Pig Update

April 8, 2008

What’s new? Well, the guinea pigs are driving me nuts! They squeak all the time and chew on the bars of their cages and I don’t know what they want. I think they are just lonely. They really don’t eat much. When I bring them their veggies, they’re almost indifferent. And I only add pellets to their bowls about once a week. There is never a visible dent in their hay, so I’m not sure if they just don’t like hay much, or if the kind I’ve given them is gross. Here is what they are like individually:

Ginger is finicky. She will only eat a select few types of vegetables. She won’t eat zucchini, peas, broccoli, red peppers, cucumber, or tomato. She never finishes everything I give her. She won’t drink out of her water bottle anymore, so I have to give her water in a little dish. I got her this adorable dish that looks like a radish, but she’s already tipped it over once. She wheeks ALL the time, until she gets hoarse, so her wheek sounds like a parrot complaining. I think she’s lonely, but she doesn’t seem very happy to see me when I try to give her attention. She can get really frisky, and she gallops and jumps all over her cage like a little bucking bronco making cute little yips and squeaks all the while. It’s adorable to watch. Sometimes when she seems really antsy and frustrated, she humps her stuffed animal! When I put her with Freddie during floor-time, under STRICT supervision, she follows him and flirts until he starts chasing her, and then she gets all bitey and runs away. She’s a total tease! She doesn’t seem to be getting very big, and I’m starting to think she’s probably not pregnant.

Freddie is getting HUGE! He’s already over a pound, and he gets cuter with every day. He has really dark soulful eyes. He’s quieter than Ginger, and much more laid back. He wheeks far less than she does. He’s very shy and reserved, but has a sweet nature. Whenever he gets anywhere near Ginger, he automatically starts purring/rumbling. I think he just has a huge crush on her. He drinks a lot of water, and eats more veggies than Ginger. He usually finishes what I give him, but he’s picky about cucumbers and broccoli too. I usually give him her leftovers. Even though he seems much sweeter than Ginger, he does bite me when I pick him up and carry him. I think it’s because he’s scared, and I hope he doesn’t keep it up as he matures.

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with them. I was planning to get Freddie neutered so that he and Ginger could be together again, but the stories about neutering scare me, and it’s expensive. So then I thought maybe I could find someone to trade one of mine for one of theirs so that I’d have two girls or two boys. But there are no listings for guinea pigs anywhere in Idaho, and it would be difficult to find that ideal situation even if there were. So, now I can’t decide.