My guineas
- Thread starter Mrs Tiggy Winkle
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Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
Find what is wrong in this picture!
Just joking. From back in the day when there was lots people didn't know.
Before the existence of carpenter-made wooden Palaces and I am no DIY expert to make own Palace. I got somebody to attach all this stuff together. No longer advisable but better than nothing to give them more space back then.
I had boars in it, first Snowy and his brother Hughie and then briefly Snowy and poor Woolly who got terrorised and then Woolly and it must have been Rubi. Woolly was Top Pig in the final constellation, but only just. It was hardly noticeable.
Snowy and Hughie used to gallop around the outside of the brown cage when out for their run, they loved that. Even better if I draped old cloths over part of it, which hung down onto the floor. They loved popcorning in the cloths. Sometimes I lay down on the floor beside them and they'd come and inspect me. The first time I did it, they stopped short in their tracks as if they were asking each other "What on earth is she doing here?"
This is Rubi.
And these are Hughie and Snowy (sons of Poppet)
And here is Poppet, with friend Paulina. Poppet with the brown trousers and white blouse.
Just joking. From back in the day when there was lots people didn't know.
Before the existence of carpenter-made wooden Palaces and I am no DIY expert to make own Palace. I got somebody to attach all this stuff together. No longer advisable but better than nothing to give them more space back then.
I had boars in it, first Snowy and his brother Hughie and then briefly Snowy and poor Woolly who got terrorised and then Woolly and it must have been Rubi. Woolly was Top Pig in the final constellation, but only just. It was hardly noticeable.
Snowy and Hughie used to gallop around the outside of the brown cage when out for their run, they loved that. Even better if I draped old cloths over part of it, which hung down onto the floor. They loved popcorning in the cloths. Sometimes I lay down on the floor beside them and they'd come and inspect me. The first time I did it, they stopped short in their tracks as if they were asking each other "What on earth is she doing here?"
This is Rubi.
And these are Hughie and Snowy (sons of Poppet)
And here is Poppet, with friend Paulina. Poppet with the brown trousers and white blouse.
Roselina
Forum Donator 2024/25
Ah such sweet piggies 
Merab
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Such lovely pictures and memories
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
My words finally seem to have made a bit of a difference, presumably combined with Struppi's escape. I heard yesterday that a second cage has somehow been added to the first so that the farm guineas now have a little more space. I haven't actually seen their new set-up, but a bit more space is better than nothing. Some people are just really slow with taking up new ideas.
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
Some more guinea pigtures:
These above are all Emily when she was at the final rescue. In the first pigture she was having her bumblefoot paws bathed, with lettuce as distraction. In the third picture, you can see her begging with her 'boxing glove' bumblefoot paws up on the plexiglass. I see the pigture contains 'patenschwein' in the title which indicates that by that time the rescue had changed her status from 'looking for new home when well' to 'permanent foster due to health problems'. I became her financial sponsor till she passed and so they kindly kept me up-to-date and sent photos. I remember now her boar-friend in the rescue was called Samson, and they were quite a loud pair - when one was complaining about 'bad treatment' like having bumblefoot paws washed and bandaged the other would start complaining too.
These above are all Emily when she was at the final rescue. In the first pigture she was having her bumblefoot paws bathed, with lettuce as distraction. In the third picture, you can see her begging with her 'boxing glove' bumblefoot paws up on the plexiglass. I see the pigture contains 'patenschwein' in the title which indicates that by that time the rescue had changed her status from 'looking for new home when well' to 'permanent foster due to health problems'. I became her financial sponsor till she passed and so they kindly kept me up-to-date and sent photos. I remember now her boar-friend in the rescue was called Samson, and they were quite a loud pair - when one was complaining about 'bad treatment' like having bumblefoot paws washed and bandaged the other would start complaining too.
Roselina
Forum Donator 2024/25
Emily what a lovely piggy
Wonderful that you were able to sponsor her and be in her life
Wonderful that you were able to sponsor her and be in her life
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
Here is Woolly (with the ubiquitous Snowy), showing us how I came up with his name:
Actually he was originally called Woody but I didn't think that was a very nice name, so while I was carrying him in his carrier through a park on the way to the train station I came up with the idea of Woolly. I thought he reacted to his new name right away, but maybe it was coincidence. Being with Germans before me, it's possible that his name was actually pronounced 'voodee'. I got him from the local animal shelter before there was a guinea rescue round here. I was rather uncertain about taking on a piggie with that hair, which I did have to clip back from time to time, especially at his rear so it didn't get all mucky. I do not like piggies with coats that are impossible for the piggie to take care off without human help, but that's maybe just me. I did ask at the animal shelter about how best to look after his coat. They responded with something rather inane like "Yes, you do have to take care of it" which didn't answer the 'how', but I adopted him anyway. I can see by the photos that I had him in Sept. 2009, I may have actually adopted him earlier, I don't remember exactly. It's a long time ago anyway, when everybody knew less about piggy care.
Here is Snowy showing us his bottom, with a buttercup leaf in front (so Miss Bramble could probably look), and Woolly showing us his sweet little face:
You'll see that the 'lawn' is more clover than grass, but my piggies preferred grass over lots of other wild greens, and they'd find it too, blade by blade. No one, except Emily, ever ate buttercup as far as I know. Most were pretty partial to clover, but not non-stop.
A sweet photo of both:
Daisies on the menu
Most of my piggies ate daisies. Some would eat starting with the stalk and always let the flower fall to the ground (didn't taste so good, I guess) and others would eat the flower only and still others the whole lot, inhaling the stalk followed by the flower, when I picked daisies for them that is. I didn't notice so much how the piggies ate them when they were in the garden. I did notice that if I picked plants and put them in the guineas cage, they seemed to shut off their instincts a bit and try the stuff, whereas if they were out in the garden, they didn't try everything and anything willy-nilly. That's how I noticed that at certain times of the year, they were completely disinterested in dandelions on the lawn but would eat them in the cage. So sometime I tried those dandelions leaves myself and discovered: 
Way too bitter late summer onwards. Even tho bitter can be healthy (depending on individual plant) since we humans often don't eat enough plant bitters, apparently.
I did spend a lot of time in the garden gazing at my lovely piggies rather than doing much work.
Actually he was originally called Woody but I didn't think that was a very nice name, so while I was carrying him in his carrier through a park on the way to the train station I came up with the idea of Woolly. I thought he reacted to his new name right away, but maybe it was coincidence. Being with Germans before me, it's possible that his name was actually pronounced 'voodee'. I got him from the local animal shelter before there was a guinea rescue round here. I was rather uncertain about taking on a piggie with that hair, which I did have to clip back from time to time, especially at his rear so it didn't get all mucky. I do not like piggies with coats that are impossible for the piggie to take care off without human help, but that's maybe just me. I did ask at the animal shelter about how best to look after his coat. They responded with something rather inane like "Yes, you do have to take care of it" which didn't answer the 'how', but I adopted him anyway. I can see by the photos that I had him in Sept. 2009, I may have actually adopted him earlier, I don't remember exactly. It's a long time ago anyway, when everybody knew less about piggy care.
Here is Snowy showing us his bottom, with a buttercup leaf in front (so Miss Bramble could probably look), and Woolly showing us his sweet little face:
You'll see that the 'lawn' is more clover than grass, but my piggies preferred grass over lots of other wild greens, and they'd find it too, blade by blade. No one, except Emily, ever ate buttercup as far as I know. Most were pretty partial to clover, but not non-stop.
A sweet photo of both:
Daisies on the menu
Most of my piggies ate daisies. Some would eat starting with the stalk and always let the flower fall to the ground (didn't taste so good, I guess) and others would eat the flower only and still others the whole lot, inhaling the stalk followed by the flower, when I picked daisies for them that is. I didn't notice so much how the piggies ate them when they were in the garden. I did notice that if I picked plants and put them in the guineas cage, they seemed to shut off their instincts a bit and try the stuff, whereas if they were out in the garden, they didn't try everything and anything willy-nilly. That's how I noticed that at certain times of the year, they were completely disinterested in dandelions on the lawn but would eat them in the cage. So sometime I tried those dandelions leaves myself and discovered: Way too bitter late summer onwards. Even tho bitter can be healthy (depending on individual plant) since we humans often don't eat enough plant bitters, apparently.I did spend a lot of time in the garden gazing at my lovely piggies rather than doing much work.
Roselina
Forum Donator 2024/25
What a wonderful piggy world your Guinea pigs lived in 
Very lucky piggies
It’s so interesting their little ways and preferences
We had a Snowy about 25 years ago when my children were little
Very lucky piggies
It’s so interesting their little ways and preferences
We had a Snowy about 25 years ago when my children were little
fluffysal
Forum Donator 2024/25
I love the description "brown trousers and white blouse"
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
After Poppet's friend Paulina passed, I adopted 2 rescue pigs, one with similar colouring to Poppet. Some of my friends couldn't tell them apart so I described Rani as having a brown skirt with a white petticoat and white stockings! It was an especially apt description when she jumped down off a hidey roof - she really showed off her underskirt! The other rescue piggy, Rapunzel, her colouring wasn't immediately reminiscent of any clothing. Rani (left), Rapunzel (right).
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
Just want to say that it's doing my (at times rather shaky) mental health a lot of good writing about my past piggies. The more I think back, the more I remember. Just now when I was looking for a photo of Rani and Rapunzel, I found a bunch of old emails I'd copied onto a Word doc all about Poppet, Rani, Rapunzel + some Snowy, Woolly and other boys I had. It was really nice reading all these old notes - some were to friends who were going to look after my Pigs while I was away for a long weekend, so I was listing all sorts of bits and bobs - preferences, Critical Care, vet trips, dates...
Rapunzel and Rani came to me in January 2008, Rapunzel was born in Oct. 2007. Rani was about 6 months older. Rani was rescued with 39 other pigs from one of those terrible hoarding or 'breeding' situations, where more or less all the sows are pregnant. Rapunzel was born after the rescue. Unfortunately they both died quite young, Rapunzel didn't even make 1.5 years. I got up one morning to find her dead in the cage complex. Poppet had died about a week earlier, of an abscess I hadn't noticed (too overwhelmed and stressed etc). I did notice early enough to get her to the vet's and get it drained. I'd written in one of these emails that Rapunzel found Poppet's smell (around the abscess) very interesting when I brought Poppet back from the vet's.
Poppet was a Teddy, American Teddy iirc. She came from real breeders, not that I knew anything about the breed, but I was looking for a female at that time and tried a small local animal market, where there were guinea pigs, rabbits, and poultry. Maybe budgies etc too. Most of the guinea pigs were cheap and in a terrible state, often a whole bunch all jammed together in a large cardboard box. It was horrible! And then I saw this little group of people with just a few guineas. iirc I was actually looking for 2 sows, but they only had one left - Poppet. They let me hold her and she sat on my shoulder and disappeared round my neck into my long hair. The breeders said "She obviously wants to go home with you". No, with hindsight I don't think so, she was escaping! But I just loved her and took her home. She was bigger than all the other baby piggies at this market, I remember exclaiming about that. They said that she'd been at the milk bar of her auntie too, but later when I knew more about bad 'breeders', I realised that the other baby guineas at the market were mostly about 3 weeks old instead of the purported 6-8 weeks whereas Poppet was the age I was told. I can't remember now if that was 6 or 8 weeks, but certainly a proper age. So of course she appeared to be huge.
Rapunzel and Rani came to me in January 2008, Rapunzel was born in Oct. 2007. Rani was about 6 months older. Rani was rescued with 39 other pigs from one of those terrible hoarding or 'breeding' situations, where more or less all the sows are pregnant. Rapunzel was born after the rescue. Unfortunately they both died quite young, Rapunzel didn't even make 1.5 years. I got up one morning to find her dead in the cage complex. Poppet had died about a week earlier, of an abscess I hadn't noticed (too overwhelmed and stressed etc). I did notice early enough to get her to the vet's and get it drained. I'd written in one of these emails that Rapunzel found Poppet's smell (around the abscess) very interesting when I brought Poppet back from the vet's.
Poppet was a Teddy, American Teddy iirc. She came from real breeders, not that I knew anything about the breed, but I was looking for a female at that time and tried a small local animal market, where there were guinea pigs, rabbits, and poultry. Maybe budgies etc too. Most of the guinea pigs were cheap and in a terrible state, often a whole bunch all jammed together in a large cardboard box. It was horrible! And then I saw this little group of people with just a few guineas. iirc I was actually looking for 2 sows, but they only had one left - Poppet. They let me hold her and she sat on my shoulder and disappeared round my neck into my long hair. The breeders said "She obviously wants to go home with you". No, with hindsight I don't think so, she was escaping! But I just loved her and took her home. She was bigger than all the other baby piggies at this market, I remember exclaiming about that. They said that she'd been at the milk bar of her auntie too, but later when I knew more about bad 'breeders', I realised that the other baby guineas at the market were mostly about 3 weeks old instead of the purported 6-8 weeks whereas Poppet was the age I was told. I can't remember now if that was 6 or 8 weeks, but certainly a proper age. So of course she appeared to be huge.
It’s always bittersweet remembering those piggies we have loved and lost, however, I agree with you that it is good for our mental health to talk about those piggies and the impact we made on each other’s lives. I sometimes look back at all the piggies, I have lost and feel an overwhelming sense of grief at losing them, but then also an overwhelming sense of pride and achievement. At how much they managed to change their lives as many came from rather inauspicious circumstances through the rescue. I certainly gave them all the best life I could and that’s something we can all be proud of. Lovely seeing your photos and descriptions.
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
There are more guineas to write about! Mary Lou, 3 boars who stayed with me for about 10 weeks while their slave was in rehab, Piggy and Mucki (Mucaidh) I have mentioned but not written about, Feli. Maybe more will occur to me. Too tired to write tonight though.
Roselina
Forum Donator 2024/25
It really is lovely reading about your piggies ( and seeing them) …..no rush there is plenty of time to tell your piggy stories here
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
i've been re-reading my thread. Nice to re-read when I'm not feeling too great.
The local Rescue also connected Marley, Rusty and Jerry's Slave with me. One of them came with an unplanned eye problem, I don't remember if it was a haypoke or what, an accident which happened the day before they came to me, tho I think their slave did tell me in advance, and she certainly brought medicine with her.
What I get from reading the forum is: keeping guineas healthy and happy is pretty complicated or at least involves a ton of knowledge and know-how, more than I ever realised, tho I obviously learnt as I went along. I'm not surprised I haven't gone back to it though... But it's good there's so much knowledge and experience all gathered in one spot on this forum, thanks to @Wiebke and maybe others.
These were Marley, Rusty and Jerry. I can't even remember what they looked like, except that Rusty was not rusty-coloured! I probably have some pigtures attached to some emails somewhere. That was pre-Covid, so idk if any are still alive, probably not. I know their Slave added another boar to the group sometime later. Here, in Germany, they say boar groups sometimes work, but you should only try it if you're really experienced, especially with boars (or neutered boars). iirc the Slave took on the fourth boar because he couldn't be neutered for some health reason so the local Rescue asked the Slave if she could fit him in with her group and she managed.
The local Rescue also connected Marley, Rusty and Jerry's Slave with me. One of them came with an unplanned eye problem, I don't remember if it was a haypoke or what, an accident which happened the day before they came to me, tho I think their slave did tell me in advance, and she certainly brought medicine with her.
What I get from reading the forum is: keeping guineas healthy and happy is pretty complicated or at least involves a ton of knowledge and know-how, more than I ever realised, tho I obviously learnt as I went along. I'm not surprised I haven't gone back to it though... But it's good there's so much knowledge and experience all gathered in one spot on this forum, thanks to @Wiebke and maybe others.
There is a lot of personal practical experience from other members with their own wealth of in-depth knowledge. We have got quite a number of regular members who are long term owners and who have all the practical experience in areas where I lack it - boars-only combos, nebulising and persistent respiratory infections, teeth or bumblefoot care for instance; simply because it hasn't happened much or at all with any piggies of mine. I am always very grateful if they take over and cover the areas that are not my strongest. They are also very good with providing moral support at the same time.
Pet ownership is like parenthood - you learn on the job, grow with it and you often learn more from any mistakes you make than from never putting a foot wrong. The worst mistake is to set yourself up for a guaranteed fail if you do not allow yourself to be anything less than perfect because you deny yourself the freedom to grow both with your role and as a mature human.
None of us can get it always right. Important is not to avoid putting a foot wrong but how and what you learn from your mistakes - deeper understanding can only come when you get to look behind the glossy surface into the mechanics that make it all work; into the 'why' things work as they do. The more you look into that, the more complex but also the more fascinating it gets.
We are only still very much at the start of this journey with guinea pigs because they are very neglected in terms of research with the moniker of 'short-lived children's pets' still very much hanging around, so you have a lot more freedom and an open field for making your own discoveries.
My 'wisdom' is all the bloody knees and hands, knocks and bruises that you collect going through life and the desire to not repeat the same mistakes all the time and instead finding others... and incidentally discovering more coping mechanisms and building up a core of self-confidence and resilience along the way together with deeper and more extensive knowledge.
Mrs Tiggy Winkle
Teenage Guinea Pig
So, I've found some photos of Marley, Rusty and Jerry from 2019 when I looked after them.
Marley, the tan one with darker patches, the BOSS, age about 6.5 then, so must be RB by now.
Rusty, the black and white one, age about 6.5 years then, so must be RB by now.
Jerry, the orangey-red one, and the youngest of the three, born June 2018. Might still be on the go as a rather old man.
Marley, the tan one with darker patches, the BOSS, age about 6.5 then, so must be RB by now.
Rusty, the black and white one, age about 6.5 years then, so must be RB by now.
Jerry, the orangey-red one, and the youngest of the three, born June 2018. Might still be on the go as a rather old man.
Merab
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What gorgeous piggies