August is looking better for us

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AldenM1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:19 am


I love the froggy fleece! (The pig is cute too. :) )

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Sydspigsmom
Piggy Patron

Post   » Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:06 pm


Thanks! I check for purple and green fleece for her cage everytime I venture in a fabric store. A gal can't have too much!

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TexCavy

Post   » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:55 pm


Such cuties! I just LOVE the name Mumble. I don't think I have heard that one before. :)

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Shania_3

Post   » Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:03 pm


Mumble is sure a great name. I considered naming one of my pigs it once. :)

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Sydspigsmom
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Post   » Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:00 am


We have an adoption roadtrip planned for this weekend. We are heading down to Cincinnati to visit family and more importantly, let Mumble pick out a friend! She has been alone for more than 2 years, so please send us good thoughts that she will be able to pick (and accept) a friend.

She has continued to blossom at our house. Our current favorite is the routine she does after her cage gets cleaned and she has new fleece. We all just sit quietly while she investigates her cage and when it passes approval, she popcorns!

Edit : Fixed Spelling

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Catie Cavy
Supporter 2011-2020

Post   » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:39 am


Hope all goes well. Are you going to This Little Piggy & Me?

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Sydspigsmom
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Post   » Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:24 am


Yes we are. We've been looking at her guinea pigs on petfinder for months and she has some cuties. Sydspigs loves all the lab piggies (esp. Michaela) but the final decision will be Mumble's.

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Pikatot

Post   » Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:40 am


Just caught up on the cute piggies on this thread and I'm excited for Mumble to get a friend! Have fun on your roadtrip. Can't wait to hear about it when you come back.

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Sydspigsmom
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Post   » Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:32 pm


A brief update: The trip was uneventful and Mumble made the trip safely. There will be a longer story about Mumble's visit to the rescue later, but just know we saw a side of Mumble we didn't know existed! Can you say DIVA?

Note to Mumble: A friend would be a good thing, play nice!

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Sydspigsmom
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Post   » Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:58 am


This will be a long post as I’m choosing to share our full adventure because it was a learning experience for us and it seems it might be good to share it. We had only adopted pairs before and finding a friend for Mumble proved to be a bit more involved than we anticipated. This was truly an adventure for Mumble as she was to come along to pick her friend. This later proved to be very wise!

Due to a pet dander allergy in our host’s family, plans had been made for Mumble to have a weekend sleepover at This Little Piggy & Me. Sydspigs and I took Mumble in and walked into an amazing piggy heaven! Sydspigs was eager to look around and find all her petfinder favorites. Mumble was not so eager. The ride down was a much longer ride than any Mumble has had and this place wasn’t home. Mumble was taken out of her carrier and declared cute. She was placed in a 2x3 by herself and after her long trip was ready for a rest.

Saturday was the day we picked for Mumble to meet some potential friends. Two hours were set aside for Mumble to make her choice. She was placed in a big play area and a few females were brought out for her to meet.

Please keep in mind before you read any further that Mumble has been alone for at least 2 ½ years and she has been an absolute sweetheart for us the 6 months she has been with us.

Butts were sniffed and we were off! We witnessed a side of Mumble we didn’t know existed! It did not take long to see that Mumble is a very dominant guinea pig! Mumble’s nose was raised in the air as perfectly lovely females were run off one after another. The hair on Mumble’s back bristled and she stiff-legged hopped at one who must have upset her somehow. One after another, potential friends were taken away as our little diva rejected them. It was like finding out your child was the school yard bully! There was one little gal, Michaela, who seemed to tolerate Mumble’s antics a little better than the others. It also appeared that Mumble may have claimed ownership of her. Mumble would place herself between other pigs and Michaela as if to herd them away from Michaela. After two hours it was honestly not clear if Mumble would be able to live with another guinea pig or not. It was agreed that the only option would be Michaela. But it would take some time to see if that would really work.

So Mumble and Michaela were placed in a 2x4 with plans for us to pick up either Mumble or Mumble & Michaela on Monday morning. They would on keep a close eye on the two of them to see just how well this pairing would work over the next day and a half and to see if a friendship would spark.

Sydspigs asked me several times over Saturday evening and Sunday if I thought we would be adopting Michaela and I had to answer honestly “I just don’t know.”

Monday arrived (along with a wicked snow storm I‘ll have you know) and we headed out to find out if Mumble had a friend. I walked in and peeked into a 2x4 with two gals! They were getting along better and had been seen eating together. We were told we needed to make sure they had two of everything fun (igloos, tunnels, cozies, etc.) or Mumble would let Michaela know it’s hers, but TLP&Me thought it would work. After 5 ½ hours (usually a 4 hour trip) we all arrived home. We set up a neutral floor time and placed the carrier inside. Bribed them with some veggies and here’s what happened:
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I’ll update more later, as this is plenty long as it is!

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Sydspigsmom
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Post   » Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:33 am


Mumble and Michaela seem to be settling in nicely. Mumble’s 2x3 was expanded into a 2x4. I put a temporary liner under the one end until we can get new coroplast. We have fleece draped over one the end because we had a little problem with igloos and had to take them out. Mumble has a purple one and the rescue gave us a blue one for Michaela, but Michaela kept going into the purple one and that didn’t go over well at all. I did wash everything up really well, but Mumble still knew the purple one was HERS!

Together in the fleece draped “Lair”
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Salad time
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Yesterday, I would find them either at opposite ends of the cage with Michaela in the “Lair” or I would find Mumble in the “Lair” with Michaela. Understandably, Michaela wasn’t venturing out in the open much. Today Michaela had no problem coming out for food but if I (or the camera) made any noise back she went. Today I saw some nose touching which seemed different from noses raised in dominance? So far, so good?

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Catie Cavy
Supporter 2011-2020

Post   » Wed Feb 17, 2010 8:11 pm


I’m glad things seem to be working out. I was worried you came home empty-handed when you said you found out Mumble was a diva. Is Michaela one of the lab pigs?

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