Sam and Dean

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:48 am


Oh he is. All of my boys are. I moved Sammy and Dean's cage to the bottom level of the stand I built to make room for the 3 huge cages and put Mr Bubbles on the dresser. He was starting to hide more than he ever did and stopped coming out to greet me. It's a little darker under there. Sammy and Dean like it. Anyway, the doors flip up to open and when I get into that cage, I hook them to the front of Scruffy's cage so they don't fall while I'm getting in there. Scruffy, being the attention hog he is unhooks it to make it fall so I have to pay attention to him. I laugh so hard and it's so cute that I just can't get mad at it. A handful of grass from outside keeps him busy so I can do what I need to do with Sammy and Dean.

It's his way of getting extra grass and attention. Smart little guy!

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Jun 26, 2019 4:29 am


I had all four of the boys outside to graze today. Although Sammy and Dean are paired, they squabble when they go outside, so I separate them. That makes 3 separate enclosures because Mr Bubbles doesn't need to be in a 4 sided one. I usually set them up so that he has barriers on 3 sides and me sitting in front of the opening. He doesn't get scared and bolt. If something startles him he runs to me.

When they are outside in that set up, they graze pretty peaceful. They barely notice each other and eat their fill. Anyway, there we all were enjoying the last bit of daylight and some quality grazing time when for some reason, Dean decided that he wanted to get at Mr Bubbles. He started pulling on the cage right at one of the joints with his mouth and almost got it apart. I had to hold it down until he gave up. Once he figured out that he wasn't getting out, he went back to grazing and didn't try it again. When it was time to go inside, I found out why. Apparently, Mr Bubbles peed right on the edge of his area where Dean was eating grass. I could tell because it was on the grass. I always wondered if urine was a trigger between unpaired males and it seems to be the case.

If Dean had gotten in with Mr Bubbles, it could have been disastrous. Mr Bubbles is bigger and stronger than Dean and he doesn't like other piggies in with him. I probably would have a vet bill. So now I have to either come up with another idea or go back to having them out there in sets of two. I have lots of materials and ways to keep em seperated.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:15 am


More secure closures? Metal clips of some sort? Carabiners? Maybe with stakes for the walls so they can't be lifted out? I sometimes use giant binder clips, which are very strong.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:28 pm


Would zip ties work to keep the joints together?

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:36 pm


They are kept together with zip ties, but they are getting old and brittle. I think I should replace them, but I also need a barrier between Dean and Mr Bubbles that they can't see each other through when they go outside. Or I can just rearrange them so they aren't next to each other. There's plenty of options.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:44 pm


I've been a little under the weather for the last week, so I haven't been able to do much above the norm, but I'm starting to feel better. I was digging through my building materials to get an idea of what I have on hand for a guinea pig playground I've been planning and I came across a log slice from a Birch tree one of my neighbors had removed a few years ago. It's about 10 inches in diameter and about 3 inches thick. Would it be safe to put in with the piggies to climb on and chew? I don't see why not, but I thought I would get some opinions from you guys.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:44 am


I don't know. I'm always worried about sap being potentially dangerous. I'd *think* it would be safer if it were dried first, but maybe others can offer opinions.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sat Jun 29, 2019 7:46 pm


I know it's better to dry the sap out of it. It was cut down 3 years ago and it was a much longer log when I got it. I cut slices off of it to use as the table center pieces for my granddaughter's wedding about a year after it was cut down. This thick slice is all that's left of it.

I think it should be dried out by now. I'm not sure though. The other thing I don't know is if birch wood is safe for guinea pigs to knaw on.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sun Jul 07, 2019 10:30 pm


Image

Here we are finally getting to go outside and enjoy some fresh air and grass. It's been several days for us since our human has been a bit under the weather. Luckily he's feeling better today and brought us outside. He was afraid that we might be a little skidish since it's been a while, but we proved him wrong.

While we share a cage and we love each other, we still have to be separated when we go outside because we fight over the grass. We would tell our human why, but he wouldn't understand because it's a Guinea Pig thing. No matter though; it's good nutritious grass and it has the added bonus of being very tasty. We're getting our fill of it today. We wish our brothers, Mr Bubbles and Scruffy could join us, but they can't come out until we're done because the 4 of us in separate pens is too much for our human to handle outside by himself.

We're going for our nail trim soon. Not looking forward to that because we hate having our feet messed with. Oh well, it has to be done or we run into problems. I guess it's better to keep them up than to go through treatment if our human lets them get too long. Bye for now!

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:37 am


Our nail trim appointment is on the 23rd of July. We're so not looking forward to that, but we'll worry about that when the time comes. Maybe our human will forget about it. Not likely, but we can hope, right? In the meantime, we enjoyed our fresh grass today, that is until a bunch of humans down the street started setting off fireworks. It scared us half to death, so our human took us inside and picked us some grass to eat in the safety of our cages. We'll have another day to graze.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jul 15, 2019 9:58 pm


It sounds like you have a rather adventurous life, being able to get outside in the grass 'n all! I imagine you are brave enough to get through a nail trim!

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:20 pm


Yay! We got through our nail trim! Both of us are right around 2.5 lbs. We didn't even have to get prodded or anything like that. We didn't like having our nails done, but at least it went very easy for us. Why were we even worried? Tomorrow is Mr Bubbles and Scruffy's turn. I hope they have as easy a time as we did.

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