Dudies in Venezuela

[Brambles]

Absolute cutest behavior from Mammoth this morning! I always give both of them a quick brush while my computer is starting up, to minimize the hair left in the washing machine and to make them get used to me.

When I put the brush aside, Mammoth started licking and nibbling my fingers. I moved away to type something, but he reached for my hand and put his little paws firmly on it while I tried to calm him down. More licking and nibbling, untill after about 5 minutes, he put his little head down in my hand and fell asleep. The picture woke him up.



I never know if the licking is out of care of for the salt. Maybe I should get a salt stone to see the effect? I don't know: I read mixed opinions about salt stones... and I have the impression Mammoth allready has heart difficulties. I wouldn't want to increase them.

[Crazy4me]

Perhaps the brushing stimulated his desire to groom, or he is returning the favor. Personally I think that he enjoyed his brushing session!

[bpatters]

Ditto Crazy4me. And I wouldn't give him salt. GPs don't need it, and GPs with heart problems really don't need it.

[Lynx]

Adorable indeed!!!

[clairey]

I have a theory that it must be piggy manners to reciprocate when someone or somepig grooms you well. Robert does the exact same thing. He only grooms me when I'm combing him or just after. It's nice to be appreciated, isn't it? :)

[Brambles]

Thanks! He's holding my hand so firmly, it's really too cute!

I hope it's about giving love & care back. He enjoys haircuts and massages through his curls in the same way, and in general when you're sweet to him is very quick to give some love back, also to Bizonte. My boyfriend and I just present our finger or hand to him, and he'll go at it. He's such an easy and loving piggie!

Thanks for confirming about the salt stone. Mammoth has some health issues: he has one back leg he doesn't have full control over, and when he's not handled well his breathing increases heavily. It's never been critical, so the mandatory vet check-up keeps getting pushed back. Also, I don't really trust vets here... or the medication they would prescribe. There's a lot of fraud going on.

[Brambles]

The weather has been a bit erratic lately but February is there so...



... it's mango season again. Even if Mammoth never showed Bizonte how to eat a full mango, it's still intruiging, and there must be a way to get through the icky outer to reach the yummy inside. Hmm... to find a plan!



Mango trees are so generous. They're everywhere on the street, in gardens and in parks. But there are so many predators, so Mammoth watches out: better send out Bizonte to test for falcons!



Venezuela's nature is so beautiful and plentiful: the mango looks nice, smells nice and probably tastes nice. It could also be a trap, so good scouting is in order.



Bizonte seems to have made it... and found someone to cut it into pieces for him! It must be his pretty flowing hair...

[Lynx]

Oh, mangoes can be so lovely!

[GP_mum]

If you looked as cute as Bizonte or Mammoth, I'm sure it's not difficult to have a slave do your every bidding.

I love mangoes as well and just careful about the pigs eating the skin as some gave her pigs mangoes and ended up with a fatal case of bloat (however, this was a non-cavy owner, and enough said).

[pigjes]

Oh, such incredible sweeties!!!

[Brambles]

Thanks guys!

Mangoes are great, in dry season I bring home two or three a day, and not only for the piggies. They get a piece or two each. Bizonte sure was puzzled by the full mango though. When the manga tree next to my house has fruits I'll have him pose with that.

Thanks for the bloat warning, GP_Mum! I didn't know that. In Venezuela countryside people eat the mango full, with the peel. It's pretty bitter though so we usually peel it, and if not, my pickie piggies leave the peel behind. I should be grateful at their food taste!

[Lynx]

Mangoes have an extremely high amount of sugar so I would use it as a treat only.

Note the sugar content here:
gl/chart.html

[Brambles]

Thanks Lynx, I do only give it as a treat. In rainy season jamaican pears, in dry season mango.



Fooling around with Instagram.

My city is in a valley, and each start of dry season the mountains burn down. I've been feeling it on my breath the past two weeks. There's a smell of burn constantly in the air.

My guys have four slabs of stone in the pen. I wet them regularly, and 5 minutes later the water is evaporated. I hope they aren't suffering too much of it.

[GP_mum]

When we had experienced the haze and had extremely poor air quality (from burnt particles in the air), I closed the windows of my pigs room and draped damp towels around their cage. If you have an air filter, it also helps to run in the room where the pigs are.

I can imagine it's no fun living with the smell of burning in the air and hope it clears up soon.

[Brambles]

Thanks GP_Mum - wet towels is a great idea, I'll remember it when the fire gets too close. The smell goes up and down day by day. At least we allready past the phase were we found burned leaves all around the house.

I'm experimenting with photography on my ipad, and I can't seem to get it right.

It was mentioned that between my piggies, Bizonte seems to be the bigger one. I thought this picture of Mammoth trying to groom Bizonte's ear would show their relative sizes a bit better.



Bizonte tends to use his hair as a safety mechanism. Since the first day we got him he was able to become a perfectly round fluffy ball of fur, or to stretch out to ratlike lenghts in order to reach something outside his safety zone. During nailtrims he hides his front paws deep in his mustaches.

[Noellium]

Awww cute!

I think Mammoth's short, fuzzy-looking hair makes him look smaller to me. When they're next to each other, Mammoth does look a bit bigger than Bizonte. Love Mammoth's curly hair.

[Brambles]

Thanks Noellium! Their actual sizes are hard to grab on picture. Bizonte 'fluffs up' a lot more because of the hair.

Yey! Finally someone sold me a tera external hard drive. Finally space for some better quality pictures again.

I've been experimenting with a new toy: the hammock.



Not so successfully.

So I used the frame for a forest.



Thanks to the forest Bizonte allowed me to approach close enough to take this picture. It was taken with a fixed f2 lens, meaning I was about 10 cm away from my little dudie, with a area in focus of about 4cm (1,5inch).



Mammoth gracefully poses with some fresh grass, while keeping his eye on the camera! The little shape in his eyes is me.

[Lynx]

You do take such great pictures!

[Brambles]

Venezuela has about 20 different kinds of bananas, the regular 'banana' being a 'cambur'. None of the other types are very tasteful to eat from the hand... but with the recent crisis here we decided to eat our last 'platano', which looks like a very large banana and is usually fried, raw. I guess it tasted a bit like a cooked sweet potato.

I shared a piece with the guys. They seemed to like it more than the 'cambur' banana.



Mammoth spending some time with us. I always try to get the two of them together, but Mammoth really likes the quiet and Bizonte is a talker. Bizonte goes up close to him and yips in his ear until Mammoth nips at him. Poor little Bizonte. I've been thinking about getting him a more active little buddy, but I'm afraid to break the bond between him and Mammoth... and frankly, with the crisis going on in Venezuela atm, I'm not sure I should take on another piggie.



But the thought crosses my mind. A little abby... or an agouti... agoutis have such beautiful fur... or a plain shorthaired one, a tricolor or one of those with lots of spots... not giving in to temptation is the clue.

[Lynx]

Your pictures are so beautiful.