Mom, can I have a guinea pig?

[jaydee6561]

It was a cold February night that my daughter and I headed to the animal shelter to adopt a cat. I’m allergic to them, but I do like them and a dog was not an option.

They had lots of cats, but no kittens. I wasn’t looking for a kitten anyway, but I think my daughter was. We saw a beautiful tiger stripe male who would bat at our finger through the cage. We took him out to play with him and that was it for me. But Kelly had other plans. She was very nervous and decided she didn’t want a cat. Mom, can we get a guinea pig? she asked.

I had months before read a little about guinea pigs and rabbits, to see if they would fit our apartment and lifestyle. I’ve never been fond of any little furry things, but we did get a hamster and I grew to love him. I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to handle a rabbit, but what about a guinea pig? All that pee and poop everywhere, yuck!

But, that night at the shelter when she asked me, I impulsively said yes. So off we went to Petsmart. I never even thought to ask the shelter if they had any small animals, duh! Kelly picked out a cute little multi colored short haired baby pig she named Martin. He was mostly brown with a white stripe down his nose and on his right flank and an orange stripe on his left flank. He seemed so small, at least compared to my sister’s 3 year old pig, which was the only pig I’d ever seen up close.

I looked around for the largest cage they had – I picked a ferret cage because it was the biggest and had a ramp to a second story. It also had a wire bottom. Picked up all kinds of supplies and home we went.

[jaydee6561]

So, after we get home I go on-line looking for more information about guinea pigs. That’s when I came upon Guinea Lynx. Oh no! A wire bottom cage is a big no no. But I’m reading the directions to make a C&C cage and don’t understand. Ok, I will buy it. I put something down on the floor of his cage in the meantime until my new cages comes.

This little guinea pig is soooo skittish! If I just look at him, he runs and hides. But he’s so cute.

A few days later the C&C cage comes. Darn, I have to put these grids together. Took a couple of hours to put together my 2x3, but I did it. I put Martin in and he went running to the back. Every morning I would hear all this noise coming from his cage – what the heck was he doing? Eventually I found out he was zooming!

I would sit next to the cage to watch Martin, not moving a muscle otherwise he would run. Every week he got a little more comfortable with us. He was so cute when he wheeked for his food!

Now I’m still reading up on Guinea Lynx and you know what they say when anyone has one pig – he needs a buddy. But do I have room for a 2 x 4? Well, if I put them in Kelly’s room (she doesn’t even sleep in there), then we can squeeze it. I know I need to adopt from a rescue

[CavyConfusion]

What an adorable fellow. He looks so happy.

[dgarriques]

I love this story.

[Mum]

Cute story!

But I'm disappointed. I thought from the title of the thread that someone wanted one of my guinea pigs :-p

[jaydee6561]

Ha, sorry to disappoint you Mum. When the tale is told, you'll see I have enough of my own.

[cutemomomi]

Mwaah! Martin is one very lucky and happy boy.
I hate to say this, but his little nostrils really makes him look like a PIGgy! : )

And... when you coming back to tell us more?

[Wheekers3]

What a handsome guy he is. He has what we in our house 50/50 feet - half black and half pink. Carmela sports them too. I think they're special.

Continue on :)

[cavyslave8]

I missed this somehow. I think it's time for an update here. Martin is so cute.

[jaydee6561]

Because my daughter got a guinea pig, her younger half brother (brutha from another mutha) wanted a guinea pig. One day I get a call that they went out and bought a pig and named him Squeaky. I went over and he was a cute pig with all the wrong stuff – store bought cage, crappy pellets, crappy hay.

I brought Martin over for a play date. Squeaky was the dominant one – humping Martin every which way he could. They then settled next to each other to eat some watermelon – yumm!

Now where was I, oh yes, Martin needs a buddy. So I check on petfinder and see a beautiful self black – but he’s in Delaware. There are lots of pairs and trios, not too many single guys. Then I see Eli, a cute all chocolate American, he’s a possibility. I made arrangements to bring Martin down to Marci’s place to see who would be compatible.

I built him a little 2 x 1 travel C&C cage and built another one for the one I would adopt. Marci set out a ‘playpen’ and in went Martin. We put Eli in, who is much larger than Martin – about 3 years old and about 3 pounds. I thought Martin would be the submissive one, I was wrong! He went chasing Eli around. Not biting or fighting, just up his butt!

Let’s try Monroe in with Martin. Monroe is a BIG black and white medium length hair, 3 years old and 3+ pounds with a few strands of a tail. Monroe was not amused by little Martin trying to chase him. A quick nip and he put Martin in his place.

We thought Eli would be best, since he was laid back. While we were at Marci’s house, she had a couple there that were going to be fostering for her. Since I had built a 2x4 for Martin and his buddy, I had an empty 2 x 3. So we took Monroe home with us to foster.

[jaydee6561]

Yes, that's quite a picture of Martin with his nose like that. It's one of those 'he's so ugly he's cute pigs'. (I can say that - no-one else can :)