Introducing Cocoa, Fudge, Toffee and Candy the Guinea Pigs. Drum roll please......!
Let me tell you the story behind all these new pets!
At first we just had one Guinea pig, Toffee. He was Beth's first Guinea Pig which she got for Christmas, 2009. She had wanted a Guinea Pig for a long time, but we only found one for Christmas.
Toffee, (a male) began to show signs of loneliness and needed a friend, so we went to another pet shop to get a female from a different litter.
Beth named her new female Guinea Pig, Fudge.
Fudge turned out to be a boy, so now we had two males who did not want to be with each other!
We then went to the same place that we got Toffee from, to get a female for Fudge. Beth named her Cocoa.
We got Toffee and Cocoa from Higgeldy Piggeldy Farmyard at Imhoff Farm near Kommetjie.
Beth and Nancy looking at all the different Guinea Pigs.
Beth holding her new Guinea Pig, Cocoa, in the shoebox which we took her home in.
Cocoa on the journey home.
Beth with Cocoa.
Toffee got a wife from the same pet shop that we got Fudge from. Gabrielle called her Candy.
Gabrielle and her Guinea Pig, Candy.
Phew! My mom still gets confused between which is which, which belongs to who, and which wife belongs to which male! Have I lost you yet...? This is quite confusing, I know!!!
So we went from one Guinea Pig, that was just meant to be Beth's pet, to four!
Gabrielle has Candy, Toffee's wife, I have Toffee, Candy's husband and Beth has male and female, Fudge and Cocoa......hmmmm. A nice combination!
Now we not only have a teething baby in the house, we have four more demanding babies who need a cage clean every day and LOTS of food.
Guinea Pigs are the only rodents who do not pass any disease on to children. Rabbits, hamsters, rats (yes, I have also had a rat!), and gerbils can all pass diseases on to children.
Guinea Pigs also don't just bite for the sake of biting. They will try and eat your fingers if you stick them right by their mouth after touching any food!
We have found Guinea Pigs to be ideal pets for a family. They are fun, loving animals who love being cuddled and don't squirm.
Every day I am in charge of making sure that the Guinea Pigs have fresh water and food and that their cage is cleaned. I also include Beth in the cleaning of the cages, as it helps her to learn to take care of her pets herself.
We usually let the Guinea Pigs run on the grass in a cage, but when they are older and have a proper run for them (my dad is busy building hutches and runs), they will eat grass there while we clean their hutches.
My dad is getting two Peruvian females from another pet shop next month, as we are going to breed them.
We are going to be busy looking after six Guinea Pigs, two of which need daily grooming as they have loooong hair! Plus we will probably have a few mini Guinea Pigs to take care of when they are born, so life certainly won't be dull! There will be many Guinea Pigs to cuddle and love and lots of hutches to clean!
Here are some photos of the babies:
Toffee (above) Candy (below) are husband and wife.
Fudge (above) and Cocoa (below) are husband and wife.
We gave Fudge a weird parting of hair on his face!
Gabrielle and Rebekah looking at Beth holding Fudge.
So, now you know about the new additions to our family!
Blessing,
Kelly-Anne
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