Wheekly Guinea Pig Help...Cage Additions

As many of you readers know, we Piggies do not live in a cage. However, most guinea pigs do, and we would like to give some suggestions as to what we think might be fun in a cage. Of course, these are all toys that you can buy in a store. Later on, we might do a later post on DIY toys.

1. Guinea pig crinkle tunnels: These are very fun, especially for younger pigs like Celery and I
2. Guinea pig log bridges: These can be used to allow a guinea pig to reach a second level
3. Guinea pig log seesaws: These help a guinea pig sharpen his/her balance
4. Wooden houses: These are fun, especially if there are stairs leading to the roof
5. Log tunnels: These are great, especially since there is a hole on the top, where humans might stick food and hay

ALERT: Some sites, such as Petco and Amazon, will list exercise balls and running wheels under guinea pig toys. There are NOT made for guinea pigs! Piggies' spines can't curve upwards, and this could damage their spine. Your guinea pig should get plenty of exercise through floor time and toys.

These are only a few of the many guinea pig toys out there. Feel free to post a comment below on other toys you've tried or how you like these toys. If you have any questions about any toys or the toys listed above, we'd love to hear them! Of course, I'm the expert on toys along with Celery, so we'll be the ones answering your questions.

Fluffy's Surgery...Stage Four

The humans thought I'd be recovered by now. I'm not. Thankfully, I got my stitches out this wheek, but I still have a little bit of red wee wee. The vet gave me two medications to take: Sulfatrim (an antibiotic) and Reglan (a motility drug). Unfortunately, one of the medications have made my number two softer than it should be. So today, I'm going to the vet again to get the medications shot into me instead orally taken. The vet's going to show the humans how to do it. I hope it doesn't hurt...

You think I'm going somewhere, humans? Think again...

Wheekly Guinea Pig Help...Naming Your Piggie

My sisters (and brother) and I have decided to make Monthly Guinea Pig Help into Wheekly Guinea Pig Help. Today, my siblings and I will give you ideas for creative guinea pig names.

Here's some guinea pig names for naming your pig:
By color...
Black...Jet, Night, Shadow, Ebony, Midnight, Ink, Inky
Brown...Cocoa, Twig, Mocha, Chocolate Chip (Chip for short)
Beige...Honey, Cream, Toffee, Walnut
White...(don't name your guinea pig "Snow" because it sounds close to "no"), Icicle, Icing, Cloud, Iceberg, Glacier
Grey...Iron, Smoke, Thunder, Storm

By pattern...
Spotted...Spot, Dot, Dapple
Brown & White...Sepia, Caramel
Mixed...Patch, Checker

By food...
Veggie...Zucchini, Cucumber, Pepper
Fruit...Apple, Banana, Melon, Orange
Spice...Nutmeg, Cinnamon
Herb...Sage, Oregano, Mint, Thyme

By Greek/Roman god...
Girls...Artemis, Venus, Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, Iris
Boys...Ares, Jupiter, Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes

Names for two or more guinea pigs...
Two...Salt and Pepper, Pepsi and Cola (or Coke), Dot and Squiggle, Vanilla and Chocolate, Feather and Pillow, Mustard and Relish, Thread and Needle, Stick and Twig, Belle and Beast, Tornado and Hurricane, Ember and Ashes, Rain and Sun
Three...Alvin and Simon and Theodore, Huey and Dewey and Louie, Peter and Wendy and Tink, Simba and Timon and Pumba, Blossoms and Bubbles and Buttercup, Snap and Crackle and Pop, Harry and Ron and Hermoine
Four...Blinky and Inky and Pinky and Clyde (or Sue), Kit Kat and Twix and Hershey and Reese, Hazelnut and Pecan and Walnut and Almond

Feel free to share your guinea pig(s) names in the comment sections below!

Bandit is an "Island Boy"!

I have now become truly part of The Piggies Family! I have moved out of the "nursery" cage, which is now closed.

Me and my family eating parsley out of the log/tube!

Fluffy, Sandy, and Celery are all pretty comfortable around me now. Olympia still gets somewhat edgy when I get too close to her, but she'll just have to put up with it. I'm so happy, I jump and twist around the island. I go zoom, zoom, zoom! I wonder who the next piggie(s) will be in the nursery...

Food Review...Carrot Tops

Today we'll be taste-testing carrot tops. If you humans use the carrots to make a human food, instead of throwing the tops away, why not give them to your piggies? We'll say to err on the safe side and give your piggies this yummy treat 1-2 times a week (or wheek! Get it?).

I'm civilized and eating off the tree. Could you grow
more of these on the island, human?

Bandit is stealing my carrot tops! Help!

Don't be getting any ideas, Olympia. These are all
mine!

Celery! I claimed that piece. In fact, I claimed all the
pieces!

Well, as you can see from the pigtures, all the piggies liked them. 5/5 piggies gave thumbs up (rather, paws up!).

Celery's Found a Mommy!

Hi, humans! I've adopted a "mommy"! Well, kind of. Here's me and my mommy, Fluffy!

Mommy, mommy! Hide me from the camera!

Monthly Guinea Pig Help...Bringing Home a Cavy

This year, my siblings and I have agreed on a resolution-- to give humans more advice on this blog! Thus, we created Monthly Guinea Pig Help. We'll start with giving new cavy owners some help.

Here's some things you'll want around before you bring your piggy home.

Refresh our water daily, please!

1. A water bottle. This one's from Petco. The humans were mumbling about the way the water bottle was hanging on the cage, so they got this more secure one.

Yum!

2. Always have unlimited amounts of timothy hay for us. We prefer the Western Timothy Hay from Oxbow, which always seems to come fresh.

Fill it up, human, right to the top!

3. Have pellets available for your pig, too. These shouldn't be a main part of your guinea pig's diet, though.

4. Also, make sure to have hiding places for your pig. We are naturally prey animals, so we scurry into a dark, covered place the minute we sense danger. A good idea for a hiding place are these Petco Igloo Hideaways.

5. Make sure to have lots of fresh greens on hand, but don't feed your cavy the same meal every day. We like variation, too! We find that Earthbound Farms Spring Mix Lettuce has a good selection of different leaves.

6. Our teeth never stop growing, so we need to chew on stuff like wood blocks.

That's my house!

7. Always have a cage on hand, even if your pigs live on an island like we do.

That's only the the bare minimum of stuff that you would need to own a cavy. Some ideas to make our lives more fun-filled are:

1. Beds. Also known as Cuddle Cups.

2. Crinkle tunnels.

3. Oxbow treats. They make lots of different kinds of treats for different piggies' taste buds.

4. A playmate (or two, or three, or four...). Always consider adopting. You might be surprised how much differently your pig might act with a friend.

Those are some of our ideas on what we think you should have. If you have anything else to add, or if you think that we missed anything, feel free to leave a comment in the below section.

Wheekin' in a Winter Wonderland

Where am I?

Yum! Fruit!

A pigloo! What's that fluffy stuff?

Out into the wilderness...

Hello, human!

Toy Product Review: Timothy Hay in Toilet Paper Tube

First, before I review this toy/eating device, I would like to thank Lola, Buffy, and Broccoli from Cavy Savvy for giving us the idea to try this. The humans cut a slit in the tube lengthwise like Cavy Savvy suggested to prevent guinea pigs from getting caught in the tube.

Fluffy, let me have a turn!

All mine, now, piggies!

Sandy tested it, too.

Fluffy, Sandy, and I all liked it. Bandit thought it was okay. He pushed it around with his nose, but only a little. Olympia didn't pay attention to it at all, even when the humans put it down right in front of her. 3/5 piggies liked this toy.

Tour of the Piggies' Island!

Hi! I, Sandy, will be taking you on a tour through our island. In case you're wondering, our "island" is a carpet covered with towels and surrounded by hardwood floor. It's pretty big, considering there are five of us piggies! Here's the overview of the island:

Our island-- each number represents a stop.

Stop number one is one of our boxes. This box is one of the boxes that you most commonly will find one of us sleeping in it.

Yay! Clean cuddle cups!

Next stop...another box where we sleep. This one has a low roof, and is very dark inside.

Celery isn't sure what to think of the camera yet.

After that, is a box leading to the "hi" corner.

Out we go!

Stops four and five are in the "hi" corner, where we say hello to the humans.

Here's where we eat and drink.

Through the tube, out the tube, through the tube...

Next is the entrance to the other side of the island.

There's someone's orange peel.

After that is a special towel. It has a pocket in it, which the humans propped up with a alfalfa tube. We like to hide in the pocket.

Looks like nobody's in here right now.

After that is just another box.

Another orange peel?

Then, we come to our timothy hay place! This is a box which has holes on the top of it. The humans place timothy hay on the box, and we pull timothy hay through the holes. Of course, the humans also place lots of hay on the ground for the smaller pigs.

Time to munch!

This is Bandit's temporary residency. He'll stay here until he 1) is recovered and 2) we get used to being around him.

Hi, Bandit!

In later pigtures of us, you might notice that our island looks different. That's because the humans liked to place our boxes differently once they're done cleaning our island. If your piggie lives in a cage, make sure that they get lots of floor time. We don't normally have floor time because we basically live on the floor!

Hideaway Product Review...Petco Small Animal Igloo Hideaways

Today we'll be reviewing Petco Small Animal Igloo Hideaways. I, Olympia, will be reviewing this product because we use these "pigloos" to sleep in most often. Also, we will show you an idea that the humans came up with to make the "pigloos" a better sleeping place.

These are the Petco Small Animal Igloo Hideaways. There
are many different sizes.

Here's what the humans thought up that made us use them more often:

The humans put small towels over the "pigloos" to make
them darker.

Fluffy says, "Why do you like to take pictures of us, human?
Can't you understand that I'm sleeping?"

I'll just review the product by itself, without the towel thrown on it. I'll say that 3/5 piggies used it occasionally before the towel was put on it.

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's finally 2014! We piggies can't believe it!

Happy New Year humans and piggies out there!

Okay, now where's the extra food?

Happy New Year from all the piggies on the island!