Eriathwens piggies

Try nematodes before planting any veg. You have to use them a few weeks before you do any planting. They do work. I used to have Slug Alley along the fence line where I used to live and the slugs were always getting into the hutch (it was outside then). I used nematodes (which is a natural slug defence) and they didn't come back.

Amazon.co.uk
 
anyar.dris said:
I just checked, minimum of £10 order and then around £6 delivery. 🙈 I have to convince hubby to buy it. 😂 Hubby and I don't like celery too but we tried giving it to Bodie and Carson and they love it, well just the leaves now. I wish I can get just the leaves somewhere from the shops here. I guess we can try growing them but then we don't have magic hands when it comes to planting veggies and herbs. 🙈
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Betsy said:
Try nematodes before planting any veg. You have to use them a few weeks before you do any planting. They do work. I used to have Slug Alley along the fence line where I used to live and the slugs were always getting into the hutch (it was outside then). I used nematodes (which is a natural slug defence) and they didn't come back.

Amazon.co.uk
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Brilliant, they are tough customers, but it seems they can be outdone 👍
 
anyar.dris said:
I just checked, minimum of £10 order and then around £6 delivery. 🙈 I have to convince hubby to buy it. 😂 Hubby and I don't like celery too but we tried giving it to Bodie and Carson and they love it, well just the leaves now. I wish I can get just the leaves somewhere from the shops here. I guess we can try growing them but then we don't have magic hands when it comes to planting veggies and herbs. 🙈
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@anyar.dris if you cut the end off the celery you buy from the shops, and give the root end a little trim, you can replant it, in a pot. You should be able to grow more celery.
I have had better success in the summer!
 
AidaB said:
@anyar.dris if you cut the end off the celery you buy from the shops, and give the root end a little trim, you can replant it, in a pot. You should be able to grow more celery.
I have had better success in the summer!
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I think I will have to ask my father-in-law to do that. He's the one who grows flowers and plants and give it away to us and their friends. He is quite the plant expert in the family as both hubby and I are useless. 😂
 
So, good news! Silver moved into the piggy room today. I figured I'd do things in stages so as not to overwhelm him so he is still a single, but surrounded by friends. If he can handle that long term, I will try him with one of the spayed girls.

He did spend some time running in circles when the others first went in, it was all very exciting for him. But he did snap out of it to eat some hay, map out his new space, find his familiarly smelling soft beds and water bottle etc. But he's also introduced himself to Lily, Pearl, Fern, Oliver and Pippin through the bars.

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Silver has continued to do very well in the piggy room, he has started eating normal hay again and pellets without soaking. All in all, he's very stable finally! Although he is getting close to needing his teeth done again so that might cause a bit of upset.

In other news, Iris has been looking a bit ruffled yesterday and today, upon inspection she's got a nice pea sized cyst on her back end that has burst so I've cleaned that up for her, much to her absolute disgust. She did a fantastic impression of a windmill while I was holding her 🙄

Good job she's beautiful!

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Well done Silver! Keep eating well lovely boy. Poor Iris, but lucky you found the cyst and could treat it ❤️
 
I'm starting to think she may be part tasmanian devil 😅 bless her. I'm hoping it goes away now it's empty, it's not as close to her spine as Ebonys was, but if it keeps coming back it'll probably end up being removed. I don't want to keep putting her through cleaning it out, poor thing. Especially as she has never been a fan of handling. She's definitely more comfortable now though, she's not roughed up looking.
 
Eriathwen said:
she perks up massively when she's out with us. Especially if it means she can watch the TV 😅


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RSBM for focus

Hello Eriathwen,

I didn't want to write this back in December when your grief would have been very raw, but this is the first time I heard that a guinea liked watching TV! I've never actually had a TV myself so I wouldn't have noticed. I read it in one of the Olga da Polga books by Michael Bond, but according to the author at the time of writing neither he nor Olga were quite clear on what all came from her active imagination and what all was true! Olga ended up dancing in her imagination (i.e. irl in the book at least standing up on all 4 guinea paws) while watching a ballerina on TV some days after having had a bad fall out of her cage and not being able to stand.

Guineas are such characters, so special in their little ways that I do believe you of course, it's just something I never would have thought, since seeing e.g. grass on TV isn't like smelling it in real life! I did have 2 young boars who loved gazing out the window while eating and then when I had to move their cage to beside a wall, they continued gazing that direction but it was as if their little jaws had dropped: there's nothing to see! :blink:

I had a little guinea a long time ago who looked like Mabel, especially in your first pic of Mabel. That was Mucki (which is not pronounced 'mucky') and I have had other elderly guineas since who lay on me the way Mabel is lying on you. They are very sweet pigtures you have there. I was reading back in your thread a bit and enjoying looking at some of your guinea photos.
I hope you can read this all without feeling devastated-sad.
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
RSBM for focus

Hello Eriathwen,

I didn't want to write this back in December when your grief would have been very raw, but this is the first time I heard that a guinea liked watching TV! I've never actually had a TV myself so I wouldn't have noticed. I read it in one of the Olga da Polga books by Michael Bond, but according to the author at the time of writing neither he nor Olga were quite clear on what all came from her active imagination and what all was true! Olga ended up dancing in her imagination (i.e. irl in the book at least standing up on all 4 guinea paws) while watching a ballerina on TV some days after having had a bad fall out of her cage and not being able to stand.

Guineas are such characters, so special in their little ways that I do believe you of course, it's just something I never would have thought, since seeing e.g. grass on TV isn't like smelling it in real life! I did have 2 young boars who loved gazing out the window while eating and then when I had to move their cage to beside a wall, they continued gazing that direction but it was as if their little jaws had dropped: there's nothing to see! :blink:

I had a little guinea a long time ago who looked like Mabel, especially in your first pic of Mabel. That was Mucki (which is not pronounced 'mucky') and I have had other elderly guineas since who lay on me the way Mabel is lying on you. They are very sweet pigtures you have there. I was reading back in your thread a bit and enjoying looking at some of your guinea photos.
I hope you can read this all without feeling devastated-sad.
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Haha she certainly was an odd little character. We put it down to having lived in a dark shed all her life, it had no windows that I remember. She liked shows with bright lights, flashing and lots of movement, I'm assuming that was what caught her attention the most.
 
So Bailey has been slowly losing weight which at just over 6, isn't ideal. When Ibweighed her this morning she had lost 100g since I weighed her at 750g the other week! But we just couldn't pinpoint what was going on with her. Well, today I went around doing nails and when I picked her up she was sneezing, with a snotty nose. Luckily I was able to get her straight onto baytril and into a carrier to use the nebuliser, and she's gained almost 30g throughout the day which isnt much but its better than losing more, her nose has dried up and she sounds a lot better apart from a bit of a whistling from her nose.

Fingers crossed she's on the up now, poor old girl.
Shes certainly taken a bit of a chewing from whatever demon barber has decided to start eating her hair! Made an even worse job of cutting hair than I do 😅

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Aw, she fits just right onto the scale. Good that you've caught the infection and quickly started treatment, she's putting weight back on. She is such a beautiful piggy ❤️
 
Bailey regained quite a bit of weight, hitting about 730g before losing it all again very quickly, down to 630g. She's still eating really well although I've stepped in with syringe feeding which she thinks is the best thing to ever happen to her 😅 she's currently tucking into a bowl of oats after her syringe feed and a savage attack on a hay twist 🤣

Shes at the vet Monday, shes still sneezing but her nose is almost clear looking, I dont know what is causing her to deteriorate in spite of seemingly being so happy and alert, but I've a bit of a sinking feeling this is all secondary to something else going on. But fingers crossed its just a bit of a wobble.

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So more not so great news is I just found a small, black and crusty, very painful lump near the lump. It's in the skin layer so it could be an old ruptured cyst I hadn't spotted before, fingers crossed, but it looks like a dodgy mole 😔 it almost looks like the warty lump that Panda had cauterised off her shoulder while she was being spayed years ago.. fingers crossed its just another cyst though. I'm going to need to bring a list with my Monday at this rate so I don't forget anything!
 
Eriathwen said:
Bailey regained quite a bit of weight, hitting about 730g before losing it all again very quickly, down to 630g. She's still eating really well although I've stepped in with syringe feeding which she thinks is the best thing to ever happen to her 😅 she's currently tucking into a bowl of oats after her syringe feed and a savage attack on a hay twist 🤣

Shes at the vet Monday, shes still sneezing but her nose is almost clear looking, I dont know what is causing her to deteriorate in spite of seemingly being so happy and alert, but I've a bit of a sinking feeling this is all secondary to something else going on. But fingers crossed its just a bit of a wobble.

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That hay twist is getting a good bashing ❤️
 
You know you're a guinea pig parent when you're going to bed at 3am, having set alarms for 4am and 7am 🥲 Bailey bloated at about 10pm, shes now on motility meds and extra pain relief. She's still eating "fancy" hay but with encouragement. Hoping we can get her comfortable overnight, but I'm getting more convinced there's something sinister internally going on that we aren't going to beat.

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She had stopped pooping at about 3am, she has now started again, fingers crossed we're going in the right direction but she's still very bloated! It's been a long night, but she's just had her 3rd dose of emeprid and 2nd dose of cisipride, and she's due her pain relief in a couple more hours 🤞
 
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