Snickerspants Vol. 7: A New Day
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AldenM1
- Supporter in '16
Big things have been afoot for our herd!
After a disappointing Memorial Day weekend when we realized we didn't have all the supplies we needed, we managed to actually build a completely new cage this past weekend. The cage mainly needed to be replaced because of all the chewing. 7 years of chewing can work a number on some grids! But then it occurred to me that I could make some changes if we reconstructed from the ground up. The most exciting change is that the new cage sits on furniture dollies. We made this modification ourselves because the cage kit I bought back in 2009 was on casters that just didn't work very well. The dollies are so awesome, the cage just rolls around now!
New on left, old on right
So we finished the cage Sunday, but I still had work to do yesterday. First I moved Team Magnolia to the bed. There was wheeking.
Then I moved their coroplast bin and put them back.
Then I did the same for the Elder Ladies.
Then I cut the old cage down to a 2x3. The Elder Ladies aren't moving around much, and this will help decrease the footprint of cage in what is supposed to be my office and the guest bedroom. (Also I think this step helped convince my husband that this whole thing wasn't my nefarious plan to add six more guinea pigs to the family! I'm not going to put more pigs in an immobilized, one-level 2x3. Probably. Right?)
It was at this point that I realized I was missing some pieces of coroplast I'd need that I'd last seen in February, and also that I'd been using the 2x3 bin coroplast for project work since we upgraded in 2010. So I had to cobble together a new 2x3 bin out of various other pieces of coroplast. Fortunately in the process I found the ramp safety wall I needed for the 2x4.
Then I made up the new 2x3 and plunked the Elder Ladies in it. They each popcorned exactly once. I felt thanked.
And then the fun part! I cleaned the bottom floor of the 2x4 and moved Team Magnolia into it. Then I cleaned the top floor and made the changes in configuration necessary so I could add the ramp. Cici, of course, lived with a ramp for a year and a half, so she immediately knew what to do and ran right upstairs. But Steve had only seen the ramp once and that didn't go well (pictorial evidence back on page 2), and Lil Pouf hadn't ever seen one.
Graciously, Cici offered to eat all the dinner since she was the only one who arrived upstairs.
I did have to shepherd them up and down a couple of times. Well, okay, not "them" so much: just Steve. Lil Pouf figured it out pretty fast and was delighted to take over the man cave, because of course she was. But at 2am Steve was still loitering sadly upstairs while the ladies had gone to bed downstairs. So I kind of pushed him down the ramp. When he got to the bottom I could almost see the lightbulb go off. But he wasn't going to admit that he had been confused. So he turned on the rumblestrut motor and rumbled up and down the ramp about 3 times before joining the ladies for bed!
After a disappointing Memorial Day weekend when we realized we didn't have all the supplies we needed, we managed to actually build a completely new cage this past weekend. The cage mainly needed to be replaced because of all the chewing. 7 years of chewing can work a number on some grids! But then it occurred to me that I could make some changes if we reconstructed from the ground up. The most exciting change is that the new cage sits on furniture dollies. We made this modification ourselves because the cage kit I bought back in 2009 was on casters that just didn't work very well. The dollies are so awesome, the cage just rolls around now!
New on left, old on right
So we finished the cage Sunday, but I still had work to do yesterday. First I moved Team Magnolia to the bed. There was wheeking.
Then I moved their coroplast bin and put them back.
Then I did the same for the Elder Ladies.
Then I cut the old cage down to a 2x3. The Elder Ladies aren't moving around much, and this will help decrease the footprint of cage in what is supposed to be my office and the guest bedroom. (Also I think this step helped convince my husband that this whole thing wasn't my nefarious plan to add six more guinea pigs to the family! I'm not going to put more pigs in an immobilized, one-level 2x3. Probably. Right?)
It was at this point that I realized I was missing some pieces of coroplast I'd need that I'd last seen in February, and also that I'd been using the 2x3 bin coroplast for project work since we upgraded in 2010. So I had to cobble together a new 2x3 bin out of various other pieces of coroplast. Fortunately in the process I found the ramp safety wall I needed for the 2x4.
Then I made up the new 2x3 and plunked the Elder Ladies in it. They each popcorned exactly once. I felt thanked.
And then the fun part! I cleaned the bottom floor of the 2x4 and moved Team Magnolia into it. Then I cleaned the top floor and made the changes in configuration necessary so I could add the ramp. Cici, of course, lived with a ramp for a year and a half, so she immediately knew what to do and ran right upstairs. But Steve had only seen the ramp once and that didn't go well (pictorial evidence back on page 2), and Lil Pouf hadn't ever seen one.
Graciously, Cici offered to eat all the dinner since she was the only one who arrived upstairs.
I did have to shepherd them up and down a couple of times. Well, okay, not "them" so much: just Steve. Lil Pouf figured it out pretty fast and was delighted to take over the man cave, because of course she was. But at 2am Steve was still loitering sadly upstairs while the ladies had gone to bed downstairs. So I kind of pushed him down the ramp. When he got to the bottom I could almost see the lightbulb go off. But he wasn't going to admit that he had been confused. So he turned on the rumblestrut motor and rumbled up and down the ramp about 3 times before joining the ladies for bed!
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AldenM1
- Supporter in '16
A bit of catching-up is in order!
Steve had a very stressful trip to the vet. You can tell he's stressed, right?
He is a heart pig. :( He's probably older than we thought, too. But he's loving his meds -- he has zoomies all the time now!
And he continues to be super stressed.
If he had testicles, they would need a receptacle.
In other stress-related news, we have VickieWhiskers, who has decided that the safest thing to do when anything scares her is to torpedo into the hay rack. Cookie waits for her to do it and hangs out below.
Vickie would also rather not eat out in the open, although I'm not sure exactly what extra safety the litterbox provides.
The ladies of Team Magnolia, meanwhile, have decided their safety is maximized in the man-cave. Truvy especially is almost always down there. Thank goodness they have such a big cage!
And our last update is from yesterday, when I'd finally had it with TruvyPouf's complaining while I snuggled her if I touched anywhere near her butt. I grabbed my sharpest very special sewing scissors and started surreptitiously cutting off long locks when she wasn't looking, while I was lying on my back with her on my chest. This worked in terms of minimizing her screaming and hopping around, but I didn't really think through how it was going to generate a giant cloud of pouf-hair right in my face.
I was very sneezy yesterday.
Steve had a very stressful trip to the vet. You can tell he's stressed, right?
He is a heart pig. :( He's probably older than we thought, too. But he's loving his meds -- he has zoomies all the time now!
And he continues to be super stressed.
If he had testicles, they would need a receptacle.
In other stress-related news, we have VickieWhiskers, who has decided that the safest thing to do when anything scares her is to torpedo into the hay rack. Cookie waits for her to do it and hangs out below.
Vickie would also rather not eat out in the open, although I'm not sure exactly what extra safety the litterbox provides.
The ladies of Team Magnolia, meanwhile, have decided their safety is maximized in the man-cave. Truvy especially is almost always down there. Thank goodness they have such a big cage!
And our last update is from yesterday, when I'd finally had it with TruvyPouf's complaining while I snuggled her if I touched anywhere near her butt. I grabbed my sharpest very special sewing scissors and started surreptitiously cutting off long locks when she wasn't looking, while I was lying on my back with her on my chest. This worked in terms of minimizing her screaming and hopping around, but I didn't really think through how it was going to generate a giant cloud of pouf-hair right in my face.
I was very sneezy yesterday.
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daisymay
- Supporter 2016-2018
How could you? You mean cavy slave cutting all that fur off TruvyPouf's bot-bot how traumatic for her. I hope you kissed it better! You have another piggy in those scales with all that fur.
And I hope Steve recovers from a traumatic trip to the vet, poor little mite! So stressed he fainted. Well looks like it anyways. Very cute piggies!
And I hope Steve recovers from a traumatic trip to the vet, poor little mite! So stressed he fainted. Well looks like it anyways. Very cute piggies!
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snowflakey
- E's Moriarity
Oh, so much stress! Well, the ladies are a bit stressy. Steve is awesomely relaxed, uh, "stressed."
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AldenM1
- Supporter in '16
I think sweet Cookie, the Hufflepuff and last of my OG Hogwarts Four, will be leaving us tomorrow. True to form she has made it very difficult to make that call because she's as sunny-natured and sweet as ever, but even a genuine sweetheart eventually loses the battle with time. She fell asleep on my chest tonight and looked frail and tired, and I made her the same promise I made Ouiser, that I will help out tomorrow. Fingers crossed we can get time with Dr. A and not have to find some other solution.