Clash of the Titans--or, What have I gotten myself into!?

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Crrrystal

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:16 pm


After reading hundreds of Chronicle pages, I decided to make my own. Not that anyone’s interested or anything, I’m sure. Bear with me while I attempt to cover almost 4 months of piglife in about 20 minutes. And apologies for the loooooong narrative and few pictures starting off.

It all started when I received a phone call from my BFF.

“Hester is prego,” she said. “Stupid Brady made her pregnant.”
“But isn’t that what they’re *supposed* to do?” I asked. “They *are* boyfriend/girlfriend.”
“Yes, but still! I didn’t think it would happen this quickly,” she replied.

Ok, that probably isn’t verbatim, but I’m going from memory here.

“Point is, I don’t think we can keep the babies AND parents. Think you might want one?”

I was secretly jumping with glee, but wanted to sound aloof about the whole thing.

“Why would I want a guinea pig?”
“Why wouldn't you want one?”
“Touché. I suppose I could, but try to find other homes first, ok?”

I had mostly forgotten about the possibility of getting a guinea pig. Mostly because I was thinking the worst and didn’t want to get my hopes up.

Then, one fateful Saturday afternoon (August 20), I got a text. “Hesserann had her babies! They’re so cute! I hope the giraffe-looking one is a girl because that’s the one I’d most like to keep.” There was a picture attached and, indeed, one looked suspiciously like a giraffe. Color-wise, anyway; it was obviously shaped differently. No long neck and I couldn’t tell if it had legs or not. I was told all the boys would need to find new homes by week 3 so there wouldn’t be any additional litters.

Then, on a fateful Wednesday, I was told to come pick up my guinea pig ASAP. I said “I will be there on Saturday.” I rushed to Petsmart to pick up the essentials: super-big cage (ha!), alfalfa hay, pellet food, food dish (which I actually got from Walmart because I didn’t like the weird colors at the pet store), bedding, and a water bottle. I spent more than $100 on that first trip, mostly because I opted for the neat-looking water bottle with a floating duck, Carefresh Ultra (or whatever the white stuff is--because I couldn’t remember what kind of wood chips are best), and a cute little wooden hut. I was up very late that night setting everything up. Oh, I also had to buy a coffee table to put the thing on. And a little (VERY little) play pen.

Then, Saturday September 10, I loaded up my niece and headed to the friend’s house. On the way she called and said, “Oh, surprise! You get two of them. There are two boys left and, really, they should have a friend.”

And that’s how I was suckered into taking in two pigs.

All that was left were names. I decided the giraffe-looking one (yay! I secretly liked his coat the most, too) would be Apollo and his brother was Zeus. It just seemed to fit for some reason. (Note: I had originally wanted to find twin-god names or at least sibling names, but didn’t really care for the others. So let’s just pretend that the mythology lists them as brothers instead of father and son.)

The first night was rough. I wanted to hold them so badly! I was able to resist the urge, though I did terrorize them with a picture that night.
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That is Zeus and Apollo's bum. They were so small!

And, for some reason I don’t recall, their cage was beyond gross the very next day, so I needed to spot clean. Which meant agonizing floor time. I feel horrible looking back :/
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They were so sweet and innocent!

The next amount of time passed without many interesting things. As the initial new home shock wore off, I began handling them more. Apollo more so than Zeus. Zeus was (and still is) a butt when he sees The Hand. I spent a lot of time trying to convince them that I’m not an eagle, but I don’t think they quite understand.

Another thing: one night while I was browsing GL, I decided that the food I had bought for them was no longer acceptable. I had read about food and planned to switch to Oxbow after this package was gone, but I really panicked for some reason and decided to spend some time sifting out the seeds, colored bits, etc. I was up until about 2 am and hadn’t even finished the bag. I think it was the next day that I finally gave up and just bought a bag of Oxbow.

Also wanted to note that my parents were not entirely on-board with the idea of adding guinea pigs to our home. Yes, I'm a 26-year-old woman living with her parents. I told them it was too bad and I'll do what I want. My dad went "that's fine" and so it was. They still didn't want anything to do with them, though, until they came home. My mom refuses to admit that she loves them to death, but she does sneak upstairs to check on them almost every day. And my dad always cracks-wise about grilling them this summer ("They'll make some good bacon come Spring!"), which is his special way of saying that he likes things a lot.


Up next: the hazards of building a C&C and some veggie experiments.

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Crrrystal

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:32 pm


It wasn’t long before they outgrew their pet store cage. They were probably too big for it when they were born. I was expecting this, though, and just needed to decide what to do. I had been reading about these C&C thingers and was very excited when I found that the set of cubes I had in college would work perfectly for a cage. I bought some coroplast from Lowe’s and set out to craft a small—though larger than before—cage.

I gave up twice in the middle, one time telling the BFF to come pick up her damn animals.

I finished it the next weekend though, and it was worth it. I knew I would need to expand again soon, but had to decide how I would arrange things to make room for more cage. (Side note: that time has come. The boys will have at least a 2x4 by next weekend.)
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"Ok, maybe this New Mom isn't as bad. Would an eagle really try to make us comfortable?

This was also when I switched to fleece. It didn’t take long for me to get really fed up with hauling out bags and bags of Carefresh (and buying it all the time). Fleece seemed like a great solution.
I spent hours and hours browsing the care guide in these first weeks and decided that their suppers didn’t have to consist only of various colored bell peppers. I gave them cucumber and a little bit of parsley now and then, but their absolute favorite was cilantro. Both would calm right down during lap time as long as I had some cilantro for them. They even took it right out of my hand!
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"U can keep ur stoopid chzburgr, for I haz a hat."


You may have noticed by now that I am Queen of Taking Crappy Phone Pictures. Sad thing is my phone actually takes better pictures than my actual camera.
(I swear I’ll make this more story and less textbook when I get a little more current with things. Just wanna catch up first. I may beat myself silly if I miss part.)

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TexCavy

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:51 pm


You're doing fine so far. I've been reading as you go and like it. :)

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Sidera17

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:51 pm


Nice. :) I feel your pain about the parents. I'm 27, living in my parent's house, and my mom in particular gives me a lot of crap about the pigs. My dad loves them and secretly (and not so secretly) feeds them all the time.

More please!

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Hunybee

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:23 pm


Congratulations NewPig Mom!

Our first, almost 3 years ago, was my 19yr old daughter's. We had to get him a friend. Now they are mine and she can't have them. So keep a close eye on your mother! She might sneak them off out of your sight! lol

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Crrrystal

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:29 pm


A lot of time goes by when there isn't a whole lot going on. I'm sure it's probably about the same for a lot of you, too. I think that from reading several months' (or more) at a time, I have this false sense that there is ALWAYS excitement. Always.


So, November rolled around. It was getting chillier and the boys were getting bigger. There was an obvious size difference—both have been growing steadily and seem to be at healthy weights, but Apollo is about 100g larger. Apollo was obviously The Dominant and Most Boarly Boar. I gave them two food bowls and veggie bowls (and water bottles, though they ever only use one. Ever. Even if the preferred one is empty, they never touch the second), but apparently Zeus is just a smaller guy.

Because of their (Apollo’s) increasing size (girth), I needed to find some new hidey-hole options. I had quickly replaced their old wooden shack with a chew-y log (I didn’t realize they were bad until after I bought it). I also took a spare scrap of fleece and made what I intended to be a hammock-type area in the corner. Of course, it was really a tent, as was demonstrated all the time by Apollo.
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This was the first time I saw either pig lay down. Also the first time I saw saxxy leg.

November also brought the first butt inspection and subsequent cleaning. I had ordered some alfalfa and pellets from Sweet Meadow. They loved the hay, but it was very, very leafy and crumbled into tiny bits very quickly… and the boys (Apollo especially) started rubbing their butts on everything. Poor Apollo almost had hay growing from his privates! There is no picture here because they are minors and therefore unable to supply pictures of their genitals. Dr. Mom read until early morning about sac cleaning and decided to go for it. Very bad experience for everyone involved.
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They hid from me for a full 20 minutes until dinner time!

Grandma Mom was thoroughly disgusted that I was digging around inside Apollo, but agreed to help with a pedicure.

In other less icky news, Zeus started to socialize a lot more, probably because he was getting extra attention and treats.

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tumble

Post   » Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:56 pm


LOVELY stories. Made my day. Thank you very much.

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Crrrystal

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:18 am


Hunybee- I've described the gross stuff boys do in very, very intimate detail. My mom is no longer interested at all, but doesn't mind checking on them, holding them for a few minutes, etc. No idea what I can do to keep her away from the girls, though... Any suggestions? lol

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Hunybee

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:12 am


As a matter of fact..............

I adopted my female a year ago. She is very temperamental. One minute you can pet her, another, you can't. She has decided that she would rather turn around and PEE at me when she doesn't want to be bothered. And I'm pretty sure Jasper has been sprayed a time or two.

So YES, female guinea pigs will use pee as a weapon. There is a video of a female spraying in the face of another guinea pig.

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Crrrystal

Post   » Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:39 pm


PERFECT! "Mom, you'll have to anally violate the boys, and the girls will aggressively pee on you. Better just stay away."

I sure hope that works...


As an aside, I've been pigsitting BFF's kiddos for a couple weeks now, and I take them back tomorrow :( I'm hoping to get tons of memory pics before they leave me, so there will (hopefully) be more pics up soon. They just won't be my pigs, is all.

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Crrrystal

Post   » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:45 am


Back to the story! I've decided to experiment and write this part as if it's happening *right now* in the hope that it will be less confusing. I'm almost caught up, though, since this chapter happened within the last 4-5 weeks.


Grandpa Dad has been bugging me to bring one of the boys down during the day to hang out in his room. My dad is pretty much bed-bound due to his poor health.

"But Daddy, they'll get lonely! And the cage isn't big enough for both of them." (The cage refers to the old pet store cage, since that's what will fit in his room.)

"Oh. They won't both go in there?"

"They'll go in, but they won't get along very well because it's so small."

I should also explain that I work long, crazy hours, so if one came down during the day it might be 12+ hours of separation. They already wheek like crazy when I take one out for cuddles... and I pretend it's meant to say "BROTHER! WHERE ARE YOU?! PLEASE COME BACK I MISS YOU SO!" but I may be wrong.

So I started browsing Craigslist. After reading a few threads in the Placement forum, I realized that I very easily could become a hoarder. I wanted more guinea pigs more than I wanted anything in the world, but I had to work very hard to control my urges. I stopped pausing to look at the poor imprisoned animals when I walked through Big Evil Petstore. I stopped looking at Petfinder. I tried to eliminate every trace of there-are-other-guinea-pigs-in-the-world from my life.

But I couldn't quit completely. I didn't stop looking at Craigslist. The deal I made with myself was that I would only bring more pigs home IF they were found on craigslist and were living in poor conditions. A couple weeks went by and I saw nothing, so I basically forgot about it.

Then it happened. I saw listing, just posted earlier that day. A poor little guy in an aquarium(!) with what looked like dirty water, dirty bedding, and a pigloo.

"Hey Daddy... how about your very own guinea pig? There's one on Craigslist."

"Well, I think I would like that."

So I emailed. And then I got a reply! And a few more replies later, it was a nearly done deal. All that was left was arranging a time to pick him up. Then the owner flaked, and I was sad :(

In my depression, I forgot about my self-imposed rule and started looking at local (and not-so-local) rescue leagues. Then, as if it was fate, I found a rodent rescue an hour away from my house. "I must see them!" I said to myself. And Zeus, since he was watching me intently.

So I browsed through their adoptable things. Lots of bunnies, a couple hamsters, and two guinea pigs. I was specifically looking for a cute adult male, preferably without red or pink eyes.

The first was a male teddy-looking guy with pink eyes and a bad-but-improving case of bumblefoot. Eew, pink eyes! Poor guy, bumblefoot! I'm not experienced enough to bring in a pig that has health issues like that, so I kept looking.

The second was Travis, a sweet Abyssinian with a lovely dark brown and white coat. He was in good health, a little over a year old, and cute as the dickens! "Zeus, I must have this Travis!"

The deal I worked out with my dad was that he could be downstairs in the pet store cage during his quarantine period, then we would try introducing him to my boars and go from there. It was all worked out, so I went to inquire about my Travis, and then I saw that my Travis was already adopted. How could they give MY Travis away?!

And then I saw this:
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Crrrystal

Post   » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:50 am


That was too much text! Here are some pictures.

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Apollo found out that mom's blanket makes the PERFECT cozy when he gets to have cuddle time. He was pretty much laying on me then, which was cool.

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Something that irritates my mom is when I bring a pig downstairs and let them sit on the table to eat. Zeus likes hiding in the Cilantro Jungle and pulling out whole stems for eatin'.

Side note: there has only been one (ONE!) "accident" on the table. Apollo walked about a foot away (my dad and I were both at the table and were corralling him with various things, including my arms), and peed on my mom's notebook of crochet patterns. None of the contents were soaked, though, so no harm done!

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