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...

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.

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...

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!!