Stanley, Jess and Primrose

Helen82

Helen82

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I thought I would start a picture thread for my three; I've had them just over a week. Feeding time at the zoo! The parsley had already been eaten...
From left to right: Jess, Stanley and Primrose
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As you can see, Primrose takes her eating seriously!
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I'm not sure exactly what breeds they are (not that it really matters): Primrose on left and Stanley on right are some type of crested breed and Jess in the middle may be a coronet of some description? Not sure. Anyway...they say hello!
 
On a closer look, 2 look crested one something else lol theres a member on here called betsy who has a similar pig to the one in the middle on last pic
 
I have no idea of the breed but I am sure they are all beautiful.
Glad to see a thread started - I hope we will see lots more pics
 
Managed to get them all out of the cage for the big clean yesterday, so I could disinfect it. It took a long time to get them out though...not sure if they've forgiven me yet! There's currently a rare period of peace in the guinea pig cage as Jess and Stanley are having a nap! Didn't want to disturb them but got a nice pic of Primrose in the cardboard hidey.
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Awwwwwww Such cuties! :love: primose has lovely colours!
 
It's been an eventful weekend - got a fabric playpen for them which I can put on the landing, so they've somewhere bigger to go out of the way when I'm doing the cage clean. Yesterday I put them in the playpen for the first time so they could get used to it - took a while to catch them, Stanley in particular was giving me the run around; all got a bit stressful but managed it in the end. As it was new territory we went through the hierarchy sorting out again - there were a few rather worrying moments but we eventually got to the point where the cage hierarchy has transferred to the playpen too.

Here's Primrose in the back corner and Stanley and Jess in the playpen yesterday.
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Today I put them in the playpen again so that I could do a full clean of their cage - amazingly it took about five minutes to catch them all today! Couldn't believe my luck! They seemed alright in the playpen. Putting them back however, Primrose was determined not to be caught so that all got a bit stressful again...

I've also implemented phase 1 of the cage/run re-design. I had previously thought they were going to have cage on top and run on the bottom but that was before I got them. The practicalities of access, cleaning, storage etc have made me have a re-think. Cage is still on top, but today I managed to get a table underneath part of the cage - this means I can eventually increase their cage from a C&C 2x5 to a 2x7. I think 2x5 is alright for 3 guinea pigs but some extra cage space would be better. I'm going to use the space under the table for hay/bedding storage.

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Excuse the mess!

The playpen will go under the other part of the cage and form the secluded start of their run (and can be brought out to put on the landing when I'm doing the clean). How I form the rest of the run will be more like other people give their guinea pigs floor time but we will work towards that! Getting there!

I've held them each for a couple of minutes before putting them back in the cage. I'm hoping to start increasing the handling gradually so I can get to the point where I can weigh them, cut their nails etc. Stanley definitely needs a nail cut - debating whether I can gradually do one nail at a time on him soon enough or whether they'll all need to go to the vets instead...
 
Claire W said:
Aw your piggies are adorable. My Ellen has a crest on her head too xx
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Thank you! Stanley and Primrose are lovely - Jess can be a moody little so and so but I think we're both gradually warming to each other!
 
Primrose and a blurry Jess demanding their breakfast this morning.
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They've had their first lap time this evening. Again catching them is proving the problem - especially as I'm trying to do it in hierarchy order and Stanley is a devil to catch! He wasn't brave enough to come out of the tube onto my lap but he ate the romaine lettuce.

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He's not quite got the hang of selfies yet...

Jess who's the bravest (and the least impressed with being caught) munched the lettuce and went for a wander on the sofa (though I had to thwart a bid for freedom).

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Jess looking noble/pissed off.

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Jess tucking in.

Primrose who is the friendliest with me in the cage is rather scared of me out of it. It took a while but eventually she ate the lettuce.

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Pink-nose Primrose

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Primrose eventually accepting the lettuce.

I didn't keep them on the lap for too long as none of them are that confident yet - but the trust can't have been irrevocably damaged as Primrose and Jess came wheeking to the front of the cage again when I came in with their veggie tea!

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Primrose resting after all the excitement!

This first venture into lap time has at least focused my mind that there's no way I'm going to be able to cut their nails any time soon, so I'm going to have to book them in at the vets...
 
I have a fleecy sleeping bag from Ziggy's Piggies I use to catch mine, they can't resist going in then I pick up the sleeping bag and move them across to the playpen or laptime. Other hidey tubes work well for piggy capture too but if you have small piggies or small hands and they wriggle a lot its tricky to cover both exits! If you have spare C&C grids cable tying 4 together to make a flexible barricade can help block off escapes and encourage them to go in whatever piggy shuttle bus tube or hidey you want to use rather than anywhere else :)
 
PigglePuggle said:
I have a fleecy sleeping bag from Ziggy's Piggies I use to catch mine, they can't resist going in then I pick up the sleeping bag and move them across to the playpen or laptime. Other hidey tubes work well for piggy capture too but if you have small piggies or small hands and they wriggle a lot its tricky to cover both exits! If you have spare C&C grids cable tying 4 together to make a flexible barricade can help block off escapes and encourage them to go in whatever piggy shuttle bus tube or hidey you want to use rather than anywhere else :)
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Thanks for the tips - I've been using the tube to catch them but Stanley is still a bit small and generally their reaction times are a lot quicker than mine! I might look into getting another fleecey bed/bag as the one I bought is a bit big and I think it's a bit steep for them to get into.
 
I used a snuggle pouch for Phoebe initially as she was so shy.
Now just lifting the occupied tunnels works if I can’t catch them.

Those are lovely photos and your girls are gorgeous
 
The Ziggy's Piggies sleeping bags are a perfect size for 1 small piggy but we have 5 piggies including 2 giant fatties, and after 2 fatties went in the same sleeping bag and got stuck and had a fight I keep the sleeping bags for piggy capture and using in the hospital cage, and I have wide tunnels with 2 entrances from Cavy Couture for general daily use in the C&C cage!
 
Merab's Slave said:
I used a snuggle pouch for Phoebe initially as she was so shy.
Now just lifting the occupied tunnels works if I can’t catch them.

Those are lovely photos and your girls are gorgeous
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Thank you - they are all lovely and such different personalities, I'm so glad I got them!
 
PigglePuggle said:
The Ziggy's Piggies sleeping bags are a perfect size for 1 small piggy but we have 5 piggies including 2 giant fatties, and after 2 fatties went in the same sleeping bag and got stuck and had a fight I keep the sleeping bags for piggy capture and using in the hospital cage, and I have wide tunnels with 2 entrances from Cavy Couture for general daily use in the C&C cage!
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Primrose is rather well-built and Jess has a bit of a temper so I'll bear that in mind! I'll have a look on the Ziggy's Piggies website.
 
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