Elitah
Junior Guinea Pig
About 10 days ago we got some new piggies. Since our elderly Brillo had died, Cotton was by herself and we wanted her to have some friends, so we traveleld to an animal shelter about 45 km away - by train, since we don't have a car, and then paid over 15 € for a cab (one way) to get from the train station to the animal shelter which is close to the motorway. The taxi drivers know me since they drive me to work once a week. I think they thought we were crazy.
Anyway, we came home with the two little ladies we had reserved early in January, as well as a cute boar. The ladies were born in July 2017, the boar in 2015. The tiny ladies have already had babies. We were told they were taken from a home for refugees. Not sure if the babies were an accident or if soomeone had tried breeding, but most of them have found homes as well. We named one of the little ladies Ginger and the other one Oreo and the boar is named Flash (he is fast!). He had to stay by himself for another week since he had been neutered in early December. They told us if we wanted to be absolutely safe, we might want to keep him away from the ladies for another week. But we introduced them to each other last Saturday and after a day of bickering, they were mostly fine. Ginger is tiny! We weighed her last weekend and she is only 657 g. No idea how that tiny piggie carried babies! Oreo weighs 732 g and has also had babies.
Cotton, is not too keen on the newcomers. For two days, it was kind of ok, she stayed on the lower level with them. Then she went up the ramp and stayed on the upper level and only made short attempts of coming downstairs. I think the two tiny ladies are too much for an elderly piggie-lady that will be 7 years od in April. We'd been hoping that all piggies would use both levels of the cage, but Cotton seems to need her own space, so my husband is going to build an extension for the cage today. It will then be L-shaped and the two young ladies and Flash can have the large lower level and Cotton can stay upstairs. I'm still hoping we might be able to get them to become friends, but if Cotton resists, we can't force her. She still seems to be doing better than she was after Brillo's death. She is eating more and has gained weight and doesn't look so lost anymore, so I think just hearing them and knowing the others are there is helping her.
Flash
Ginger
Ginger cuddled up with my husband.
Oreo - she has the cutest nose.
Oreo again - can you guess how we got the idea for the name?
Anyway, we came home with the two little ladies we had reserved early in January, as well as a cute boar. The ladies were born in July 2017, the boar in 2015. The tiny ladies have already had babies. We were told they were taken from a home for refugees. Not sure if the babies were an accident or if soomeone had tried breeding, but most of them have found homes as well. We named one of the little ladies Ginger and the other one Oreo and the boar is named Flash (he is fast!). He had to stay by himself for another week since he had been neutered in early December. They told us if we wanted to be absolutely safe, we might want to keep him away from the ladies for another week. But we introduced them to each other last Saturday and after a day of bickering, they were mostly fine. Ginger is tiny! We weighed her last weekend and she is only 657 g. No idea how that tiny piggie carried babies! Oreo weighs 732 g and has also had babies.
Cotton, is not too keen on the newcomers. For two days, it was kind of ok, she stayed on the lower level with them. Then she went up the ramp and stayed on the upper level and only made short attempts of coming downstairs. I think the two tiny ladies are too much for an elderly piggie-lady that will be 7 years od in April. We'd been hoping that all piggies would use both levels of the cage, but Cotton seems to need her own space, so my husband is going to build an extension for the cage today. It will then be L-shaped and the two young ladies and Flash can have the large lower level and Cotton can stay upstairs. I'm still hoping we might be able to get them to become friends, but if Cotton resists, we can't force her. She still seems to be doing better than she was after Brillo's death. She is eating more and has gained weight and doesn't look so lost anymore, so I think just hearing them and knowing the others are there is helping her.
Flash
Ginger
Ginger cuddled up with my husband.
Oreo - she has the cutest nose.
Oreo again - can you guess how we got the idea for the name?
