Well to cut it short, M decided she would like some Guinea Pigs. We originally planned to buy a couple from a breeder (about £15 each) but then a couple of 18 month olds were offered on freecycle because the owner was no longer able to care for them properly as circumstances did not allow. We asked, they accepted, and now we have 2 Guinea Pigs. We have named them Algernon and Ernest (Algy and Ernie) from "The Importance of Being...".
We also got them checked by a vet, but they are in good health.
M did some Googling to become an expert in their care, and also found good examples of how to cage them for maximum comfort (apparently 2 GPs need a minimum of 7.5 sqr ft on one level). We have devised our own cage based on Ikea IVAR shelving which we have plenty of - giving them a luxurious penthouse with just under 10 sqr feet on the ground floor and about 5 sqr feet on the top floor.
We knew they were happy with their new home because they immediately began making their "happy noises" and "popcorning" (which is when they kind of jump up with their hind legs - the Guinea Pig equivalent of "cutting a caper").
Young E is of course constantly wanting to see them and feed them and stroke them and hug them and squeeze them - but he is not allowed to do anything except feed them and then only under supervision - they still need to become accustomed to us and their environment - and E needs to develop his understanding a bit too.
But enough waffle, allow me to introduce the new arrivals with this time lapse film:
(For those technical among us who care about such things: 1 frame taken every 15 seconds, compiled into a 25 fps AVI using the free MakeAVI software, then converted to WMV with Windows Media Encoder).
1 comment:
Cute little chaps!
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