Meal time for Fluffy and Baby

Fluffy and Baby eat various kinds of plant food. We are very surprised to find out how much these two creatures can eat! We provide the piggies with lots of Timothy grass and Alfafa twice a day but all would be eaten by evening and morning.

During floor-time, they get a tray of greens (water spinach, long beans, broccolli, and cucumber). They also love baby corns, carrots, lettuce, apple, grapes, kale, caulifower and bread! Besides grass and fresh food, they also enjoy Forti-Diet Guinea Pigs' pellet. We also feed them some commercially mixed feed for guinea pigs but some items were usually left uneaten. They would not eat sunflower seeds, for example.

Unlike some people who tend to keep the best until the end, Fluffy and Baby choose their favorites and eat those first. For example, they would finish the green leafy vegetables first (but would not eat the stalk), then the long beans ...etc. Both Baby and Fluffy have very good sense of hearing and smell. They could even "predict" when their meals are on the way when they hear a certain chain of events happening (creaking of door -> opening of refrigerator -> closing of refrigerator -> sound of water). Both the animals would get excited and "popcorn" around the cage. They would also stand on their hind legs and squeak loudly until we deliver their foods! What an endearing sight.

Sleeping with eyes open!

Most of the time, guinea pigs sleep with eyes wide open. The picture here shows Baby sound asleep with eyes open. One of his ears twitches occasionally and sometimes he munches in his sleep. We are not sure if he was dreaming. Do guinea pigs dream anyway?

Ever since our guinea pigs became rounder and heavier, they sleep less and less on all fours. When Baby sleeps, he looks like a white and long sausage. He usually nods his head until he rolls on his side.

Guinea pigs sleep

This picture on the right shows Fluffy sleeping with his eyes almost shut. Guinea pigs usually sleep about 10 hours a day (mine do) but rarely with their eyes closed. So this is a rare sight!

Guinea pigs are diurnal creatures. They usually sleep at night and are awake during daytime. Guinea pigs are preys to many animals and have to remain alert at all times and that's why they sleep with their eyes wide open. At the slightest sign of sound or movement, they are ready to escape! However, at home, Fluffy and Baby must have felt very safe to sleep with their eyes closed.

Fluffy and Baby sleep between meals. When one sleeps, the other also sleeps. When one yawns, so will the other! They take many short naps in the daytime. They also yawn a lot when they feel tired. Baby twitches his ears when deep in sleep! They usually wake up together.

Guinea Pig's Floor-time

Fluffy and Baby enjoy their 'floor-time' once a day, everyday. The duration varies. They usually feel very tired if they have too much floor-time. It's also the time of the day when they get fed a tray full of their favorite veggies such as carrots, lettuce, baby corn, cucumbers, spinach and broccolli.

When enjoying floor-time, they always use a specific corner as toilet area and this area is lined with newspaper and paper towel.

Floor-time is a time for activities. They would chase each other wildly and run like horses. Some times, they would crash onto the sides because they were unable to brake and stop!! Another activity is ball nudging - they would use their noses and heads to move the ball all over the floor. Even feeding is a game! Even though there would be lots of food, Fluffy and Baby had been seen to compete for food items. For example, if Fluffy had a leaf of lettuce, baby would snatch it from him. Fluffy would snatch it back and fling it to another side ... it was hilarious to watch. Usually, after intense activities for 3 hours or more, the piggies would be so tired that they would both lie flat on the floor, unable to move.

It would then be time to return them to the cleaned cage where they could sleep. But that's when they would start running again. They would run very fast to avoid being picked up. After they have been returned to the cage, the kitchen would be tidied up and wiped because they usually shed lots of hair on the floor. There would also be bits and pieces of left over food from "the battle".

Cleaning Guinea Pig's Cage

The Guinea Pig's cage requires daily cleaning because we want our piggies to live in hygienic conditions.

The white box was constructed from chloroplast or corrugated plastic. This material is waterproof, easy to fold and resists chemicals well. Thus it's durable as a base for the animals' bedding as urine from the guinea pigs will not corrode it. The sides are cleaned with "SWIPE" solution everyday. SWIPE is a household cleaner which is supposed to kill 99.99% of germs in comes into contact with and safe for human skin.
The beddings we use are usually from "Nature to Nature" and/or "Back-2-Nature" brands. They are both dust free and made from recycled paper. The "rings" are from the inside of toilet rolls and we use them as supports for the plastic mesh, raising it at least 5cm from the bedding and leaving enough space for pile up of poops. The beddings also expand after absorbing liquid waste. Daily cleaning of the cage takes no more than 15 minutes for a thorough job.

These are the steps:

1. Remove guinea pigs [they have floor-time and lots of yummy veggies to eat]
2. Remove all food bowls and wash them + refill food bowls with fresh supplies
3. Remove plastic mesh and spray wash them to remove traces of urine
4. Dry the plastic mesh
5. Scoop up all solid waste + soiled beddings
   
6. Top up with clean beddings
7. Replace plastic mesh and food bowls
8. Much later put back the guinea pigs

Every fortnight, the whole cage is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. It takes about 15 liters of animal beddings to cover the entire base of the cage. Right now, I've found an even better way of reducing the cleaning time. A thin layer of newspaper is used to cover the top of the bedding and some beddings sprinkled around the "toilet areas". The next morning, the soiled newspaper could easily be rolled up and some of the soiled beddings below replaced. This cuts the cleaning time by half, removes all the animals' dandy, and the base bedding does can last a much longer time.

I usually wear a surgical mask while cleaning the cage. It's always good to take precautions to protect one's health ... guinea pigs shed very fine hair that can enter one's airways and cause allergies to those prone to such allergies.

Guinea Pig's cage

Fluffy and Baby have grown quite a lot after one month. The commercial cages are too small for them. So we built this spacious cage for them. They do not stay in the cage all the time. Part of the time, they roam our kitchen (which is more spacious) for exercise. They love chasing each other and using their noses to nudge the balls which we give them as toys.

While in their smaller cage, we realized that both of them had their "toilet corners" and those happened to be the extreme corners of the cage. In this cage, the weakest parts are the corners of the cage and would be difficult to clean when soiled. Thus, we place their food bowls and a steel ball at the corners. They now use one long side and one of the shorter sides as their toilet areas. They like to rest/sleep below the "hanging platform" - it represents their safe spot. The cage remains very clean and well-ventilated throughout the day and night. The plastic mesh flooring is elevated 2 inches above an inch of animal bedding, which is made of recycled paper and available in some pet supplies shops. The animal bedding absorbs urine and swell, making it easy to scoop up and clean the affected areas. Cleaning the cage is a breeze! We'll be writing more about how we contructed the cage.

Fluffy: The Big Brother

This is Fluffy a week after he became our pet. He's given the arbitrary birthday of April 1st, 2005 (April Fool's Day) so that we can more accurately remember his age as time goes by.

In this picture, he was only two months old. He made no sound and seemed uninterested in anything (including food) before Baby (another guinea pig) came ... I was a little worried. He only squeaked when he heard the sound of running water and purred when he heard the sound of jingling keys. Apparently, those sounds were supposed to mean that he was alarmed at the sound of running water and disliked the sound of jingling keys. Fluffy's personality was transformed after Baby's arrival - Baby taught him how to beg and squeak for food.

Baby Arrives Home

Baby arrived home in a small cardbox box (like the ones used by cakeshops) filled with a small amount of pine shavings and a handful of hay. It was quite nervous after the ride home in a taxi with me. It was kept in a cage by itself next to Fluffy's cage. Fluffy, the bigger guinea pig, was overexcited in the next cage and kept wanting to "communicate" with Baby. Baby was the noisy one and Fluffy was no longer silent after Baby arrived.

We called it "Baby" because he was really tiny and cute! Later, it seemed unnatural to change its name to something else. He was given an arbitrary birthday - May 1st, 2005 (International Worker's Day). Baby was gradually introduced to Fluffy, but we were also watching closely to make sure that it would not be hurt by its excited "big brother" piggy. Knowing that these animals could be territorial, we decided to introduce Baby into our kitchen first. He was such a fast runner! He dashed like lightning! All we saw was GUINEA PIG here .... then GUINEA PIG there! He was that quick.

Then we let Fluffy into the kitchen. It was a tense moment! Fluffy sniffed Baby high and low while Baby just stood still for the "inspection". Fluffy did a few minutes of "rumble strutter" dance (supposed to impress a mate /show dominance) and then they were off playing! They got along well - we couldn't believe our eyes. Fluffy "showed" Baby around the kitchen and Baby followed. It was a wonderful sight!

Fluffy and Baby: Two Young Guinea Pigs

Fluffy and Baby were from two different pet shops in Hong Kong. The pet shops were situated at Tung Choi Street in Mongkok district. When Fluffy arrived home, he was only two months old (now he's 3 months) and Baby was so tiny, I was told he was only one month old, and now is two.

Fluffy, an Abyssinian and Peruvian cross I think, has very thick fur that grows and needs trimming regularly. He already had two haircuts the past month! He was an extremely active cavy and very alert - but was kept with three other rather large and lethargic ones in a glass tank in the pet shop. I decided to buy him and give him a decent home. He cost me HK $280 but including all the food, cage , and assessories in all, I paid almost HK $800+.

When Fluffy arrived home, he was so quiet and shy and refused to eat or drink. He just froze! After two days, he started to eat a little but seemed "too quiet" so after researching and reading about how to care for guinea pigs, I decided to get him a "friend". So off I went and got Baby for him. Baby was from another pet shop and was kept together like what seemed to be a 2x2 feet square tray - which by the way was at the front of the shop facing the morning sun. With temperatures above 30 degrees Celcious, it was so hot and humid out there! Baby squeaked a lot - he caught my attention. I thought he might make a good companion for Fluffy. So I bought him - he cost HK $48. I also bought another cage because I read that one has to introduce new guinea pigs "slowly", and there is definitely some wisdom in that advice!

Finally Baby arrived home with me. Fluffy acted strangely. He strutted and rumbled. He was extremely excited and his personality changed!