Storm1974
Junior Guinea Pig
So Herbert who lives on his own, but next door to Bramble (In separate cages) is always either chewing something that we use to line the cage (newspaper, his expensive pee pads!) and also, his cardboard tubes, and we are just wondering if this is detrimental to his health and also, is the reason he's doing this because he's bored, do you think?
He's also strangely started regularly drinking from his water bottle for minutes at a time, though the level doesn't really seem to go down that much. The reason this is strange is because neither him or Bramble ever really touched the water bottles up until now (And Bramble still doesn't....EVER!), because they seem to get all their water from their veggies which I always wet down for them! So in the few minutes that I have been typing this post, Herbert has been drinking from the water bottle, chewing newspaper and then, going back to the water bottle again!
I do feel sorry for them both really because they're both quite incompatible with each other. Right now Bramble is asleep and Herbert is awake, but soon Bramble will get up and whine at Herbert to get his attention, but by that time Herbert will probably be asleep again, because he sleeps a LOT more than Bramble does!
I really wish we could afford to (And find) a couple of spayed sows for each of them, but that is impossible. Their individual cages are large enough, but actually finding two spayed sows and then finding the money to pay for them and then the two extra mouths to feed (Not to mention any potential vets bills that may come up!) at the moment is also pretty impossible, so it looks as though the two boys are going to sadly be 'on their own' for the forseeable future unless something amazing happens!
I really feel like their lives aren't anywhere near as fulfilling as they should be and it constantly stresses me out. We are on a very low income, they each have the biggest cage we can fit onto our (dinner) table! They have plenty of hay and veggies, two tubes each, plus free cardboard boxes that we get from Lidl and make into hideys for them, hay chew sticks and a small shelf (for an upper level, which we make out of upturned sturdy boxes), they do go outside in a run when it's nice enough, but we can't free range them inside. I think they are just bored and lonely most of the time, especially Bramble because as I said, he sleeps a lot less then Herbert and he's often up at the bars looking in at Herbert and trying to get his attention, but Herbert mainly just ignores him.
He's also strangely started regularly drinking from his water bottle for minutes at a time, though the level doesn't really seem to go down that much. The reason this is strange is because neither him or Bramble ever really touched the water bottles up until now (And Bramble still doesn't....EVER!), because they seem to get all their water from their veggies which I always wet down for them! So in the few minutes that I have been typing this post, Herbert has been drinking from the water bottle, chewing newspaper and then, going back to the water bottle again!
I do feel sorry for them both really because they're both quite incompatible with each other. Right now Bramble is asleep and Herbert is awake, but soon Bramble will get up and whine at Herbert to get his attention, but by that time Herbert will probably be asleep again, because he sleeps a LOT more than Bramble does!
I really wish we could afford to (And find) a couple of spayed sows for each of them, but that is impossible. Their individual cages are large enough, but actually finding two spayed sows and then finding the money to pay for them and then the two extra mouths to feed (Not to mention any potential vets bills that may come up!) at the moment is also pretty impossible, so it looks as though the two boys are going to sadly be 'on their own' for the forseeable future unless something amazing happens!
I really feel like their lives aren't anywhere near as fulfilling as they should be and it constantly stresses me out. We are on a very low income, they each have the biggest cage we can fit onto our (dinner) table! They have plenty of hay and veggies, two tubes each, plus free cardboard boxes that we get from Lidl and make into hideys for them, hay chew sticks and a small shelf (for an upper level, which we make out of upturned sturdy boxes), they do go outside in a run when it's nice enough, but we can't free range them inside. I think they are just bored and lonely most of the time, especially Bramble because as I said, he sleeps a lot less then Herbert and he's often up at the bars looking in at Herbert and trying to get his attention, but Herbert mainly just ignores him.
