Mr. Bubbles and Scruffy

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:09 pm


He’s so cute with that white fluff on his head, and such soulful eyes.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:08 am


He's amazing. Out of all my boys, he's the only one I don't actually have to pick up. He climbs or jumps into my arms. He's also the only licker I have. Sammy licks once in a great while, but other than that, none of the other 6 do that. He and Gilligan still love to visit each other too. He's always been a good eater. Aside from tomatoes, he'll eat just about everything I feed him. He's the low maintenance, loveable guinea pig that everyone wants from their pets.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Tue Apr 27, 2021 7:39 pm


Daughters really enjoyed your last post. Lots of ahhh &ohhh, and carrying on.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sun Aug 01, 2021 3:02 pm


So we're just three days away from the big move from Nevada to Missouri and I'm very anxious about how my guinea pigs make the trip. In particular, Mr Bubbles because of his age. He's 5 years old now and in good health. My plan for him is to transport him in his cage to minimize the impact of traveling for two and a half days. His cage will fit on the front seat if I fold it down with half of it going into the second row. A few of the pigs will have to travel in carriers. I'm going to put the younger ones in those. I have two of the small cages that will fit along with a couple of the 2 by 3 footers.

Sammy and Dean are the next oldest at around 3 years of age and the rest are two and under. They're all healthy so I believe they will make the trip just fine. The car has front and rear climate control, so I will be able to keep them comfortable. We're not going to be breaking any speed records or taking any of the curves fast enough to make them tumble around either. I'm hoping for a smooth trip and for all of them to make it to our new home safely.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Sun Aug 01, 2021 3:23 pm


Sounds like a good plan. We hadn't heard from you and I figured you were busy getting ready for the big move.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Aug 01, 2021 4:37 pm


Take something to shade the cages from sun. Even with the A/C on, having the sun shine directly on you in a car can make it pretty hot.

And good luck! Moving in August is a sure sign of insanity!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:22 pm


Good luck for sure! I hope all goes well!!

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:51 pm


Best of luck on your move. I just watched a video on heat exhaustion in guinea pigs. Bpatters is right - take some sort of sun shade even though the vehicle is air conditioned. And also mentioned was freezing water in a pop bottle, putting the bottle in a sock and placing that in the carrier so they have a cool place.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2021 6:15 am


My windows are tinted pretty good, but I plan on shading them from the sun. I also have water bottles that can go on the carrier door for those in them. We've been non-stop for weeks now and I'm utterly exhausted. There's still unpacking when we get to the new place too, so no immediate end in sight. My body is shot so bad that even my aches and pains have aches and pains. Luckily my son is moving with us and doing a lot of the heavy lifting. We've gotten rid of a ton of stuff. I knew we had accumulated a lot, but it's worse than I thought. We have a 26 foot Penske truck, my Ram 1500 and a 6 by 10 foot trailer and we'll still be leaving two large storage units full of stuff we have to come back here and go through later. Whew!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:39 pm


By the way, I think it was yesterday on Science Friday (NPR) I heard the best way to cool down badly overheated athletes is to chill their hands and feet because the cool blood is taken to the heart.

That tells me bringing extra ice to have on hand to chill some water for their feet in an emergency could help.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Wed Aug 04, 2021 1:40 am


I'm glad you have help, moving is a big job. At least when you get there, there's no rush to get everything done. Just get the guinea pigs taken care of and the basics for you, and take it a day at a time.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:43 pm


Happy to report that all 12 piggies made the trip to our new home safely. Because of unforseen circumstances, we wound up doing more night driving than day. That helped keep them cool. They took up the whole inside of the car except for the driver's seat, including having to fold down the front passenger seat. Mr Bubbles rode in his regular cage as planned and did very well. He probably didn't even realize that he was traveling. I had Sammy and Dean in one of the old, smaller cages and the girls in the other one. Wilber and Grady, Gilligan and Skipper, Kailua and Jack were in totes. It wasn't optimal but it was grade A compared to how they are transported to the pet stores.

When I started out, I had Gilligan and Skipper separate in the small carriers for the first leg, but my wife noticed that something wasn't right and we decided to put them in a totes together because they weren't doing well. I was worried that I might lose them because you could see that they were getting depressed. As soon as I put them back together they perked right up. I checked on them every time we stopped and made sure there was plenty of hay for everyone and I changed their bedding every day. I also left the car running at all times with the temperature set at 68° while the piggies were in the car. I had blankets over them to keep the sun off of them.

We stayed in a hotel on the first night and they waived the $10 per pet fee for the guinea pigs, which helped out. The second night, we stayed with family and they had a really nice and safe spot for the pigs. We drove through the third night and took a few hours nap at a rest area before getting to our new home early evening. Each time we were able to get them out of the car, I was able to let them out and stretch their little legs.

It was a very tough trip for us. The big Penske truck was very tough to handle and took a lot out of me. I'm pretty sure we overloaded it, which made it impossible for it to go more than 25-30 mph up the many big hills in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and parts of Nebraska. The drive that normally takes us 20 hours ended up being nearly 40 hours. It wasn't much better for my wife driving my truck with a full bed and pulling a fully loaded trailer, or my son in the car full of guinea pigs.

But we all made it all in one piece with all of our stuff. The piggies are all back in their own cages. I even get to have them in the master bedroom with us. Now we have the monumental task of getting unpacked and settled in. My body is just hammered right now. It feels like every disability I have is 10 times worse. I can hardly move, to say nothing of walking around or picking up and moving boxes. I've had to just rub dirt in my wounds, suck it up and stay in the fight. Advil helps, but I'm running on instincts, physical and mental toughness and we'll get it done. Luckily I have my son and nephew to help us with some of that. Then I can get rested and recovered and start working on making this mini homestead work.

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