New Addition to the Herd!

Hello everybody!

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything because I have been extraordinarily busy but I just had to update the page and welcome the newest addition to my herd: a tiny baby orange guinea pig who I do not have a name for yet. I bought her yesterday from a .. pet store of all places!! I was wandering around in innocent search of a larger feed bowl for the females and..... what do I see in the piggie cages? All curled up in a corner with some other cuties I find this orange beauty.

Violetta Christine meets her namesake!!

I took all the female guinea pigs and the babies to a party last night, primarily so that my friend could meet her namesake, Violetta Christine. The pigs were a huge hit and everybody wanted to cuddle with them. By the end of the night people had decided which pigs were their favorite and I'm sure each person secretly wished for their own guinea pig family... Here are Violetta Christine and Renata, the brindle Abyssinian, being held by my friends.

Bath Time for Squash and Bean!

Today I decided that Bean and Squash, my two long-haired males, were getting WAY too dirty and needed a bath. Anything having to do with guinea pigs in water is always so controversial on the internet - it seems there are a lot of people who feel very negatively about it. I would like to make it very clear that guinea pigs, particularly long-haired guinea pigs, NEED to be bathed once every month or two. If they do not get a proper bath they get very dirty and unpleasant. Their fur starts to stick together and becomes too gummy and smelly to run your fingers through (especially if it is a male pig - they tend to get smellier than females). They should be bathed in warm water and dried with a blow-dryer on the low setting. Here are pictures of Bean and Squash getting cleaned - they might look a little uncomfortable but it does not mean what I'm doing is cruel and dangerous. Squash is an adult, fully grown coronet in multi-colors. Bean is a black and white, five month old texel.

Merry and Pippin

Merry and Pippin are the first guinea pigs of the herd. At this point they are about five months old. Pippin is the white-crested golden agouti and Merry is the American tortoise-shell-and-white (though he does not have any dark markings). Pippin is not a show quality pig because of the white spot on his nose. In order to be of show quality, white-cresteds can only have one white marking and it must be on their forehead crest. Pippin is the most curious pig of the herd and will go in the most unlikely of places in search of an adventure. One time he actually made it out into the garden in the middle of the night and got lost in the lavender bushes, but that is another story... He is the father of Kinsa's three babies, also on account of his being so mischievous. While nobody was looking he found an architectural weakness in the female hutch and broke in on a mission of love and passion. Merry, on the other hand, is very mellow. He spends his time just hanging out and if ever he's in trouble it is because he's followed Pippin there.

Baby Pictures

Kinsa's babies have grown so much in the past few days. They are proper guinea pigs now! They have been introduced to the rest of the pig herd and seem to be getting along just fine. I put Kinsa and the babies in with the females yesterday and after checking that there was no fighting I left. I came back a few hours later and found all the female guinea pigs lined up at Kinsa's side, waiting their turn for a drink of milk!! I made a mental note not to leave Kinsa in with other guinea pigs for too long...

Members of the Cavy Family

Domestic guinea pigs are incredibly fascinating creatures but we usually don't think of them in terms of the larger picture. Where do these little animals come from? Who are their relatives in the animal kingdom? I did a little bit of research today and found some pictures of guinea pigs in the wild and some of their animal cousins. Guinea pigs belong to the family caviidae and so do all the other animals pictured here.

This is the wild form of the guinea pig. Familiar isn't it?

This is the rock cavy.

This is the Mara.

This is a capybara, my favorite. These are the biggest rodents in the world.

Aren't they the coolest things ever!? Look at their facial expressions!

Video of Kinsa Giving Birth

I was finally able to put the video of Kinsa giving birth on YouTube! It is ten minutes long but you can see them actually coming out of her and how she cleans and takes care of them afterward.

You can see the video on YouTube Here.

Guinea Pig Olympics

I was surfing around the internet this morning and found this set of pictures on the Telegraph.co.uk website. The photos are from the Icarus-Arts.com calendar. The captions are from the Telegraph... I think these are hilarious!!!

A natural fear of water hasn't taken any wind out of the sails of former gold medallists, Snooky Pooky and Gertrude Tiddlywinks.

But they should also be admired for the dedication they show toward their chosen sport. Snuffles McSqueeby, gold-winning squash champ of last year's games, trains for 6 hours a day. The rest of his schedule consists mainly of trembling in the corner of his hutch.

...Linford Christie "accidentally" stepped on 100 metres hopeful, Bitey Stevens, during Barcelona '92. Bitey was only injured, but he could not compete and the Guinea Pig Games Committee decreed that guineas would no longer compete with humans until they are viewed as equals.

This year's Guinea Pig Games ultimate winner will be announced in December. The images appear courtesy of The Guinea Pig Games Calender 2009, published by Icarus Arts.

As with the human Olympics, guinea athletes are held in great esteem among their fans, admired for their stamina, prowess and incredible feats.

Guinea athletes want to be taken seriously, but prejudice hangs around the GPG like a bad stench. Many humans see serious animal athletes as "adorable", they may laugh or condescendingly stroke them - a factor that has always prevented guinea pigs from joining the human Olympics....

Hamsters have been trying to get in on the event for decades, but snooty GPG bosses have forbidden them, stating that the hamsters carry too much weight in their cheeks to hurdle properly. We could get no comment from the disgruntled hamsters.

The Guinea Pig Games is not without controversy of its own. Harvey Higginbottom, four time silver medallist, was banned from this year's GPGs because he failed the obligatory drugs tests...

Many GPG hopefuls have had to overcome disabilities in order to compete. Fluffy Peters, like all guinea pigs, has no thumbs to hold the foil with. Over time he's strengthened his claw-like-paws to actually be able to grip the handle. He's not very good at swinging the tiny metal sword, but that's beside the point.

New images reveal, for the first time, that man's most trusted ally, the guinea pig, holds a yearly competition. The Guinea Pig Games (GPG) pits two teams of athletic Cavia porcellus against each other to win gold, silver, and bronze medals

...and renowned 'ard-man, Squeakers "Knockout" Thompson, caused outrage four years ago when he not only bit the ear off of his competitor, Jimmy Nibbles, but ate his babies too.

Ever since Heracles blessed Olympiad with a stadium in honour of his father, Zeus, the sporting heroes of the day have taken part in the Olympic games. But man is not the only species to hold competitive sporting events.

Kinsa Cleaning Her Babies After Birth

Here are pictures of Kinsa cleaning her babies and eating the placenta. It's a little bloody, for those of you who are queasy, but so amazing!!

They have arrived!!!!!

I spoke too soon!!! At exactly 4:30pm, 45 minutes after I wrote the last post I heard some strange hiccupy squeals coming from Kinsa's box and... it was happening!!! Here are the babies! Two girls, Bianca and Violetta Christine, one boy (on the bottom), Emile.

Still Waiting......

Kinsa still has not given birth!!!!

This leads me to think I may have got something wrong about the pelvic separation. I felt her butt this morning and it is much looser than it was a few days ago and the separation between the two parts of the pelvis is much wider. In fact, I can fit one whole finger's width between the bones. That's it. I've given up. I am letting nature just take its course while I take mine. The babies are still moving around in there so I'm not too worried. Kinsa, I will be here for you when the babies are out... but until then, you're on your own!!

While we wait for the new arrivals, I will introduce you to another one of my piggies, Beatrice. She was born on Thanksgiving weekend, 2008, so is almost two months old. She's a golden agouti teddy born of a Himalayan mother and a golden agouti father. This isn't the most wonderful of pictures but you can see the little box she likes to sleep in and the piece of hay she is chewing.

A Watched Pot Never Boils

I have been up all night staring at Kinsa and i think i am going a bit barmy. My eyes hurt from looking at her without turning my head in her direction and i feel on the verge of a nervous breakdown...! I wish she would just spit those babies out and get it over with!!! In between moments of rest she goes teetering around her box to drink water as if she'd been thirsty for days and gorge on her pig pellets as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.. She keeps bending underneath herself while turning around in circles which makes me think she's going to expel at any moment and then... she sits back down again! It is maddening! I think she has noticed me staring at her and is growing more and more resentful as the time wears on. It is as if she is withholding herself until the first moment I am out of the room.. I am terrified to leave in case she pulls this move on me. I am not going to school today (I have only one class) because I don't think I could handle the psychological torment of sitting through a lecture on Egypt and the Ottomans while my darling pig hovers on the brink of the unknown.. I wrote an email to my professor asking if I could make up the lesson. I told him my guinea pig was about to give birth...

Video of Kinsa's Babies Moving

Updates on Kinsa's pregnancy:

The pelvic bones seem to be separating!! There is a space about half the width of my finger in between them... Her butt is getting squishier, looser, and kind of spongy. I was able to catch a video of the babies kicking in her tummy but you have to watch very closely and on the higher resolution option on YouTube. At this point I can tell she is glad of the peace and quiet in my room because every time somebody else comes in or it gets loud with voices she gets a bit tense and uncomfortable. The babies are kicking a lot more today than they were last night - her entire body is now going up and down as they move. I am so excited!!!

Here is the video, you can watch it on high resolution HERE:



Here are pictures of her eating her nightly salad:

Kinsa's 63rd Day of Pregnancy

Here are pictures of Kinsa the Peruvian on her 63rd day of pregnancy. I have cut off all her hair to make it easier for her to take care of the babies... I don't necessarily recommend this. I only cut it all off because I was freaked out she wouldn't be able to see through her hair well enough to clean them etc. You can see her little footies sticking out behind her...

Understanding the Pre-Natal Pelvic Separation Without Dabbling in Proctology

Kinsa, my Peruvian guinea pig, is pregnant. The story of how she got pregnant is a long one, but the good news is that she is not too old or too young and I have plenty of room for her babies when they are born. About 48 hours before a guinea pig goes into labor, her pelvic bones are supposed to separate about a finger's width or two. Apparently, you can actually feel this separation and it is a good idea to check her butt in the last week of pregnancy so you can be sure that everything is going normally.

Well, I had some issues trying to figure out what this separation felt like and despite reading all kinds of descriptions on the internet, I was still pretty confused. So... I am pasting in an email exchange that I had with my brilliant breeder friend, Sheryl Newland, which should clear everything up for anybody who needs help understanding it.

-----

to: sheryl
from: me

sheryl!!!!!

this morning i did the routine feeling of my guinea pig's butt and i have felt a separation!!!! but the problem is i don't really know what a real separation feels like.... at this point i can basically stick the tip of my finger in this hole that seems to have formed... i tried sticking my finger in the same spot in my other guinea pigs and there is no space!!!

what does this mean!?!?!

are these the beginnings of a pelvic separation??

this hole is right underneath her tail....

does this mean she has a ton of babies in there??? if it is a separation, will they be premature??


to: me
from: sheryl

this hole......
no, it isn't a hole that you feel.
it's the lower part of the pubic bone in the front of the animal. like yours.
where your pubic hairs are. you reach underneath the pig in front of the vulva and feel on the outside of her where the bones are inside. hard to explain.
you don't stick a finger in any hole.
usually the bones are together. when they have seperated then you can put about half of the finger width between them, on the outside.

maybe you have to come over and have me show you?


to: sheryl
from: me

oooh.. i see what you mean... man, i'm sorry.. i'm going a little whacko.. ok i will let you know when the pelvic bones actually separate...

lol... she is probably hating me right now for sticking my fingers in her butt!!!

i'd better go read some of those buddhist books and relax.


to: me
from: sheryl

this is too funny!
maybe you missed your calling? you should have been a proctologist?

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everybody!

I am a guinea pig lover and entrepreneur. Welcome to my blog! I also have a youtube channel with videos of my pigs that you can check out:

Guinea Pig Therapy on YouTube

Guinea pigs are one of the most wonderful domestic animals on earth and taking care of them has brought me a lot of joy.. stay posted for more tidbits!!