was a lot. I'll make sure they have a quiet day today, ha.

 

[Claire W]

Aw they’re beautiful

 

[VickiA]

Aww, how little are they?

 

[Merab]

So much cuteness in such tiny packages

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

The babies are always the loudest.
When my sweet Hailey was small, she had the loudest, high pitched voice you can imagine. It's a wonder our ears didn't drop off.
When she got older, the volume was turned down.

 

[Betsy]

Baby piggies are always very dramatic!

 

[Featheryfriend]

Aww, how little are they?

Like mini hamsters!

 

[My Piggies]

Aww

 

[Featheryfriend]

These girls are both really good eaters! I'm not sure if they've got the water bottle figured out yet so we're having some wet lettuce and cucumber, among other things. But here's a better look at them munching.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Oh boy! The penultimate pig, and (possibly) the final ultimate pig! Both of them have been Lone Pigs for quite a while, they're (hopefully) gonna be so happy to see friends of their own species.

I'm picking up the little black and white boy later this afternoon. I'm going to get him fixed once the holiday chaos is over. (In the meantime he is going to be tightly secured!)

Chubby Cheeks here is a 4-year-old female. I just sent an inquiry in on her so we shall see. I have a good feeling about her.

That will be it! 24 pigs is my limit, space-wise and how-many-toenails-I-want-to-clip-wise. And vet-bills-wise. These guys sure know how to eat money. Thankfully they've mostly proven to be very hardy, and I have a good spread of ages so they won't all be geriatric at once.

I thought I was being a little insane at first, accumulating so many pigs, but they've proven surpsingly manageable and bring me so much joy. One of the best things I've ever done.

 

[Merab]

Oh boy! The penultimate pig, and (possibly) the final ultimate pig! Both of them have been Lone Pigs for quite a while, they're (hopefully) gonna be so happy to see friends of their own species.

I'm picking up the little black and white boy later this afternoon. I'm going to get him fixed once the holiday chaos is over. (In the meantime he is going to be tightly secured!)

Chubby Cheeks here is a 4-year-old female. I just sent an inquiry in on her so we shall see. I have a good feeling about her.

That will be it! 24 pigs is my limit, space-wise and how-many-toenails-I-want-to-clip-wise. And vet-bills-wise. These guys sure know how to eat money. Thankfully they've mostly proven to be very hardy, and I have a good spread of ages so they won't all be geriatric at once.

I thought I was being a little insane at first, accumulating so many pigs, but they've proven surpsingly manageable and bring me so much joy. One of the best things I've ever done.

Gorgeous piggies who are landing on their little paws with you.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Here's a good boy being shy, squeezed in between a sock and some hay. He's about 18 months old hasn't seen another guinea pig since he was a little baby.

Everyone ran over to check him out when I pulled him out of the box, and when he noticed them, his heart started racing super fast! I held him up to the bars and he touched noses with each of his new girlfriends from the middle herd. He's definitely very interested in them, and they're interested in him! He's super cuddly with people, I snuggled him in the car the whole way home.

It's also confirmed, I'm picking up the chubby cheeked female on Sunday! The final, ultimate pig! I haven't thought of a name for her yet.

 

[Rivervixen]

They’re so beautiful

 

[Featheryfriend]

Dandelion is already acting like he's lived here forever, lol. When he's not snoozing with his eyes closed, he's having conversations with his lady friends through the bars.

I've made him a vet appointment on January 4th to get scheduled to be fixed. Pepper is going in on the 4th as well to FINALLY get her spay set up. Having foster kiddo for almost 3 months really knocked out my bank account, but I've got the funding together again for the initial vet costs. We will save Pepper from going bald!

I'm a bit peeved that I've had to put Dandelion in a travel cage for the moment. I ordered the babyproofing grids a while ago now and I'm still waiting. As soon as they arrive, the two lil stinkers will be able to meet their herd and move into the main run, so Dandelion can have the much larger rolling cage. It's slightly narrower and longer than a 3x2 grid but it should do.

In other news, I just got back from the vet with Penny, the OG piggy. Her liver appears to be acting up again so she's back on milk thistle, which she will likely remain on for the rest of her life. She lost 100+ grams recently and hasn't been herself. I hope she feels better soon now that she's started on the milk thistle.

 

[Featheryfriend]

I am a sucker... I have NOT gone looking for any more pigs, but I was contacted by someone having an emergency. They have to move to Mexico posthaste due to a family/medical crisis and can't take their 3 female pigs with them.

At first I was primed to say "nope, I'm all out of room!" but then I learned that they come complete with a 5x2 grid cage with a coro base. I thought about it, and realized that if I just move a nearby bookshelf to the other room, I can make that fit. I checked with the other humans and they're fine with the idea of a pig emporium extension.

At first I thought it might be a foster situation, but after discussing it with their current human it will most likely be a permanent arrangement. If 27 proves to be too much of a workload for the long-term, I could always start searching for another home for these three girls.

These are mystery pigs of unknown age, all I know is their genders and that they are easily handled. They belonged to some older children who are very sad to let them go.

Penny is already looking a bit improved. She's a very good medicine taker.

And here are a couple of random pig pictures. Dandelion is eating a paper plate. I can't get over how photogenic Nutmeg is.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Oh my, Dandelion has a crush on my ex-girlfriend. He starts popcorning around like a silly goose whenever she pays attention to him.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Daisy and Maple have officially joined a herd! Everybody has taken a shine to them, especially Parsley. Except for Sage. Sage is merely tolerating them. I guess she didn't sign up for this whole babysitting gig...

 

[Pawz]

Wow 27! I honestly don’t think I’d be able to cope with that many but if you can then all the more power to you!

They are all gorgeous and very lucky piggies to have such a home.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Wow 27! I honestly don’t think I’d be able to cope with that many but if you can then all the more power to you!

They are all gorgeous and very lucky piggies to have such a home.

It is definitely a big time and $ commitment... I've been on social security disability, but my health has been improving so I'm thinking of trying to work a part-time job while I go to school online. Largely to make more $ to keep my many guinea pigs comfortable.

I've been getting some help from family and friends here and there as well. Everybody loves the pigs. Yesterday my mother bought me four huge bags of disposable bedding. ☺ And whenever I get a new pig they usually come with helpful supplies. My grandmother usually loans me money when I have a big vet bill and I pay her back in installments, or I use my mother's good credit to set up a payment plan with the vet. My ex-girlfriend and her mom will always spot me on daily care tasks when I need to be out of town for a day or two, or want to go to a party in the evening - they know the whole pig routine. So it is a community effort.

I'm very lucky!

 

[Featheryfriend]

Penny was looking SO much better this morning, what a relief. I haven't gotten her blood panel results back quite yet but I'm optimistic it's not too bad. I'll try to get a picture of her when I get back home. I was afraid she was in actual liver failure but she's responded so quickly I'm thinking not.

Makes me glad I have the chance to nourish some young pigs from early on in life - Penny's liver problems are likely the result of extremely poor diet in her former, pre-rescue life. Aside from almost starving to death, she was at one point fed all kinds of random crap, from nuts to cheetos. She also never got to nurse since her mother died shortly after giving birth. (I've always wondered if that contributed to her having allergies, too.)

All the babies in my colony have been growing so well and looking shiny and healthy, I am proud. Iris has gotten HUGE, like her dad Clover, I'll have to snap a picture of her too. Lily looks more like her mom, she's not as big as Iris but she's got a fat butt, LOL. Violet and Lavender are growing faster than I can weigh them.

I've realized Violet is actually what you'd call a crested guinea pig, not an aby with a single swirl, haha. Her crest makes her look permanently grouchy and serious and it's adorable.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Penny's blood work just came in. Her liver is actually perfect! Yay!

On the other hand, her red blood cell count measured very low. We're going to re-check it to make sure it wasn't a lab error and probably also get her an ultrasound. Might be internal uterine bleeding. Probably intermittent since she's so improved right now?

I also just picked up Rosemary of the Chubby Cheeks. My goodness she is a chunk. She might be the new title holder for largest pig in the colony.

Now I'm on the way to pick up the three girls. THEN I'll take all the pictures I owe, haha.

 

[Featheryfriend]

All right here we go, for starters here is newcomer Rosemary, she has beautiful blonde/grey agouti patches. And also one of Pennyroyal peeking through the bars.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Here we have Pumpkin, Flora, and Kiwi.

Pumpkin and Flora are both a little (a lot) stinky right now. They were peeing like crazy in the car for some reason and then rolling around in it. Pungent.

Kiwi is a lovely black crested self/solid coat, but she is feeling shy so all you get is a single ham sticking out from this hidey. I've separated her from Pumpkin and Flora because according to my piggy middleman who has been holding them for me the last couple days, they have been bullying her pretty bad and don't seem like a good match really.

 

[dhill_cb7]

I though two was a lot for me! Bless your heart for taking on 27!

 

[Featheryfriend]

I though two was a lot for me! Bless your heart for taking on 27!

Aww.

Somehow, it felt like more work when I only had four. Now I'm forced to be super efficient about it, ha.

 

[Featheryfriend]

I was trying to come up with ideas for more space-efficient hidey spots for all these piggies, and I saw these super cute grid + fleece bunk beds. So I had to make some to test out. Violet approves.

 

[Featheryfriend]

Well, I figured out how I'm going to distribute/house the new piggies. If everything works out according to plan, we're going to have an even 9 pigs per herd. Each enclosure is going to get a minor expansion ASAP to keep up with reccomended cage size guidelines.

Sooo to that end, I've decided to attempt three seperate bondings in one day. I just launched the first one and I can already tell we've got zero problems. Rosemary has been insta-accepted by Juniper's herd with no stressing at all. They're just acting like she's always been around. Very pleasantly surprised!

 

[Featheryfriend]

Alrighty-o, now I've got Pumpkin and Flora in with Pepper's herd. This herd should also eventually include Dandelion once he's fixed.

So far so good, this bonding is a little more typical with some rumblestrutting and soft teeth chattering going on, but I expected that from these girls. They're on the aggressive/spicy side as a group.