Pohtaytur
Junior Guinea Pig
After watching my two pigs Harold and Henrietta after a while, I feel like I've learned quite a bit about them.
Harold seems like a really smart boy. He was the first one to learn that he could put his weight on the bowl to lift it so the food would come closer to him, haha! He's always rumblestrutting at least a few times a day, and he's learned that we don't feed him now when his hands are on the wall (though he forgets when he gets too excited). He chatters his teeth at me when he wants a snack instead of wheeking at me. He doesn't wheek often and instead stands at the door waiting and staring. He likes to burrow his face into the hay dish when we put down the fresh hay. Sometimes he presses the hay down with his tiny little grabbies. He can also get pretty feisty. When I put in pillows since I saw Henry pulling up the fleece, he would attack them at first. He likes to lie down on them now though. I recently found out he was pulling the fleece where it was being held down by heavier items. He seems to like the challenge? I'm not sure about it. He lets us pet him on the head, and sometimes his eyes start closing a bit. I recently tried putting a towel in and he likes pushing it around while making a whining sound at the same time. I don't think he hates it because he keeps doing it, but I wonder why he's making that whining sound when walking through the towel. He does get dramatic at times, especially when it's nail clipping. Harold will run up to the hay bowl when it's time to fill it and has no problems with me putting in more as he's eating. He's had a number of times where hay ends up on him as a result, haha. He's pretty jovial and starts popcorning and getting the zoomies during feeding times and I take my time getting things ready to feed. He doesn't popcorn or zoom when I prep the food quickly cause he gets distracted with eating, haha.
Henrietta (Henry) is definitely the more skittish of the two babies I have. Her adoption information mentioned that she ay have had some trauma so I'm not too surprised. She's always watching my family when she can, even when eating. The only time she doesn't always do that is when she's in her hide. She's definitely more comfortable now. She grooms when she's out in the open sometimes and I've seen her lie down recently. She seems to really like the pillows. She definitely doesn't like being petted, but she's come up to sniff my hand and has nibbled my fingers very lightly even when I don't have food. She doesn't bite, unlike Harold. Her nails are dark so we've had an accident when nail clipping before, but even then she hasn't bitten us. When she eats the hay she's kind of dainty about it, starting in the corner to eat and slowly makes her way through it unlike Harold, who will just pull the grass all over the place. She still runs away when she sees us, but she's been more than happy to greet my hand when I put it in front of her hidey spot. She normally doesn't start making sounds first, and usually comes out rumbling or chutting when Harold does too. She likes to chut when walking and will chut with pretty much every step she makes. She's never been comfortable enough to lie down around my mom, but she's done so around me. When we start moving after a bit she starts to get into her run away pose or actually hides. She usually keeps away when I fill in the hay bowl that's farther from the entrance door, and will walk over once I finish and point it out to her. I just saw her lying down staring bug-eyed at me completely unmoving, to the point where I started getting worried a bit, and then she started grooming. I wonder if she was sleeping.
I've noticed that they can learn two names at the same time, since my mom doesn't speak English well, so she calls Henry "GuGu" and Harold "LocLoc" and they can still know that we're calling them even if they're different names. They like resting in the afternoon after eating their veggie lunch and then eating hay for a while. However, Harold usually will rest for a while whereas Henry will rest for short periods, and then start grooming or going out for more hay. They both do come to smell my hand when I hold it up to them (usually in a fist), though when my fingers are out they do like to nibble on them lightly. They both start with using their lips(?) first to kind of investigate and then nibble. They do seem to get along, though they like to keep things separate, so I've ended up having two separate feeding bowls and hay trays to make sure that they don't fight each other. Harold does seem to like to get up in Henry's business sometimes, but apparently that's a normal thing? I haven't seen them get to a point where they start fighting, and Harold has had times where he gives up his hay tray or hidey for Henry to use. She seems to like longer, thinner pieces of hay while Harold likes the larger pieces, but they'll still eat both of them. I don't know what's up with the seed parts of the hay, but they really seems to like eating those too, and it's usually their first choice when we hand it to them.
Well, that's all I have at the moment about them. They're really cute and lovely pigs, and despite it being my first time having pets that aren't fish, they've been really patient with me. I'm actually super happy today because I saw both of them yawn for the first time. Sometimes they make me want to cry with how lovely they are.
Harold seems like a really smart boy. He was the first one to learn that he could put his weight on the bowl to lift it so the food would come closer to him, haha! He's always rumblestrutting at least a few times a day, and he's learned that we don't feed him now when his hands are on the wall (though he forgets when he gets too excited). He chatters his teeth at me when he wants a snack instead of wheeking at me. He doesn't wheek often and instead stands at the door waiting and staring. He likes to burrow his face into the hay dish when we put down the fresh hay. Sometimes he presses the hay down with his tiny little grabbies. He can also get pretty feisty. When I put in pillows since I saw Henry pulling up the fleece, he would attack them at first. He likes to lie down on them now though. I recently found out he was pulling the fleece where it was being held down by heavier items. He seems to like the challenge? I'm not sure about it. He lets us pet him on the head, and sometimes his eyes start closing a bit. I recently tried putting a towel in and he likes pushing it around while making a whining sound at the same time. I don't think he hates it because he keeps doing it, but I wonder why he's making that whining sound when walking through the towel. He does get dramatic at times, especially when it's nail clipping. Harold will run up to the hay bowl when it's time to fill it and has no problems with me putting in more as he's eating. He's had a number of times where hay ends up on him as a result, haha. He's pretty jovial and starts popcorning and getting the zoomies during feeding times and I take my time getting things ready to feed. He doesn't popcorn or zoom when I prep the food quickly cause he gets distracted with eating, haha.
Henrietta (Henry) is definitely the more skittish of the two babies I have. Her adoption information mentioned that she ay have had some trauma so I'm not too surprised. She's always watching my family when she can, even when eating. The only time she doesn't always do that is when she's in her hide. She's definitely more comfortable now. She grooms when she's out in the open sometimes and I've seen her lie down recently. She seems to really like the pillows. She definitely doesn't like being petted, but she's come up to sniff my hand and has nibbled my fingers very lightly even when I don't have food. She doesn't bite, unlike Harold. Her nails are dark so we've had an accident when nail clipping before, but even then she hasn't bitten us. When she eats the hay she's kind of dainty about it, starting in the corner to eat and slowly makes her way through it unlike Harold, who will just pull the grass all over the place. She still runs away when she sees us, but she's been more than happy to greet my hand when I put it in front of her hidey spot. She normally doesn't start making sounds first, and usually comes out rumbling or chutting when Harold does too. She likes to chut when walking and will chut with pretty much every step she makes. She's never been comfortable enough to lie down around my mom, but she's done so around me. When we start moving after a bit she starts to get into her run away pose or actually hides. She usually keeps away when I fill in the hay bowl that's farther from the entrance door, and will walk over once I finish and point it out to her. I just saw her lying down staring bug-eyed at me completely unmoving, to the point where I started getting worried a bit, and then she started grooming. I wonder if she was sleeping.
I've noticed that they can learn two names at the same time, since my mom doesn't speak English well, so she calls Henry "GuGu" and Harold "LocLoc" and they can still know that we're calling them even if they're different names. They like resting in the afternoon after eating their veggie lunch and then eating hay for a while. However, Harold usually will rest for a while whereas Henry will rest for short periods, and then start grooming or going out for more hay. They both do come to smell my hand when I hold it up to them (usually in a fist), though when my fingers are out they do like to nibble on them lightly. They both start with using their lips(?) first to kind of investigate and then nibble. They do seem to get along, though they like to keep things separate, so I've ended up having two separate feeding bowls and hay trays to make sure that they don't fight each other. Harold does seem to like to get up in Henry's business sometimes, but apparently that's a normal thing? I haven't seen them get to a point where they start fighting, and Harold has had times where he gives up his hay tray or hidey for Henry to use. She seems to like longer, thinner pieces of hay while Harold likes the larger pieces, but they'll still eat both of them. I don't know what's up with the seed parts of the hay, but they really seems to like eating those too, and it's usually their first choice when we hand it to them.
Well, that's all I have at the moment about them. They're really cute and lovely pigs, and despite it being my first time having pets that aren't fish, they've been really patient with me. I'm actually super happy today because I saw both of them yawn for the first time. Sometimes they make me want to cry with how lovely they are.
