Undercover Guinea Pigs

Bath Time: the Archives

2012-02-25T11:32:00.000Z

We from the Winky team are fortunate enough to have never had a bath. But we do have the archives with Jan the Boar, Suus, Yaya, Lotje and Guiny. These pigtures were made when they had a minor fungal infection and had to be treated with the Gorgeous Guineas products.

Before:

Pretty Suus

First, our brave pigs would get an oil treatment

I hate you

Little hedgehog

After wearing the oil for a few hours, the bathing would start

OMG

Noooo..

Peh.

Then our heroes faced the shampooing

Jan the Boar all lathered up

After that, they were rinsed with water again to get the shampoo out. Suus used her super jumping powers for revenge.

REVENGE!!!

Finally they were taken out and blown dry

Ghaaaaahh..

Lotje had a curly belly

Look at the pretty curls

We didn't find many 'after' pigtures, we guess our heroes were not up for smiling prettily into the camera after this ordeal.

If your slave is sniggering while watching these photo's we suggest peeing during lap time.

Fundraising Pig T-shirts

2012-02-24T14:04:00.002Z

Hi there

I’ve just been looking at your blog – its brilliant!

I wondered if you might be interested in a new online shop I’ve opened selling all sorts of guinea pig t-shirts and clothing.

I noticed you have Glynneath Guinea pig Rescue in the blog hop – I’ve got a special range which I’ve designed especially for them to help raise money for the rescue.

I wasn’t sure if you were in America or the UK but I have a shop for both. The American one is here http://popcornprints.spreadshirt.com/ and the UK one is here http://www.popcornprints.co.uk/

I also have a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Popcorn-Prints/313915968619262

I would appreciate it so much if you would like to mention my t-shirts on your blog. I’ve attached a picture you could use.

Thanks so much, Louise xxx

Agent Christmas and her Mardi Gras Hat

2012-02-24T07:31:00.001Z

Agent Christmas featured on the blog way back in 2010 but at that point she didn't have an agent name.

The clues to her real identity are;
She lives in New York
Her real name is how you feel at Christmas or how you wish others feel at Christmas.

Get guessing....

We heart Bertie Pig

2012-02-22T11:35:00.001Z

Ever since we were joined the online guinea pig community, we've always loved the adventures of Leah's Pigs.

Currently, the extremely handsome Bertie Pig lives with her, and we absolutely swoooon over his photo's. What a good looking boar! So, for your viewing pleasure, we recommend you head on over to their facebook album
for his Valentine's Day pigtures.

New Agent Ripple and her Hat

2012-02-20T07:39:00.000Z

Agent Ripple gets her agent name because she looks like chocolate (so Mummy says) and her hair has a wave in it that reminds mummy of a chocolate bar called a Ripple, anyone remember them? can you still get them? has anyone outside of the UK heard of them?

She lives as part of a mixed herd in Illinois.

Her real name is the same as a character from the book and film The Mosquito Coast, it is also a nickname for girls with a variety of other names, in the UK although the spelling is different its pronounced the same and refers to a narrow walk way between 2 points hmmmm well thats enough confusing.

Get guessing

Carnival in the Netherlands

2012-02-18T21:14:00.000Z

This weekend it's Carnival in the Netherlands! This means we'll be dressing up and go to Agent Zeppelin and Pepper to watch the parade with our other friends.

Agent Chanel dressed up as chicory, her favourite veggie.

Agent Venus, does this count as a hat?

New Agent Oreo and her Hat

2012-02-17T07:31:00.000Z

Agent Oreo got her name because ..... well just look at the pigture.

She lives as part of a mixed herd in Illinois and her real name is the same as a famous actress from the 40's and 50's who starred in The Killers and Mogambo.

Agent Oreo sadly has ovarian cysts but she does not let this hold her back she loves to stand at side of cage for a petting.

Any ideas? We are not old enough to know these films wol.

Agent Valentino signing off

2012-02-15T16:04:00.000Z

On valentine's day, exactly 3 years ago, Chico got to move in with his girlz.
at that time they were Dunya and Woopy, now they would be Woopy, Lily and Daisy.

Unfortunately Chico did not make it to this day :'(
Yesterday evening, only 30 minutes short of this small anniversary, he crossed the rainbow bridge...

As some of you know he was having diarrhea for the second time (ironically enough he had normal poops yesterday),
and inbetween he broke his front teeth. This probably caused a trama in which his jaws became misaligned.
This meant his front teeth didn't meet anymore, and as a result his lower incisors had grown very long already.

Last friday the vet corrected this, and then she noticed that his jaws were misaligned...
She said there was a possiblity that this would correct itself, but there was also a good chance that this wouldn't correct itself,
meaning monthly visits to the vet to have his teeth corrected...

He was a very strong boar, since the teeth correction friday, he kept going on, but loosing more and more weight,
as he couldn't really eat himself. We did of course feed him critical care and small strips of vegetable.
When I came home yesterday he was not looking good, but we spent about another 2 hours sitting with him.
I gave him some extra painkiller in case he was in pain, and we just tried to keep him comfortable.
He kept standing up, and would still stand on his paws for a very long time!
I took all my girlz (one by one) to see him for the last time, the girlz were not very happy with this.
There is something about cavies and knowing when time is up, and they just tend to keep away from them.
However when I took Lily to him (they were always very fond of each other) he lifted his head and tried to snuggle up to her!
After that he went downhill fast...

He was my first cavy that did not do the running in the end, though he was stamping his feet a lot,
which felt a lot like he was trying to stand up and walk away...

Sadly, Mieke, Erwin
and the guinygirlz Woopy, Lily and Daisy

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T17:05:00.001Z

Happy Valentine's Day from Agents Butterloaf and Cannonball!

New Agent Cleopatra and her Hat

2012-02-14T07:25:00.000Z

Agent Cleopatra is part of a mixed herd living in Illinois.

Her real name is the name of a town in the country that her Agent name was Queen of off, confused, heres another hint its also the name of a famous lighthouse in the same country.

Agent Bumble Bee's Hat

2012-02-12T07:16:00.000Z

Isn't she a Cutie

An Agent Zeppelin Mystery

2012-02-10T09:21:00.001Z

Our Agent Zeppelin is a master of disguise. Can you tell which way he is facing?

Well done Agent Zeppelin! Keep up the good work.

p.s. err.. Agent Zeppelin, can you help out with revealing the answer (after the guessing) we don't know which way you are facing either..

Piggy Bathtime

2012-02-08T23:53:00.000Z

Agent Minty reporting on Piggyfriends' Bathtime.

Most of us Piggyfriends, with a few exceptions, do not mind having a bath. Otto absolutely loves it. In these pigtures, you can see me with my friend Copper in the bath and wrapped in warm towels to dry afterwards.

Slave baths us all in pairs so that we have someone to chat with whilst the shampoo is working. She makes sure that the bathroom is nice and warm and then carries a pair of us upstairs in a box. She unscrews the shower head from its hose and gets the water to the right temperature. Then we are placed in the bath and she uses the hose to make us wet all over. Then she uses the Vet Sect Repel shampoo and works it up into a lather all over our coats and into our ears. If anypig has a messy grease gland, they have a blob of Swarfega applied to it.

Then we sit in the bath and wait for four minutes. We can explore the plughole, push the hose around or roll the shampoo bottle along. Then Slave switches the water on again and we have a thorough rinse. After that we are wrapped in warm towels and placed in a box to dry. She gives us something to nibble while we wait - usually some yummy cucumber slices.

While she is bathing the next pair of piggies, she will change our towels several times so that we keep getting dry ones. By the time that the second pair of piggies has been wrapped in their towels, we are ready for a rub with yet another warm towel. Our box is left by a radiator if it is winter so that we carry on drying but in the summer we are usually dry enough to go back into our pen with some nice fresh hay.

Sometimes we get our nails trimmed at this time.

The long haired piggies usually need to be finished off with the hairdryer on a low setting. They also have haircuts when in the bath as Slave finds it easier to do this with a wet coat.

Some of us get bathed more often than others. White coated piggies like myself get messier than the darker ones and the long haired ones need more attention than the short coated ones but Slave does all of us at some time. In our damp climate in England, fungal spores abound and this lovely shampoo keeps us free of this nasty problem as well as killing off any bugs that might be in our coats.

Bathing time!

2012-02-07T20:55:00.001Z

Hi fellow slaves,
I am writing this post as my girlz and boar refuse to write it, as most of them (and I guess most piggies out there) are not fond of baths...

Some time ago my boar Chico was having diarrhea :( With some extra hay and fibre in the form of fibreplex (protexin in a paste form, carrot flavoured), little veggies and I believe the bath helped as well, he got better. After that the poor guy somehow managed to break his front teeth, so eating was a bit harder and we had to feed him strips of veggies... Then now his teeth have grown back, he's got diarrhea again... So it's back to the fibreplex and additional hay, and not so much veggies for him.

I had recieved my Panacur (for worming) and Vet Sect repel shampoo only a few days before Chico got his first bout of diarrhea. As he did not seem to get rid of his diarrhea soon and that his skin was very flaky I thought is was a good idea to give him and the girlz a bath. I also started them all on their first round of panacur to eliminate any bugs or worms that might affect Chico's gut function.

I thought I'd give you some basic steps on what to take care of and what to do when you feel your pigs need a bath. Firstly, guinea pigs do not need baths as regularly as humans do! I guess (but have no proof) that very occasional baths are not good for piggies.
So the steps for bathing your piggies:
1. Fill 2 tubs/buckets/sinks (whatever is convenient for you and your pig with some luke warm to warmish water. Do not make the water too deep, your pigs should be able to stand in the tub without feeling they are drowning. This will help them to not panic, though some of mine panic eitherway...
I fill up my sink and a tub that fits in the sink (which we used for doing the dishes, before we had a dishwasher), and put them next to each other. I also have a rubber mat (kind of like a bath mat) which I put at the bottom of the sink, this prevents the piggies from slipping away, and gives the a more secure feeling to the ground.

2. Get your supplies ready (maybe you should even do this before step 1, as you don't want to water to become cold). I usually have 1 towel per pig, one (or two) towels to put them on when taking them out of the bath, and maybe an additional towel per pig to dry them off. I also have my shampoo ready and a plastic cup to pour water over the piggies.

3. Get your pigs ready, as the water will cool down pretty quickly I will put up a run in the kitchen with the pigs in it, so they are close by once I got the water and everything ready...

4. Put one towel next to the tub/sink filled with water, I usually fold a towel once. I put my pig on it, check if I got everything, and then slowly put the pig in one of the tubs. I make sure the pig gets wet, using the cup to pour some water over them. Be sure not to trow the water over their heads as most piggies won't like that and will start to panic. I take my panicking pigs out of the water if they get really stressed out, and put them back in once they seem to have calmed down.

Lily likes the water but not the shampoo,
she lifted up her tummy once shampoo
was put in her fur...

5. Once the pig is all wet, take him or her out, and put on the now still dry towel.
Put some of the shampoo on your hands, divide over your two hands (usually your hands are wet by now from handling your piggie) maybe let it foam a bit and soap your piggy thoroughly.
<-- Our Lily looked like this after being soaped in with the Vet Sect Repel. Ann (from piggyville.com) says to leave in the shampoo for a couple of minutes, and to make sure you work the lather into the ears.

6. Depending on the shampoo your using either leave it on for some minutes or start rinsing it out (step 7). When it needs to stay on the piggy for a few minutes it's a good idea to wrap your piggy into a towel to keep him or her warm. As you probably all know piggies are not very good with drafts, and being all wet will not help...

7. Gently put the piggie back into one of the tubs and rinse out as much of the shampoo. As I said before if the pig starts to panic take him or her out, and put them on the towel, try to calm them down before putting them back.
My pigs usually feel more secure when I hold them, usually I let their front paws rest on my hand, using the other hand to pour water over them with the cup. For really panicky pigs, you'd better hold them firmly in place, or ask another person to help you, so one can hold and calm them down, and the other can do the washing and rinsing.

8. Once most of the shampoo has been washed out, your water will be full of shampoo so not very effective in getting the last bits of shampoo out. So I transfer them to the other tub/sink with shampoo-free warm water and use my cup or hands to get the last bits out of their furs.

9. Then you take them out again, put them on the towel and get a dry towel. I rub them sort of dry with the towel. You could also do this then use a blow dryer of maybe only use the blowdryer. I tend not to use the blowdryer as the noise would freak my pigs out.

10. Now comes the good part for the pigs and my boyfriend: I will wrap the pig up in the 'dry' towel, and give them to my boyfriend. He will take them upstairs (where their cage is) and lie on the couch with pig (or pigs) wrapped in towels and a nice warm fleece blanket. I guess this is not really necessary, but both boyfriend and pigs enjoy this! Also they need to be kept warm after having a bath as we don't want them to catch a cold or anything, and this a good way to keep them warmer while they dry.
In the pictures on the right you can see Lily and Chico wrapped in towels and a fleece blanket sharing a piece of chicory. On the picture on the left you might be able to spot 2 piggies, you can see my Boyfriends' head, and the cage in the background...

Woopy hiding in the hay

11. After that I put them back in the cage, and usually give them some extra hay to eat and snuggle in (hay provides more warmth).

12. Repeat for other piggies, and hand piggies to boyfriend for warming up and drying....

I really liked the vet sect repel, it smells okay, applies and foams pretty well (though it foamed a lot more on Daisy). In short it works well, and it made my two partly white girls more white, then the sort of yellowy white they were before the bath.

Also when the grease gland of your piggies is dirty and seems a bit hard, put on some dish wash liquid, leave it on a bit, then wash it out. That will usually clear it up, and many of my pigs will start pooing a lot after this gland is cleaned (coincidence?)

Our Lily was born on a sort of farm, where they had a big enclosure with run outside that could be moved around the grass. The run would allow them to be safe outside, and eat as much grass as they wanted. It seems Lily is pretty used to water, and it doesn't freak her out at all. First time we gave her a bath she was standing with her paws in the water and was like, 'hey, water...' and she started to drink it! We think living in the run, and being used to morning dew, helped her not to be afraid of the water.

My others, especially Woopy, are not that fond of the water. Woopy will scream as if we are mishandling her... Toby (Chico's old boar friend) was even worse and would panic so much, he would start turning himself over and almost drowning himself in the process...

So how do you bathe your pigs (do you bathe them)?

Do you have any tips to share?

Slave Mikey of the Guinygirlz and Agent Valentino

New Agent Venus Issues a Challenge

2012-02-04T10:36:00.000Z

Its February traditionally the month of romance and love so what better name for a new agent then Venus.

Agent Venus would like to issue a challenge for February she wants to see what piggies put on their heads be it bows, ribbons of hats Venus wants to see your pigtures so get snapping.

Best pigtures will be Agents of the Month for March

Agent Venus is getting us started with her lovely bows.

Clues to Agent Venus real identity:

She lives as part of a mixed her in Illinoi
Her real name is the Greek equivalent of her agent name
When she arrived she had a bad sore on her back but thanks to love and care from her new family she is now a happy healthy piggy.

Get Guessing.....

Agents of the Month February

2012-02-02T07:29:00.000Z

The Agents and Honourary Agents for the month of February are drum roll............

All the Perfect Pinkies who have sent in pigtures

Congratulations Pinkies you really are perfect!!

Perfect Pinkies; Coco

2012-01-31T09:12:00.000Z

Our Coco was selected by the late Igor himself because of her gentle nature and charming looks. She is a real sweetheart, always washing somebody's ears or snuggling next to them.

Coco's first encounter with auntie Mieke

Coco loves to cuddle with humans too. Just give her a lap and she will spread out like a big puddle of piggy hair.

flump

Our Coco is also a little fashionista, her favorite accessory is parsley because it matches her eyes ;-)

Strike a pose

Piggyfriends Perfect Pinkies

2012-01-29T07:36:00.000Z

Bosworth

Otto

Garnet

Elliot

Buttons

Copper and Polo

Introducing Agent Zeppelin

2012-01-27T09:58:00.000Z

This is Agent Zeppelin, he lives in the Netherlands and has featured on this blog before.

He was named after a famous guitarist from a famous band. His agent name refers to this band (and it also fits because agent Zeppelin is a big LAPS pig, just like a.. zeppelin)

Get guessing!

Perfect Pinkies

2012-01-25T13:49:00.002Z

We are supporting The Potteries Guinea Pig Rescue with their spring campaign to raise awareness about pink eyed piggies.

Apparently lots of people are put off lovely piggies just because of eye colour.

So we say Pink is Perfect!!

I have dark red eyes or Ruby as I believe they are technically called.

So what we want from you guys is pigtures showing your Perfect Pinkies and a little bit of a story about who you are and why you are so great.

Show the silly humans we are not scary.

Get those pigtures coming!!

3 More wall calendars in stock & nominate your favorite Guinea pig shelter!

2012-01-22T22:45:00.000Z

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you all know that 17 calendars have been sold, and we have made a nice profit on this to be donated to a guinea pig shelter! (I will have to do the maths, so can't give you an exact number at the moment... sorry)

So you can all send in your suggestions for your favorite Guinea pig shelter, one that is near you, or one that you feel is special, or one that could use a little help from us all. Please motivate why you think they should get our donation.
We will then make a poll for this and let people vote on where to send our donation.

I also want to let you know if you haven't bought a calendar yet, you can still do so by filling out the form. You can get to the form by clicking on the link in the text in the right column below the picture of the calendar.
I currently have 3 wall calendars in stock which can be send to you immediately for the price of the desk calendar (i.e. 12,50 euro, about 16.15 dollars) plus the cost for shipping it to your country from the Netherlands. Desk calendars can be ordered as well, but will have to be printed first, so they might take somewhat longer.
See the preview of the calendars here.

So let us know if you want to order (another) calendar
& please suggest a shelter that could use our donation in the comments!

Ghost and Iron Hamsters First Aid Kit

2012-01-19T07:37:00.002Z

Firstly we must apologise for lack of pigtures but Mummy had other humans over for New Years Eve and tidied the living room, the camera has not been seen since. Mummy reassures up it will turn up somewhere silly when no-one is looking for it.

So here is our first aid kit;

1ml Syringes for syringe feeding
Xeno 450 (spot on Ivermectin) for mites
Panacur for worming
Metacam Painkiller
Childrens Liquid Nurofen Painkiller
Gripe Water for gas
Infacol for gas
Liquid Parafin in case of eating plastic (as per PG)
Chanca Plus Powder supportive herbal treatment for stone piggies
Probiotic
GG Quench Lotion for skin problems especially fungal
GG Perfect Paws for sore feet
Cotton Buds for cleaning
Vet Sect Repel shampoo for bath time
Baby Bottle Steriliser Tablets for cleaning our drinking bottles
Nail Clippers for cutting nails
Metatone tonic

Then we have things Mummy always has in kitchen cupboards;

Pearl Barley to make barley water as per PG recipe
Weetabix to mix with water to make syringe food
Honey as a supportive supplement in times of illness

There may be more but that is all we can remember at the moment

Winkyteam First Aid Kit

2012-01-15T12:12:00.000Z

After visiting the piggyfriends, I was kinda worried about our first aid kit. So I asked J to let me take a peek at it (this is not for the faint of heart, I sat next to nail clippers and shampoo..)

Yikes!

I was not disappointed, and actually feel much safer now (did put in an order for products that weren't past their shelf date). This is what I found:

Medicine
- Painkiller
- Antibiotics leftover. Usually used for Yaya's bladder infections. But always good for emergencies
- Primperan for bloat/gas emergencies

Tools
- an assortment of syringes for force feeding recovery food
- nail clippers
- an animal shaving machine. Once used for grandma's poodle, later for Igor
- the snuggle safe heat pad. A plastic disc that can be heated in the micro wave and stays warm for about 8 hours. Used a lot by Yaya (for the OD)

Care
- recovery food, both critical care and science recovery to suit our taste (yes we are spoilt)
- probiotics (protexin powder) to help the healthy bacteria in our bowels . Usually administered a few ours after antibiotics
- shampoo for both mites and fungal infections. We use the Knoevel products (manuka neem shampoo with cocos neem) but they actually come from Gorgeous Guineas
- Paxcutol, for cleaning the accidental overactive butt gland (you can also use dish washing stuff, but we are spoilt pigs)
- betadine shampoo. Good for disinfecting pigs. Used for rinsing Jan the Boar's abscess after it burst
- granny Glynis' blanky. For wrapping unruly pigs when they need to be force fed (also good for snuggling)

Okay readers, this was dr. Sjeuff, reporting from the trenches. It there are any other pigs out there are willing to share their first aid kit, drop me a line below ;-)

Happy Birthday Agent Nervous

2012-01-13T07:23:00.000Z

Our very own Agent Nervous is celebrating a big birthday, he is now 5 years old.

Being 5 means he qualifies to join the Senior Citizen Aging Miracle Pig Society also known as SCAMPS

Congratulations Agent Nervous!!!

Hammock Happiness Interrupted

2012-01-12T11:54:00.000Z

Just when you are having a nice dream in your hammock...

*zzzzzzzzz*

*zzzzzzzzzzzz*

Your staff sneaks up on you and takes a pigture..

FLASH!

Whut?

Got nom?

Sigh..

Sounds familiar?

Introducting Agent Yougie

2012-01-11T19:49:00.001Z

Hello agents! I am an one-year-old red crested piggy and I love yogurt treats. I was adopted and live with two other agents, Agent Butterloaf and Agent Cannonball. I am still learning how to live with other piggies. Right now I shake my bottom a lot at the other agents. I love yougies!! They are a timothy hay treat covered in yogurt. I taught the other agents how to stand on their hind legs to beg for yougies. I am trying hard to get yougies all the time but it's not working. I am also trying to put on weight but I run around so much that it's hard! If only I was given yougies all the time...!

Jimmy is a LAPS pig!

2012-01-11T12:51:00.000Z

1383 grams!

Our friend Jimmy from the Gekke Flappies recently became a LAPS pig. Hurray! Go Jimmy, well done.

I am a LAPS Piggy

2012-01-10T07:47:00.001Z

For those of you who dont follow the Guinea Pig Daily Digest (gpdd) LAPS stands for Large Ample Piggy Society.

To qualify you have to way 1360g or more which we believe is 3 pounds someone can correct us if we are wrong.

Well in the last few weeks my weight has fluctuated between 1372g and 1358g so I think I qualify well done me.

Pass the food mummy I have to keep my weight up.

Ghost

Piggyfriends' First Aid Kit

2012-01-05T20:54:00.001Z

After my last blogpost, I jumped into the cavycopter to interview the Piggyfriends about their first aid kit. After a generous meal (I now have a secret crush on miss Penny, their slave) the Piggyfriends nominated Pandora aka Agent Avatar, to answer my questions as she is spokespig for the herd when they send messages to the GPDD.

Pandora aka Agent Avatar

(Sjeuf) Before we jump into the Piggyfriends' first aid kit, Pandora, can you tell me a bit more about the Piggyfriends?

(Pandora) Well, I need Slave's help with this one. She says that she had the very first Piggyfriends when she was a little girl ( a VERY long time ago ). The first one came from a litter born to the pet shop lady's Peruvian sow, Lima and the second was passed on to her from her spoilt brat cousin's dad, when the girl would not look after him. There were no piggy rescues in those far off days so I guess that he was the first rescued one. When Slave and her family moved here in 1987, she had six of her own plus the Little Visitors that came to live here during the times when her friend was overseas and also her sons' school piggies that boarded every weekend and holidays. There was plenty of room here to rescue more so she did.

Slave never counts us as she says that it reminds her of lost Piggyfriends. I can't count very high but there are between 20 and 30 of us. Slave says that once she had 35. There is always room for one more.

(Sjeuf) what are the most common piggy ailments?

(Pandora) The worst piggy ailments must be skin problems, particularly mites but we are all protected by regular doses of Ivermectin and Panacur to kill mites and other parasites (tip: worming protocol). Sometimes piggies come in with mite infestations and they are very poorly. Fungal issues are also problem in cold, damp climates like ours in England as piggies originally came from the dry climate of South America.

(Sjeuf) What kind of medicine really really ought to be in the case?

(Pandora) Our Slave has a huge amount of piggy medicine in two overflowing boxes. I think that Ivermectin and Panacur are the most important drugs plus an antifungal and antiparasite shampoo. Slave has Vet Sect Repel. She has painkillers and human cold remedies, which suit piggies too. There are decongestants for bunged up noses plus a bottle of Septrin antibiotic - the best one for piggies. There is a bottle of tonic for when we need a pick me up and a human ladies' remedy for cystitis. There are meds for upset tummies and diarrhoea and Daktarin oral gel for sore mouths after dental work. She has eye drops and a cream to help wounds heal faster. She has Osteocare and a cream for mouth sores ( just in case ).

(Sjeuf) Lets talk tools! What do you really need, next to the drugs?

(Pandora) Tools? A good, sharp pair of nail clippers. Slave has a pair for human nails and she also uses these for overgrown incisors. Not for the faint hearted. Also a lot of 1ml. syringes with no needles for giving meds. With the ends cut off, these are for syringe feeding sick piggies too. Plus good sharp scissors for haircuts for our long haired friends. I don't need these. If she did not have the services of our wonderful Rodentologists, she would have a set of dental equipment too. Also there is a box of cotton buds for swabbing the Daktarin around little mouths.

(Sjeuf) Are there other essential items we've not mentioned yet and ought to be in the first aid kit?

(Pandora) Slave considers all of the contents to be essential but she says that you need to know what you are doing before giving meds.

(Sjeuf) So let's say I'm making a deluxe first aid kit, what else would you put into my kit?

(Pandora) Slave wouldn't be without a diuretic for heart conditions. She also recommends that every first aid kit should contain a copy of Peter Gurney's Piggy Potions. She is very keen on herbal remedies.

(Sjeuf) Wow, Pandora, that was really helpfull, thank you so much for having me here!

Dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did and got some ideas out of this. If you have any questions, post them below, I'm sure the Piggyfriends will be reading this and are willing to answer them.

Lots of wheeks!
Sjeuf

p.s. I added all the hyperlinks to the websites for extra information. Do correct me if I got it wrong or pasted a dead link into this post.
p.p.s. as stated in the sidebar, we are not vets and no rights can be claimed from this blogpost. If your guinea pig seems to be unwell, please seek out medical advise from a cavy-savy vet. Pigs can go downhill very fast.

Someone Called IT Support

2012-01-04T18:57:00.006Z

New Years Resolutions

2012-01-02T18:28:00.001Z

Tell your slaves not to worry about their weight (big butts are the best anyway) and replace their New Years resolutions with these resolutions for my health:

1. Weigh me frequently and keep track of my weight. We are very good at hiding our illnesses and a drop in weight usually is the first sign something is wrong

2. Check my fur every now and then. Are there bald patches? Creepy crawlies? Wet chin?

3. Trim my nails! I know I don't like it, but if you wait too long I'll get corkscrew nails, which can be very painfull.

So, this is our top 3. Which resolutions would you like to add?

Dr. Sjeuff

Agents of the Months January.....

2012-01-01T11:54:00.001Z

Drum roll please........

Well done to the Cali Collective you are all Agents of the Month for January.

Vote for your favorite Pigmas piggies

2011-12-28T12:02:00.001Z

You can vote until Sylvester night (31 december 2011 23:59 CET)

Links to all the Pigmas posts:
Flower
Misfits: Agents Tiny and Addytude
Agents Ghost & Iron Hamster
Piggyfriends: Agents Firenze & Mystery
(uncooperative) Guinygirlz
Agents Butterloaf, Cannonball and New Agent
Cali Cavy Collective (Merry Pigmas)
Cali Cavy collective (More Christmas greetings)
Tasty Pigmas

Guinea Pig Blog soap giveaway

2011-12-26T17:21:00.004Z

Dear Undercover Guinea Pigs,

I'm raffling off this guinea pig shaped soap on my blog. Maybe you can announce it on your site? The winner will be announced Jan. 1, 2012.

http://cavysavvy.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-years-guinea-pig-toy-giveaway.html

Thanks!

--Cavy Savvy

We wish you a tasty Pigmas

2011-12-25T14:35:00.000Z

We wish you a tasty Pigmas from the Netherlands! The guiny girlz are staying over at our house, while moms and dad are racing through the Netherlands, visiting grannies, grandads, uncle Rik and friends. Our Pigmas is extra special this year because we have a new boar. His name is Sjeuf, which is a local name from the south of the Netherlands. You can pronounce it like 'shuv', it's short (and dialect) for Joseph. Which is kinda appropriate this time of the year ;-)

Love and Wheeps, Coco and Bo


Coco and Bo enjoying chicory with new addition Sjeuf

A dreamy white Pigmas with Lily, Daisy, Chico and Woopy

nom nom nom

Full bellies, happy piggy faces

Hey mom and dad! *wave*

More Christmas Greetings from the Cali Collective

2011-12-25T09:39:00.005Z

Merry Pigmas from the Cali Collective

2011-12-24T17:22:00.002Z

Hello,

Agents Pirate, Magician, Godiva, Acorn and Mango want to wish everybody a very merry Pigmas! Wishing that everypiggy gets heaps of vegetables and cuddles this holiday season.

Merry Pigmas

2011-12-24T02:32:00.001Z

Merry Pigmas from Agent Butterloaf, Agent Cannonball, and a new Agent that has yet to decide on his super secret agent name (new agent is the red crested piggy)!

Merry Pigmas from the (uncooperative) Guinygirlz

2011-12-23T23:11:00.001Z

I tried to get some nice Xmas pigtures of my little herd together but they weren't very cooperative...

I did get some nice shots from individual pigs so I'll post those

lil'Woop next to the christmas stable
(I like it because you can burn a candle in it, and it is nice an small)

Daisy in her cutest pose next to the christmas tree

Agent Wheeker

Agent Valentino

lil'Woop peeking out

Lily'explorer peeking over the christmas ornaments...

In the rest of the pigtures they were mostly wrecking the props...
Btw, this is the base of their new cage (will be a 1,22 by 1,22 meter cage :)

Life's hard sometimes for slaves with uncooperative pigs, but I hope you like these single shots!

Slave Mieke

Igor's PLAY - Baskets

2011-12-22T07:39:00.000Z

*Yawn* .. a very relaxed PLAY-project this time.. gotta love my job..

What is it?
Concept: A nice and cuddly object to lounge in.

Material: Fabric and stuffing. Preferably with a thick edge to put your head on.

Application: Climb in your basket and start relaxing.. Drape your neckflabs (if present) over the edge, eyes in sleeping position…dream away about carrots and Mavis..

Do-it-yourself-factor?: This is actually something you buy in a pet shop. But my favourite basket has been handmade by auntie Guiny's slave. I don’t know how she was able to get it so comfortable. Sowing a basket like that is something for the more advanced sewing slave.

Variations: Yes of course you can lounge extremely well in a basket, but they have more uses. I myself use it as a toilet. I happen to think this is very hygienic of me, since my slave only has to scoop out the poos and the cage stays nice and clean (if only the ladies would understand this.. *sigh*). It is also makes a nice hayrack, this way you can have a snack while studying for a master's degree in Piggin' out..

Target audience?:

First and foremost, it is intended for the lazy cavies among us. Yes okay, you can eat from it (as suggested above).. but I have a feeling our slave hides the hay just about everywhere nowadays. Not that I mind, by the way ;-)

Dangerous?:

No, not really. Even our wrecker Yaya hasn't done anything dangerous with this. It has no sharp edges and we don't eat it. Our slave can leave the basket in the cage without supervision.

User experiences?:

(Yaya): Yes lovely! The only thing missing are MORE baskets. That way Suus or Igor would not need to kick me out when I am lounging comfortably. The baskets are also very comfy for my painful paws (because of my OD ); it's even better with a snuggle safe or a flat hot water bag below it, to keep me and my bones nice and warm.

(Suus): Yes, the basket is also a lot of fun for under the hammock (I call that setup the bunk bed). It feels just a bit safer with a roof over your head and it sure is funny bouncing your cagemates out of the hammock from underneath *evil grin*.

Well dear pigs, that’s it for now. I’m going back to my basket, and continue to study comfortably.

Professor Igor

Igor's PLAY - FoodBall

2011-12-17T16:23:00.000Z

....in the forward line we see Igor.. front right is Suus doing a give and go with midfield player Yaya and skillfully passes the ball to Igor the terrible.. Igor accepts the ball perfectly .. oooh.. he makes an overhead kick and.. WHEEEEEEEK!!!! IGOR SCORES A CARROTPELLET!!

What is it?

Concept:Playing Foodball is playing with a special ball with yummies inside.
Material: You need a foodball. This is a ball made of plastic with a little sliding window in it. With this little window you can determine the size of the hole. You also need something Yummie that will fit inside. We prefer to use pellets from a different brand than our daily pellets. They are tasty and healthy. There is also special candy for guinea pigs for sale that you can use. Allthough this is a possiblity, these snacks tend to be too salty and unhealthy. Usually you are allowed to have two of them (a day), but this is not very practical when you are foodballing with a whole team. Unfortunately veggies are also not suitable; they stick and can leave bits behind in the foodball that go bad.

Application: Your slave should put something tasty in the ball and then lay it on the floor. Then the game is on!! You push the ball with your nose which will make it start rolling. If you do this right, the pellets ought to fall out of the ball every now and then. I have to say, this is not easy! If there's no pig around to show you how, it can take a while before you understand how to play this game. Luckily, I learned from Suus and Yaya, who in their turn, learned from Auntie Guiny (who else ;-) ).

Do-it-yourself-factor?: Not that high; the ball has to be bought in a pet shop. But it is possible to make one yourself. Your slave has to buy a little plastic bottle in the supermarket and empty it. Then she can cut some holes in it with scissors. Add pellets and there you go! (your slave does have to make sure that we cannot hurt ourselves)
Variations: You can do this as a team or solo. Your slave can also put boxes on the floor so you can manoeuver the ball through.

Target audience?

This is certainly something for the intellectuel cavy. Auntie Guiny was always very good at getting the ball out of small corners when it got stuck. Because there are yummies inside, it is also very suitable for the food oriented guinea pigs. And because you also get some excerise it is also a challenge for the sporty cavies among you.

Dangerous?

No, not really. Although I must insist that supervision of your slave is neccesary, you'll never know what we'll come up with. And besides, it is also very entertaining to watch, especially for daddy slaves.

User experiences?

Suus: Really cool game! Although it helps if slaves make sure we do not run out of pellets. It is very challenging to get the pellets out of the ball before your team mates. By the way, I always play for the Netherlands.. I'm already wearing orange socks..
Yaya: When slave introduced the ball again I was the only one who could remember how to play Foodball! Hahhah.. Good huh? ;-)

(Igor): Well guinea pigs that's it for this wheek. I will go grab a carrot beer for the third half. *snigger*.. *stagger*.. Laaalala Blaaaaack pants, Ooorange shirt, thaaaaat is the Winky herd. Holahee dee holala...hooolahee dee hoo laalaalaa...*

Professor Igor

*This is actually the song (in adapted form) that the fans of a soccer club from a small dutch village sing to encourage their team. Our slaves were born in this village and accidentely, Igors furcolors match their gear

Small preview of the Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2012

2011-12-15T07:13:00.000Z

Today I ordered the first Calendars we are selling.
The profit we make will be donated to a Guinea Pig Shelter.
Here's a small preview of how the standard desk calendar will look:

You can however also order a wall calendar, which is bigger and unfortunately also more expensive (20 euros)! The first 5 orderers will get this version for the low price of the desk calendar (if they want to, of course). The wall calendar looks like this:

You can still order the calendar from us, you can do so by filling in the form that can be found here.

Feel free to order as many as you like, or notify your friends about this calendar!

Kind regards,
Mieke

Merry Pigmas from Agents Firenze and Mystery

2011-12-13T07:42:00.006Z

"Who is going to sit nicely for some Pigmas pigtures" said Slave." Not Agent Curly or Halloween because you two were in the last set of holiday pigtures".

Then she saw us two. Agent Firenze was having a nap but that did not prevent her from being picked up and surrounded by festive ornaments and having ribbons stuck in her hair. I don't think that she really minded. Well, it is a girly thing isn't it but then it was my turn.

Now, wearing a Santa hat is one thing but having poinsettias in my hair!! Doesn't Slave realise that under all of this coat I am a BOAR!! And then I got the ribbons too. Pigmas. Bah Humbug!

Don't worry - the poinsettias are artificial. Slave knows that real ones are poisonous.

Happy Pigmas everyone from all of the Piggyfriends, including me, Agent Mystery.

Merry Pigmas from Agents Ghost and Iron Hamster

2011-12-11T11:50:00.005Z

As you can tell we were far more interested in eating the romaine than posing nicely WOL

Merry Pigmas from Agents Tiny and Addytude

2011-12-09T07:11:00.001Z

Merry Christmas to all secret agents from Flower!

2011-12-07T07:44:00.002Z

Sinterklaas with the Guinygirlz and Agent Valentino

2011-12-06T00:17:00.001Z

Agent Valentino and the girl agreed to pose with the playmobil Sinterklaas. He's sort of the Dutch Santa, who has his birthday in the 6th of December and brings presents to all kids here in the Netherlands.

lily'Explorer: What's this staff thingy, can I eat that?

Valentino: mmm, is this any good?

All of them Hi Sinterklaas, can we have the spare carrots your horse gets from all the kids?

It is custom for kids to put their shoes somewhere for Sinterklaas and his helpers Zwarte pieten (Black Pete's) and to leave a carrot or something for Sint's horse and maybe a drawing for the Sint.

The zwarte pieten will come during the night, and exchange the gifts for pepernoten (cruchy candies/cookies, and maybe a chocolate character or a small gift.

Well we hope you enjoyed our pigtures. We were not really feeling up to being photographed, cause we were way to excited to be in our new cage to try it out, it HUGE!!

Agents Valentino, lily'Explorer, Wheeker and lil'Woop

Vote for the christmas mouse

2011-12-04T10:26:00.000Z

It's time to vote for Puppy the guinea pig and his friends again for this years Christmas mouse:
http://stores.ebay.com/Puppy-Love-Jewelry/Vote-for-The-2011-Christmas-Mouse

Order your Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2012

2011-12-01T19:50:00.001Z

You can now order your Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2012!
Just click on the link in the column on the right.

As some large herds gave us permission to use their agents pigtures, we are now able to easily fill the calendar, but if you want your pig to feature be sure to give us permission.

For those who order before the 5th of December a wall calendar can be made instead of the desk calendar. If you order before that date I will ask you about which type you want: the desk or wall version!

I think it will be easiest if you leave a comment to this post stating:
"I, [insert name], give M and Mieke of the Undercover Guinea Pigs blog permission to use the pictures of my Agent(s), [names of your agents] for a Undercover guinea pigs Calendar."

Agent of the Month December

2011-11-30T07:43:00.001Z

Our runaway winner of the Thanksgiving Pigture contest is **drum roll** ....................

Agent Curly of the Piggyfriends.

Congratulations Agent Curly.

Now everypig send us your Christmas Pigtures for the chance to be Agent of the Month January.

Vote for your favorite Thanksgiving pigture

2011-11-27T17:06:00.002Z

Raystede Christmas Fayre

2011-11-25T11:23:00.002Z

Agent Thorntons reporting in.

The Rescue, from which some of the Piggyfriends, including myself, came, is holding a Christmas Fayre to raise money for the cause. Last year's event had to be cancelled due to the dreadful snow so let's keep our paws crossed that the sun will shine on the day.

It is on Sunday, December 4th. from 11am to 3pm.

Here is the link.

http://www.raystede.org/

You'll need to scroll down a little to find the notice.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T21:24:00.001Z

On behalf of all the Piggyfriends and their Slave, Agent Curly ( and friend ) would like to wish all of our friends across the ocean a Very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Thanksgiving from Ghost and Iron Hamster

2011-11-23T21:28:00.005Z

Happy Thanksgiving From Newest Misfit Ava and Special Guest AR

2011-11-23T09:33:00.004Z

Meet the newest Misfit her name is Ava, and AR was here to welcome her. She was brought to the IA humane society by her family. They told the Humane society that she was 4 years old and they were moving and couldn't take her with. She is a very scared girl. She is also pregnant! When we were there to pick out some cat toys for my daughters new cat, we just had to look in the small animal room and there she was scared to death. Andy picked her up and said she is pregnant! we just cant leave her here in this place to have her babies. We do not know anything else about her. Thus she is a mystery to us.. We do not know is she has had babies before or anything. We don't know what kind of food she has eaten before as she wont touch the pellets. (at humane she only had hay!) We have no idea how far along she is. You can feel her sides protrude. And its a mystery how many piggies are in her.

Well done Misfits you must love having minipigs around lol. We love Ava's go faster stripe.

We are going to have a side game like we did for Agent Momma and guess how many minipigs Ava has in her tummy we are going 3, 2 girls and a boy.

Now get sending in your Thanksgiving pigtures we are waiting.

Idea for an Undercover guinea pigs calendar?

2011-11-23T08:57:00.000Z

Dear readers,

I've had the idea to maybe make a calendar featuring some of our Agent piggies.
With the small profit we would make, we could make a guinea pig shelter happy,
by donating our profit to one selected shelter....
As some of you might know my sister Janneke and I made a calendar of GPDD piggies back in 2008.
It is probably still online, and can be found here: http://www.gpdd.org/calendar
Send us an email for the password...
The idea for the undercover guinea pigs calendar is to order calendars at a printing company, so we will not completely style the calendar as we did for the 2008 GPDD calendar.

But before I start executing my Idea I need your help!
First of all I want to know if you would buy the Calendar at all.
I think a price of 12,50 euro plus Postage an package, should cover the costs and leave some money to donate to a shelter. Is this a reasonable price for you? If not would you buy one for 10 euros??

Then I need your permission for actually using the Pigtures of your agents in the Calendar.
I think it will be easiest if you leave a comment to this post stating:
"I, [insert name], give M and Mieke of the Undercover Guinea Pigs blog permission to use the pictures of my Agent(s), [names of your agents] for a Undercover guinea pigs Calendar."

I'm very curious what your reactions will be!!

Yours truly,
one of the bloggers on the Undercover Guinea Pigs blog,
Mieke

Agent F Has Been Featured.....

2011-11-22T07:24:00.000Z

On the Daily Cavy

We are not sure how they heard about the blog or found his pigture but so far 21 people have said they liked it, we know Agent F would be proud of that.

Agent F is Daily Piggy for 19th November 2011

You can also find links to lots of piggy blogs there, piggy overload time.

Hay Solutions: Vertical hay rack

2011-11-21T06:56:00.000Z

This time a special guest post from our fellow agents of the Cali Cavy Collective:

(see the original post here)

Hay is an essential staple of every guinea pig's diet, and should be available for your piggy to munch on freely at all times. One of the things an owner has to decide is how to give hay to their guinea pig. Whee here at the Cali Cavy Collective have experimented with many different methods of hay dispensing and would like to share our experiences with each method.

Revy munching hay from her vertical hay rack

A vertical hay rack is our humans most recent solution to dispensing hay. Ours is a simple DIY version made from bent C&C grids, coroplast and zip ties. It is secured onto the side of the cage with a large binder clip for easy removal.

Whee rather like using vertical hay racks. The one our humans made for us has a coroplast backing and bottom to catch small hay flecks and keep our fleece bedding cleaner. They came up with this idea after seeing the angled hay racks sold at pet stores which they disliked because bits of hay would fall in our piggy eyes. With a vertical hay rack, hay is shoved in through the top so this doesn't happen. Since it is reasonably good sized it can hold a lot of hay at once for your piggy to eat. We can choose to eat from the bottom, or put our paws on the sides of the rack and climb it to reach choice strands. An extra bonus is that this encourages more exercise. Best of all, it keeps us from going potty in the hay so there is no icky odor.

Of course, the vertical hay rack may not be ideally suited for all piggies - lazier guinea pigs might not be motivated to climb or eat from it, we assume this is also true for sickly pigs. It is possible that elderly pigs might not appreciate the extra effort involved to reach the hay. Also, some adventurous pigs could decide to knock down their hay rack - Belka loves to shove it aside and hide behind it, while Revy enjoys tipping it on its side!

So far, we have found that vertical hay racks are the solution that works best for us. Whether you decide this method is best for your piggy though is entirely up to you!

Filled with hay

Front of the vertical hay rack

Coroplast backing of the vertical hay rack

Filled with hay

Revy climbs to reach a tasty strand up top

...and yanks it out!

Piggies aren't supposed to go in the hay rack!

Vertical Hay Rack - Pros
- no odor
- encourages more exercise, can climb it
- vertical design so hay doesn't get in our eyes
- catches hay flecks, keeping the fleece bedding cleaner
- can hold a lot of hay at once

Vertical Hay Rack - Cons
- elderly, ill, or lazy piggies might not be motivated to eat from it
- adventurous pigs can knock it down

Igor's PLAY - Guinea pigs

2011-11-17T07:29:00.000Z

This time THE indispensable guinea pig accessory! This is suitable for every event; whether you give a wheeking concert, go for dinner, are lounging or running laps around your cage, everything is more fun with two of you (or more).

What is it?

        Concept: an other cavy, just like you.
        Material: Yes, what kind of silly question is this? Hair, teeth, nails, ears and lots of poos.
        Do-it-Yourself-factor?: Ow help, another one...*swallow*...well, if a guinea pig dad and a guinea pig mommy like each other.. *coughcough*
I think I will explain this differently. As future guinea pig owner (slave) you have several options. For all options this applies: take a close look at the guinea pigs condition(s). Is the cage clean? Are food bowls, hay and water clean and at hand? No males and females together? Because if that is the case, there is a big chance the females are pregnant, guinea pigs are fertile from their 4th wheek. There should also be no rabbits together with the guinea pigs. That is not good, we speak a different language. We need different feed and guinea pigs can accidentally be kicked by rabbits. Also watch the guinea pigs themselves, are they active? Are their eyes and coat shining? If that is not the case it’s your choice. Saving the guinea pigs is not a bad thing to do. Do realise you stimulate the owner to continue his practices. I will shortly discuss the options.
        The shelter: the number one of options! There are many sweet guinea pigs in shelters waiting for a loving care taker. Some shelter pigs are a bit more scared because they have experienced some things, but most of us have been cuddled a lot by the sweet volunteers and we all deserve a chance. The volunteers usually have a lot of experience in pairing up and medical problems. My slave is very satisfied with the aftercare she has received from my shelter.
        Pet shop: I think most guinea pigs come from pet shops. When they are taken care of in a proper manner, i don’t think that is a problem. Not all pet shops are very informed about what guinea pigs need. And guinea pigs from a pet shop are not stronger or better then pigs from a shelter.
        Breeder: Breeders usually have very pretty cavies of a certain kind. Good breeders have a lot of love for their guinea pigs and lots of knowledge about them. At these breeders guinea pigs have 1 or 2 litters a year and only when they are more then a certain weight. When you want this pay attention that the breeder really has a heart for his or her animals and doesn't just breed them.
        Home-bred litters: Sometimes guinea pigs are born at home. That can be possible when the pet shop hasn’t sold you two sows or two boars or if the owner chooses for that. If you are one of these people, make sure you will find potential new owners in advance and keep in mind that if you cannot find anyone that you will have to take care of them anyway. There is also a certain risk involved. Sometimes the mommies do not survive. And the vet bills can run up high.

Variations:

        Two or more sows: Sows are relatively easy to be paired up. Herds of sows are quite common (make sure you have enough space). Sometimes there is some bitching among them, but usually this will not get out of control.
        One adult guinea pig with a little one of the same sex: this way of pairing up has a pretty good chance of success. When Yaya and Suus where little ones and joined the Winky gang, Lotje’s maternal instincts were awoken and she has lovingly raised them. Do keep in mind that when the little one reaches adulthood, there can still be a struggle for power.
        Two boars: Two boars together can sometimes be harder. When they fight they are often a little bit more aggressive then sows. But to speak in Jan the Boar’s words there are so many sweet boars in shelters, give them a chance. More boars is even harder and is not advised (but not impossible). When you have a pair of boars, it is unwise to expose them to sows. Then they can still start to fight at the scent of sows. But boars can be put together, see: barmy boars My slave has a weakness for boars. According to her they are just a little bit sweeter and more human oriented. I do not have any scientific proof for that… but I secretly think so too ;)
        One boar with one or more sows: Boars are extremely convenient to put in with a group of sows, in order to keep the peace among them. Of course only castrated boars (helped-boars).
        Cage neighbours: When you do not succeed in pairing them up, this is always an option. See it this way: maybe you are not waiting for a cage mate who eats your veggies, but having a nice chat through the cage bars makes your day just a little bit less boring.

Target audience?

Apart from the occasional hermit guinea pig, this is fun for every guinea pig. Eating together, sleeping, wheeking, fight about veggies, exploring the room together..

Dangerous?:

The most dangerous are the introductions. That is not always easy (I know everything about that, right Suus? Make sure you do this gradually. When someone puts an utter stranger in your living room, you would not like that either. My slave has used the instructions on this website when Suus and me were hard to match: Introductions. We had a bath together, brrr.

User experiences?

        Suus: I love doing racing matches with my cage mates. Of course they should listen to me because I am the alpha pig. Yaya is like my sister. We do bicker sometimes, but I can’t do without her. Igor is cool. Those curls are very comfy to sleep on..
        Yaya: I like all guinea pigs! I have never met one that I did not like. I loved auntie Lotje. When we were introduce I liked her so much I started washing her ears straight away.
        Igor: In the beginning Suus and I did not get on so well. That wasn’t my fault! Because with a boar like Hercules (?), which is presumably harder, it went perfect. Well it just tells us that matching characters are also important when pairing up, not just age and sex. But Suus and I have put our differences aside and now I follow her around everywhere. Suus is such a daredevil, she dares to do anything. I think that is cool.

Mystery Agent Star

2011-11-14T06:21:00.000Z

Real Name? Guess it! It's a star sort of name...
Secret Agent Name? Agent Cheeky
Why did you chose your Secret Agent Name? Mum said I was a cute but cheeky boy...
Where do you live? In my hutch
Who do you live with? Mika...
Favourite Food? hmm... hard desition, I love my food mix, carrots, cerlary, broccoli, capsicum (bell pepper) and Oaten hay but I'll have to say... PARSLEY!!!
Favourite Hobby? either hogging the cuddle sack, playing tag with Mika around owners room or chewing up the bits I'm not supposed to chew/bite on my cage...
Favourite Toy? celary chew things

Gentleman Jack is a Winner

2011-11-12T07:06:00.000Z

Check out this years Wessing Photgraphic Portrait Prize Winner

Well done Gentleman Jack.

New Bedding

2011-11-10T07:57:00.000Z

At last Mummy has made us new bedding she spent the weekend swearing at the sewing machine and generally being disruptive, she broke two needles and now the automatic needle threader is out of alignment but we are worth it.

Our new bedding has a top layer of fleece that is super soft and cosy and a bottom layer of double folded towels snuggy.

Even better than the soft snuggyness is the fact that mummy has finally realised we are boy piggies and has got us proper boy fleece if you look closely (not too closely or you will there isnt a straight line stitched anywhere) we have little tractors and trucks on the fleece.

Agents of the Month November

2011-11-08T08:03:00.002Z

Big drum roll, the winners of the Halloween competition and therefore honourary agents of the month are ..........................

Lola and Buffy closely followed by Flower well done piggies.

I am sure everyone will agreed that elder pig Halloween also deserves the title honourary agent of the month so congratulations Halloween may everypig get to be as old as you **toasts Halloween with carrot wine**

Thank you to everyone who sent pigtures as far as we are concerned you are all winners.

Thanks to Agent Valentino for setting up the poll and thanks to everyone who voted.

Now get snapping your Thanks Giving and Christmas Pigtures!!!

New Agents

2011-11-05T08:46:00.000Z

Real Name: Woody

Secret Agent Name: Agent Otter

Why did you chose your Secret Agent Name: Mummy says I look like an otter, what is an otter?

Where do you live? In my pod.

Who do you live with? With my mummy, my Lady, my beloved Boomer, Starbuck and my new friend. I was adopted by my new family after not having a very nice start in life.

Favourite Food? Red pepper.

Favourite Hobby? Being cuddled by my Mummy, purring at other pigs.

Favourite Toy? Cardboard rolls which I destroy in a manly way.

Real Name? You all have to guess. My full name has three words, I am named after the lead male character in a recently ended long-running television series. The first word in my name is a title awarded by the Queen and my second name is a diminutive of Henry.

Secret Agent Name? Thames

Why did you chose your Secret Agent Name? The river often features in the television programme.

Where do you live? Too close to that idiot Otter

Who do you live with? See previous answer.

Favourite Food? I do something of a fondness for hay.

Favourite Hobby? Attempting to ignore Otter, looking inscrutable.

Favourite Toy? My pigloo, I like to reject the toys Lady buys us in favour of cardboard rolls, this helps to remind her who is boss. ME.

Mystery Agent Ted

2011-11-04T06:52:00.000Z

Meet Agent Ted. He looks suspiciously like Agent Curly but is not! This
enables them to pull off some secret missions together. In addition to being
a secret agent, Agent Ted's hobbies include eating his favorite food,
parsley, keeping in shape by running stairs, and pining after the 4
beautiful sows next door.

Agent Ted's real name is the same as one of the boys from the Narnia stories with an extra T added in somewhere........get guessing

Vote for the Halloween piggie!

2011-11-01T19:56:00.000Z

You can vote for your favorite Halloween piggie pigture!Fill in the poll below, you can vote until November 7th (midnight, CET)
We hope you all join in on deciding who is our favorite Halloween piggie!

Ghost and Iron Hamsters Halloween Pigtures

2011-10-31T07:35:00.002Z

We are showing you how to do Halloween on a budget we think anypig should be able to copy our costumes.

What you need is something white, small towel, hankie, t shirt, pillowcase etc use the white material to cover your body and poke your head out the end, there you have it a ghost pig.

Lily's Halloween entry

2011-10-30T07:49:00.001Z

This is Lily after eating some
red bell pepper or tomatoes...

Anita and Adriana's Halloween Pigtures

2011-10-29T07:51:00.000+01:00

Anita Misfit

Adriana Misfit

These two agents in training are very lucky as the Misfits Mummy and Daddy made a 4 hour round trip to bring them to their forever home.

We think they are adorable and look forward to watching them grow up to become fully fledged Agents.

Halloween from the Archives

2011-10-28T07:23:00.000+01:00

Agent F shows how he becomes a vampig just by eating beetroot.

Lola and Buffy's Halloween Pigtures

2011-10-27T07:45:00.000+01:00

Buffy

Lola

Great costumes girls Lola and Buffy have their own blog click here to view it.

Flower's Halloween Pigtures

2011-10-26T07:41:00.004+01:00

I think you will agree Flower is a lovely sheltie, maybe she is shy and is not sure about being a secret Agent as we think Flower is her real name (we are not sure thought perhaps she could confirm in comments)

Good work Flower

Halloween Competition

2011-10-25T11:52:00.003+01:00

Agent Minty reporting in.

These pigtures are of a venerable old gentlepig here at Piggyfriends. He is my next door neighbour and his name actually is Halloween, as it was on that day, 6 years ago, that our Slave brought him home. He was an adult piggy then so we have no idea how old he really is.

As the weather was warm last weekend, Slave took him out into the garden for a photoshoot. She only some wanted pigtures to commemorate the day, before the weather turned, to share with the GPDD readers so they are not of competition quality but as you announced the competition, I thought that I would share them with you anyway.

Halloween is much to old to be an agent or to be dressed up in a Halloween costume but, in between lengthy naps, he posed for these pigtures. Slave made the jack-o-lantern in her pottery class many years ago. When she was due to glaze it, the class was cancelled that week due to snow and the tutor, thinking to do the class a favour, glazed everyone's work for them. Shame about the colour but it was too late to do anything about it!

Happy Halloween every one!

Halloween Competition

2011-10-24T07:42:00.003+01:00

We have been inspired by the Cali Collective blog and their great Halloween pigtures, so now we want you to all send in your Halloween pigtures. See The calicavycollective Blog

The best pigs get to be the next Agents of the Month.

Get Snapping...

Guinea Pigs row tiny boat

2011-10-21T07:38:00.000+01:00

This is a cute video, if you ignore the fact the cage is a hamster cage complete with wheel and a few other details.

If Mummy thinks we will do this she can think again!!

Bouncing Back

2011-10-19T07:50:00.001+01:00

Well it has been well over a year since I had the dreaded bloat and on Saturday I had finally regained all the weight I lost, even gained an extra 6g.

I am now 1306g just another 54g to go and I will be a LAPS pig.

Iron Hamster is now 1183g

Igor's PLAY: vegetable Hide-and-Seek

2011-10-17T12:23:00.000+01:00

This wheek I am meeting with Lady Guinyvere. A beautiful and mature lady, who promised to share her experiences with her invention Veggie Hide-and-Seek.

Although our conversation takes place through the cage bars (Slaves thought it couldn't be done *tssk* Apparently, auntie Guiny is a spunky little lady), she soons whispers it is okay for me to call her auntie Guiny. Lucky for me, she isn't as bad as our slaves made her out to be. Next to being spunky, Auntie Guiny also has a reputation of being very intellingent. To illustrate, she understands the concept of 'opening a door'. When she sees a door, she will think first, and then she decides whether she should push or pull. That's pretty smart, I think.

(Igor:) Dear aunt Guiny, what is Veggie Hide-and-Seek?
(Guiny:) Veggie Hide-And-Seek is a hunt for hidden veggies. The special thing about my version of Veggie Hide-And-Seek is that I make my slave use small cups in which she has to hide the veggies. With these cups, Slaves can upgrade the difficulty level. I really need intellectual stimulation (your should hear the mindless chatter in the cage.. sigh) so this is one of my favorite games. Also, the game complies perfectly with my natural need to rummage for food.

(Igor:) What materials can you use?:
(Guiny:) In theory, you don't really need the cups. But once you are used to them, the cups enable you to increase the difficulty level and it becomes more challenging than just gobbling down those veggies. Send your slave to the attic and let her check between the children's toys and kitchenware. You can also send your slave to a rummage sale, a cheap household store etc.

You also need veggies. Preferably different kinds and small amounts. One piece a cup is enough. Otherwise it is very likely that you pigs out there will lie down after one cup to let the food digest comfortably in your tummy. If you play it like this, it is not much of a game.
As for the veggies, I prefer a bit of cucumber, paprika (bell pepper) and chicory, but that is personal of course.
You also need a large space in which you are allowed to run around. Your slave might need to use a fence or newspaper/blankets in order to protect the floor and furniture.

(Igor:) How should guinea pigs from all over the world apply this?

(Guiny:) I'm happy you ask that question, dear Igor. When you start playing this game, it's best that you start on a low level. This can be achieved by placing the cups in such a way that they are easy to find. Your slave should put them in a position so that you can easily see and reach the veggies.

Once you have mastered this, you go on to the second level. Now your slave can then put them in harder to find places, so you have to try harder to find them. On the third level your slave can start to vary the positions of the cups. For example, when these are upside down, you cannot smell the veggies as easily and you will have to find out for yourself if something tasty is in there. You will also have to find out how to turn the cup in order to get out the veggie. Another difficult position is a cup which is placed just upright. With our cups it is kinda hard to put our noses inside. The final level is a combination of difficult positions and locations. I faced some challenges with cups that were on top of houses, or almost buried underneath a pillow. Needless to say, I conquered them all.

(Igor:) What about the Do-it-yourself-Factor?:
(Guiny:) Veggie Hide-And-Seek is not for sale in pet shops and your slave has to make it herself.

(Igor:) Lady Guiny, does this game have different versions?:
(Guiny:) Well, as I already explained, there are several difficulty levels. Your slave can also use toilet paper rolls instead of the plastic cups, for an old fashioned game of shred-the-cardboard-to-pieces after you're done eating the veggies. By the way, this game is at its best when you do this with your cage mates. You can do a match, and whoever finds the most veggies, wins (and she who wins gets to eat them as an award giggle).

(Igor:) Who is the target audience??:(Guiny:) Well look, Igor, I myself am an intellectual cavy. I don't know if you have ever considered this target audience, but stimulation is very important for my type of guinea pig. We become very bored without it. Playing games like this really cheers us up. Another target audience that will definitely appreciate this, is of course the food oriented cavy.

(Igor:) Is this dangerous?:

(Guiny:) Slaves have to pay attention to the safety of the cups (Sharp edges, edibility etc.) For this game you will always need a supervising slave, in the case we get stuck. By the way, our own slaves really enjoy watching us play this game...

Professor Igors experiences:
(Igor:) I have to say, I am excited about this game. I have played this game about five times with Suus and Yaya. Especially Yaya is very good at playing, usually I will just trail behind her and hope that there is more than one piece in her cup. We are currently playing this game at level 3. I do find it a bit scary, but it is definitely very exciting.

Dear auntie Guiny, thank you very much for this interview and hopefully I will seen you soon!

Professor Igor

Foodball

2011-10-14T07:35:00.000+01:00

Bo has a new hobby, she likes foodball! She likes it so much, she doesn't even eat the treats that fall out..
(the black things on the floor are treats, not poop)

Interesting Idea

2011-10-12T07:07:00.000+01:00

Check out this news from Switzerland.

Rent a Guinea Pig.

Treat Tower

2011-10-10T08:00:00.002+01:00

Having seen the fun out Dutch friends were having we demanded Mummy make us a new toy.

She came up with the treat tower.

This is a tall box with 3 holes cut in it on 3 different sides and at different heights Mummy then stuffed it with 3 types of hay, fresh grass, dandelions, mint and basil.

Here are some clips shot at different times and then merged together to show us enjoying out new toy.

Just after Mummy had finished filming I tried climbing all the way into the top window heeheehee

Igor's PLAY - Houses

2011-10-08T09:18:00.000+01:00

This wheek it is time for evaluating houses. Because there are so many different kinds of houses, I'll do this a bit differently. After an evaluation of houses in general, I will discuss the houses we have and award them with a rating expressed in golden guinea pig poos (1 bean for a really bad house, 10 beans for an absolutely awesome house).

What is it?

        Concept: Well what can I say… a house. A roof, walls and holes in it...
        Material: This can be practically anything. The houses I evaluated were made from wood, cardboard, plastic and grass. Auntie Guiny and her herd even have a little tent, which is made out of fabric.
        Application: This is very simple. Your slave places the house in your cage, you walk in and lo and behold!
        Do it yourself-factor?: This is pretty high, depending on the material you use. With a cardboard box even the little or the clumsy slaves can build you a cool house. Slaves that are a bit more skilful, can build a house out of wood. Do pay attention that you use materials that do not splinter and do not contain any harmful substances. Us guinea pigs like a house that can be ehm...altered.

Target audience?

Great for the relax cavy. Go inside and plant your furry behind in front of the entrance and you can lounge in complete privacy (also a good tip for the foodfocused guinea pig) If the house happens to have a flat roof, it is also very entertaining for the climber cavy. Climb on top and enjoy the view while wheeking your slave out of bed (or the couch..) Stressed cavies also appreciate a nice and safe house. It will offer a safe place in your cage from out of which you can observe the surroundings and build up confidence to go exploring later.

Dangerous?:

This depends on the house. Tell your slave not to buy or make a house that, when being gnawed on (and you know we cannot resist), are harmful to us. Also remove pointy ends sticking out. Your slave always needs to consider your safety when she buys you toys, because some piggy toy designers are just not the shiniest poos in the pigloo. Your slave should also pay attention to the holes in the house, they ought to be big enough. Most of us aspire to become a LAPS Pig one day, and getting stuck in the door opening or window is not very convenient. With cardboard this is not really an issue. Here, I actually prefer it when my slave makes the holes slightly too small because then I like it to decide (and alter) what the size of the window should be. Your slave should also remove tape and staples, especially around the edges.

Golden Poos?

        House 1: (Suus:) House number 1 is a bit small, but secretly aunt Guiny and auntie Lotje like it to be stuffed in the house together. (We call this position the Double PigMac... *snigger*). Jan the boar loved to sit on the roof of this house, he said it made him feel like he was the king of the cage.
Score: (Igor:) 7 Golden guinea pig poos
        House 2: (Yaya:) House number 2 is comfurrtably big, which is absolutly great when you are lying in it. The only downside is that when you are not allowed inside, there is so little cage space left. The roof also offers no climbing uses, but the window deserves points in favour. It is really nice to rest your little head when you are studying for your master's degree in piggin out (yes, very hard work indeed).
Score: (Igor:) 7,5 Golden guinea pig poos
        Houses 3, 4 and 8: (Suus:) These are made by Granny's boyfriend. He added a little bit of extra lovin' to these houses, which makes them extra special. They are all very tasty and have two exits. This comes in very handy when auntie Guiny snaps at you because she wants to lie in the house. With an extra door, there is always a way out...
Score: (Igor:) 7 Golden guinea pig poos
        House 5: (Igor:) This house looks really nice but looking back, this wasn't such a good design. Colored cardboard can be hard on the stomach. The size was nice though.
Score: (Igor:) 5 Golden guinea pig poos
        House 6: (Suus:) Wheeeeek, this was an excellent house! It had a big door (I'm a LAPS girl after all) and I could easily climb on the roof and spy on my slave. It had very edible, yummy cardboard.
Score: (Igor:) 8 Golden guinea pig poos
        House 7: (Yaya:) On the pigture you can see Granny's handsome boar Robbie peeking out of a pigloo. This is not an actual house, but us guinea pigs don't really understand the difference between a house and a toilet. (Just take a look inside our cage *evil grin*). Aunt Guiny refers to this house as The Blue Carriage. After an evening of running around in the living room, our slave had to very kindly beg our Lady Guinyvere (as she likes to call herself..) to proceed into The Blue Carriage. After which she was comfortably transported towards the cage (whereas us plain guinea pigs just had to climb into the cage ourselves). This is an advantage of the Pigloo, because it has a bottom, which makes it perfect for carrying around a guinea pig (be careful to cover the opening though. We are not really built for extreme sports liked base jumping.) I myself think the house is very tasty, but my slave won't allow me to eat it and has removed it from our cage. I guess she is right.. it was a bit hard on my belly.
Score: (Igor:) 5,5 Golden guinea pig poos
        House 9: (Guiny:) This tent is nice and big, it easily fits two of us, and we can even squeeze Woopy in there with us as a third. The bottom of the tent is very comfy, it's made of some kind of wooly stuff that is nice and soft. It can also be taken out (it's attached to the tentbottom with velcro, so your slave can easily take it out and wash it), which is very convenient for the slaves to clean it. The only problem with this tent is that it's made of fabric, which we can chew. I know who made the holes in our tent (right, Igor? *chatter*)..
Score: (Igor:) 6 Golden guinea pig poos
        Bahama shack: (Igor:) Yummy, greawft!... Vwery tastyf. Thoshe dfoorsf ougfwt to be a little biw biggerwsf...*chewchew*...*swallow*.
Score: (Igor:) 8 Golden guinea pig poos

Cheers!
Professor Igor

World Animals' day: present Winkyteam style

2011-10-06T22:37:00.000+01:00

Our mom was inspired by auntie Janneke's post with Coco and Bo in it,
and decided to make us a box of veggies, hay and pellets (in our case).
She used mainly the same concept as Auntie Janneke, cut the holes in the box,
filled the box with hay, chicory in small strips, freshly grown herbs (did we mention slave is starting our (ehm her?) own veggie garden?) and also added some of our appreciated pellets.
That is the kind we don't have in our cage at the moment, as mom says those pellets are not very good for us, but we love them anyway!

Here you can see a video of us investigating the box:

(if this doesn't work, you should be able to watch the video here: http://ustre.am/:1cbs4)
Be sure to watch the highlighted part where Daisy really gets into our present!

Here are some pigtures of us investigating as well....

What is this box?!?

Yum yum

Daisy getting into the box..

Daisy in the box, first picxk at the veggies.
The rest now eating from side bottom, as hay was sticking out there now...

Content wheeks,
The Guinygirlz: Agents wheeker, lily'explorer and lil'woop and Agent Valentino

World Animal Day; the Presents

2011-10-04T12:46:00.003+01:00

Hi all!

Nomnomnom

We got a veggie surprise box for World Animal day! Below you can see how the box was made by our J.

First, cut a hole in a cardboard box

Next, fill up the box with hay and veggies.
J did this lasagna-style;
hay with layers of parsley and shredded carrot

Close the box (don't use tape or staples!)

Happy World Animal Day!

Go away! Guinea pig @ work

Wheekz!
Coco and Bo, the shredding, chewing and nomming piggies

Meet Undercover Agent 007GP

2011-10-01T21:24:00.000+01:00

My friend Sammy invited me to become one of the Undercover Guinea Pigs. I thought that sounded like fun, so I decided maybe I would try it out. I chose Agent 007GP as my undercover name, since I am the 7th member of the Story Piggy herd. Also, since I have been told that I am such a smart and handsome guy, I guess my spy name fits me. My hobby is eating, and my favorite food is fresh hay. I love to play with it, bury myself in it, and, of course, eat it. I am a newly adopted member of the Story Piggies, so I am not quite sure what my favorite toy is yet, but I know that one of my favorites is my hay bowl. I love to head butt it around my cage and flip it over. I just can't leave it on my shelf with all of that good hay sitting in it. I have to bring it down to the floor of my cage where I can run through it, hide in it and play with it. When I am tired of that, I eat some and fall asleep on it so it will be right where I left it when I wake up. I have to get my beauty sleep so I will remain such a handsome boar. That way I will be able to live up to my spy name "007GP". I look forward to some exciting cases with the other Undercover Guinea Pigs.

Can you guess my real name?

Home Improvement

2011-09-30T07:27:00.000+01:00

Today I'm gonna show you how to build your own wooden house (we had to throw away the previous one because something white and fluffy was growing inside)

The wooden panels

Hurray! First wall is up!

The door goes over here..

Checking the inside before the roof goes up

Tadaaaa!!

When you're finished you an use this house for shelter or as a lookout.

Wkz!
Agent Chanel

PLAY: Hammocks

2011-09-28T07:35:00.000+01:00

In Memory of Agent I, we'd like to repeat all the PLAYs (Piggies Like Activities and Yummies) Professor Igor wrote before he became an undercover agent. Unfortunately all of the piggies in this PLAY have crossed the rainbow bridge by now.. But as former owner of these piggies I love looking at their pigtures.

PLAY 1: Hammocks

This wheek I evaluated hammocks for you guys. I must admit, hammocks turned out to be an extraordinary versatile and interesting study object.

Agent I inspecting the hammock

I asked my slave to put up the hammock in my cage and have been studying it thoroughly. There was also a lot of photo material in the archives, I did not want to deprive you guys of that..

What is it?
Concept: Hammocks are little mats in which you can hang around. It is a square cloth, raised a little above the ground and you can lie comfortably in it.

Material: My hammock is made of fleece. Hmm..nice and soft. But it is also possible to find or make hammocks made out of other materials. Small towels..... pieces of fabric. Nowadays my slave usually makes a hammock with a bottom made out of fabric to which no sawdust will stick, and the top made of a softer fabric like fleece. Attached to the mat are cords which can be attached to the cage bars. These can be made of fabric, but there are also mats available that have little chains.

Application: Your slave should first set up your hammock. There are several ways of doing this. First of all, your slave can attach the hammock to the ceiling of the cage. My slave usually ties the hammock cords to the side cage bars or she ties them around the bottom part (knot underneath the cage, against the floor) and then puts the cage bars on top. Choose whatever you and your slave finds convenient and pending on the possibilities of your cage. The knot-around-the-cage-method is ideal for cages with a plastic top. But this will not work when the cords are too short. When the mat has been installed, us guineas can get to work. Climb on the hammock (that can be quite a challenge! :-D) and relax.. lie down like a true pig.. ehm did I just say that? I meant start studying for you masters degree in piggin' out.. But be careful of cage mates that will try to bounce you out of your hammock.


Top left: Suus, Top right: Yaya and Jan, Bottom left: Lotje, Yaya and Guiny, Bottom right: Suus and Yaya

Variations
Other applications of a hammock include; a nice place to study under, or as food storage. Every guinea will appreciate an extra roof above his or her head. And eating from it, is quite a challenge. Imagine balancing while everyone in your cage is pushing and pulling, trying to nibble from the veggies or hay. Ah well.. a little cavy exercise, there's nothing wrong with that, right?

Do it Yourself factor?
It is very convenient when your slave knows how to handle a sewing machine. Because if she can, it is just a matter of sewing a square rag and attach the cords to it. For the less gifted slaves, guest towels are ideal (tie shoelaces or something else to the corners and there you go). Slaves can also buy hammocks in a store. There is loads to be found on the internet and some pet stores sell hammocks. If you cannot find any, try looking for ferret toys, the ferret section usually contains some nice hammocks!

Top left: Lotje, all other pigtures: Suus

Variations
There are also hammocks with pockets in them. These are very comfurrtable. There's the oven mitt model, with an opening in the side But there is also a model with an opening in the middle. The one Lotje is showing on the pigture has boning in it, in order to keep it open. I really thought that was a useful addition, because balancing on the mat while you try to stick your head in an opening is hard enough already. Suus is a big fan of the bunk hammock (see pigture). But I have the impression that Suus is a rat inside a guinea pig body. In my opinion, the bunk hammock can be dangerous. Suus is a very good climber so she can manage, but this concept is not suitable for everypig and your slaves should consider this.

The hammock is a tool that is suitable for both the climbing guinea pig and the relaxing guinea pig. Your can pull the funniest pranks in a hammock (Suus: popcorning in a fleece hammock will launch you to greater heights, Squeeeaaaak!!). But above all, it is very suitable to study for a master's degree in imitating a fireplace rug. In other words, it's really perfect for guinea pigs who like to relax. When your slave puts some food in the hammock, it is also good for the munching guinea pig.

Top: Suus, Lotje and Jan the Boar, Bottom pigture,
from top left to bottom right: Jan, Lotje, Yaya, Guiny, Suus

Well, getting into a hammock requires some practise. I actually find it quite scary. Although I have to admit it's not really dangerous in our cage because I won't fall very far. Yaya used to eat the hammock cords. In the past this has lead to diarrhoea, so now our slave uses materials that are simply not edible (like metal chains) or aren't harmful (like sisal rope).

User experiences?
Suus: I am very pleased with our hammocks. I find it an ideal way to explore the surroundings, while bouncing in it. It keeps me fit, and I like to practice my climbing skills. But relaxing is also very nice. Though it could use a defense mechanism, that would enable me to not get pushed out of it by Yaya.. or accompanying earplugs.. because if I do not make space for Yaya she will start to whine really loudly..

Yaya: I think the hammocks should be made of a more edible material. The fleece is so heavy on my stomach. The material of which my lil' Bahama shack is made would do perfectly... hmmm... SLAVE!!!

Igor: Well this was my first PLAY report, if you have any user experiences, photo's or remarks, let me know!!

Wheeks and lots of Play-sure!
Professor Igor

Guess the Heaviest Piggy Agents Avatar and Firenze.

2011-09-26T07:40:00.004+01:00

Here are two of the Piggyfriends. From left to right you can see Agents Firenze and Avatar.

Here is another pigture of them - a risque shot of them in the bath just for the boars. In this pigture Agent Avatar is on the left. This is really just an excuse to plug the best ever shampoo for piggies, Vet Sect Repel, as well as to give the readers another clue. This time Agent Firenze is on the right.

And here is a shot from the rear. This time Agent Firenze is on the left.

Which is the heavier of these two girls?

My Big Adventure

2011-09-23T10:22:00.001+01:00

Daddy let us out of our play area yesterday so that we could run around the lounge, being the curious boy that I am I ran straight behind the sofa and out the other end.

When I came out Mummy and Daddy laughed at me, I didnt know why until Daddy said let him go round again he might get rid of some more cobwebs.

Apparently I had cobwebs over my head and hanging off my whiskers, but I dont care I had fun.

Rainbow bridge: Agent I

2011-09-20T10:29:00.002+01:00

Our Igor took his one-way trip to the rainbow bridge last wednesday. He's had a tumor for quite a while now, but he was in pain since monday so we decided to let him go.

Igor was not just my pig, many people loved him, his cute nose and his antics so I'd like to write a post about all his adventures.

Igor @ Home
Igor came to live with us in september 2007 when he was only nine months old and he stayed with us for four years. In the beginning he was really scared, he sat bug-eyed in his cage for almost 2 weeks and fought with Suus (aka the crazy hedgehog) until they agreed the real evil one was me (I made them take a bath together). I named him Igor because as a mad scientist I needed an assistent. With his crazy hair, he was perfect for the job.

Igor, Bo and Coco

After he got used to me, Igor was very gentle and very much a momma's boy. He taught Bo and Coco not to be scared of me and enjoyed his daily nose-rub. He comforted me when I was sad and almost every morning he would popcorn when I gave him his hay.

Igor @ Dagboek van een Caviabende (Dutch: Guinea Pig Gang Diary)
One of the first websites where Igor started contributing, was the Guinea Pig Diary.

Lonneke

He met his first love Lonneke here and started doing research for his PLAY project (Piggies Like Activities and Yummies). To honor Igors memory, we'll post translations of Igor's PLAY's on the undercover guinea pigs blog.

Igor @ GPDD
At the guinea pig daily digest Igor had many virtual adventures with his GPDD friends. He met another pretty lady, the lovely Mavis, and most of all, he met Fugly.

Undercover Fugly

Way back when the both of them were young boars, their email conversations on the digest usually would start with 'Hey Fugly/Igor buddy!' and then typically another plan full of mischief would start to reveal itself. They teased (and got punished by) the Lady Bug, went to Oz and danced to the legendary Rumblestrut Blues and they forged plans to take over the world with their guinea pig cuteness (hence the undercover guinea pig idea was born; Agent F started this blog)

Igor @ twitter
Twitter is where Igor met the beautiful Mickey. They flirted, sent pigtures and they even went on a date. He'd complain about the poor room service and just had fun with the other pigs on twitter. Here he also joined forces with the Gekke Flappies (Mickey's herd) and some mice and started the C-team ('If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the C-Team' .. *TATADADAA.. TAATAATAA.. TATADADAA.. DADADADAA* .. sounds familiar..?). They had their own cavycopter in which Igor would fly to come to the rescue (or party).

Yaya, Suus and Igor taking a nap

So, to sum it all up, this was our Igor. He was a good little boar and was loved very much by his girls Suus, Bo, Coco, especially Yaya.. and me.

Bye sweetie, we'll miss you, Say hello to all the other rainbow pigs from us and stay out of trouble.

Janneke aka J

Guess the Heaviest Piggy Agents Pirate and Acorn

2011-09-18T07:16:00.001+01:00

Left to Right Agents Pirate and Acorn

You may have spotted that Agent Pirate is a totally new Agent so here are the clues for her real name, this is a tough one we have been told she is named after a female pirate but when we googled the name for more details she appears to be a computer character whose full name is Two Hands Rebecca Pirates real name is the characters nickname.

Good luck

Hungry piggies!

2011-09-15T07:09:00.001+01:00

Hi all,

We just wanted to let you know that we are very hungry piggies too! (starving really..)

We have a nice little routine worked out to get the most out of our slave J;

- in the morning we wheek her out of bed, especially Bo is very good at this (we suspect that she'll become an opera singer when she grows up). As soon as we hear the alarm clock we'll start wheeking. After we've had our fill, J's toilet breaks and trips to the kitchen are a good cue to start wheeking again.

- when J comes home from work, Coco will sit on the wooden shelf in the left hand corner of the cage for a good view and she'll hit J with her most adorable smile when she comes up the stairs. Then Bo starts squeaking up a storm and tadaaa... veggies!

Ow and don't forget to show off paws, noses, and or cute lips ;-)

How do you guys beg for food?

Sleep Research: Pepper in the corner

2011-09-13T14:38:00.001+01:00

My friend Pepper is showing of some of her sleep research. Not only is it a very nice version of the banana position, it's also clever because with her head in the corner it's harder for cagemate Jimmy to bother her (ghegheghe.. well done Pepper!)

Agent Chanel
p.s. extra point for the cute paw!

Guess the Heaviest Piggy Agents Godiva, Magician and Mango

2011-09-11T15:12:00.002+01:00

Left to Right Agents Godiva, Magician and Mango

Spider dog

2011-09-08T15:41:00.000+01:00

I know he's not a guinea pig, but this dog has got some serious skills..
Maybe we should invite him for a guest lecture in the agent training program?

Agent I

Guess the Heaviest Piggy Ghost and Iron Hamster

2011-09-07T10:05:00.000+01:00

New Game

2011-09-05T09:56:00.004+01:00

This game is inspired by a conversation Mummy had with Agents Sheep and Incognitos Mummy so we thought it was only fair that they kick started us.

The game is called guess the heaviest piggy.

you will have a chance to look at pigture/s of the piggies together then you have to guess who is the heaviest so here is your first photo....

Get Guessing and remember we want you to join in as well

Baby Capybara's

2011-09-01T10:48:00.009+01:00

After Garibaldi Rous mentioned on his blog that Howletts Wild Animal Park had baby capybara's born in August Mummy decided she must visit just to see them.

As you can see Mummy was very lucky and the Capybara's were sleeping right by the fence.

Mummy said they had a big area and if they hadnt been by the fence you might never have seen them, however she was concerned as she couldnt see a big pond for them to swim in just a small one, perhaps the big one was out of sight??

This sort of thing makes her worry and while she loved seeing the babies she has mized feelings about zoos.

Piggysnap; Adorable Alpacas

2011-08-30T07:10:00.000+01:00

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Agent at the Rainbow Bridge Aerial

Mystery Agent Curly

Hello.

My pseudonym is Agent Curly and I am an Alpaca cavy. Alpacas are curly haired Peruvians and come in many colours. Our hair should fall forward over our faces but Slave trims mine so that I can see out. My coat would be much longer but it is cut short to prevent tangles.

Our Slave saw an ad in the local petshop saying "Guinea Pigs free to a good home". She did not waste any time in phoning the number on the ad and my friend and I both came here to live with many other piggies. You have met my friend, Agent Wizard, in another Piggy Snap.

Our previous owner could not manage our long coats, which were dirty and matted with hay when we arrived. She thought that we were not cuddly enough for her children and that piggies may not have been a good choice of pet for them. We both love a cuddle!

Slave named me after a favourite character from a series of books called "Little Grey Rabbit" that she loved as a child. She calls all fluffy piggies by the nickname of -------- but decided to use this as my real name. This character is actually a hedgehog but the name suits fluffy pigs. I can't think of another clue but you should be able to find my name via Google.

Are there any other Alpacas out there? I'd love you to join me in playing Piggy Snap.

Sleeping Method Guard the Food Bowl

2011-08-28T12:19:00.001+01:00

and the hay tubes as well.

It is essential that if anyone comes near either you immediately wake up and prevent them getting the food.

The Story of Chico and his house.. err.. girls

2011-08-25T08:58:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time, there was a boar named Chico.
Chico lived with 3 beautiful sows, but he wasn't a very active boar.
Thats why the housekeeper made sure everything he needed, like hay, pellets and water was available in his part of the cage.
One morning Chico woke up and found that the girls moved to the other part of the cage, a part he couldn't reach...

Ow my poor house.. err.. girls.. are you okay? wheeked Chico.

So our poor hero toiled and twaddled around the cage. And then a thought occured to him..

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and jumped!!!

Aaaaahh my lovely ~~house~~ .. girls. Finally we are reunited again.

And needless to say, Chico and his girls lived happily ever after. Chico took a nap & the girls jumped to the other side because it was kinda crowded.

(Chico) Yeeeeehaaah!! ... POPCORN.. *runrun*.. purrrrrrr .. POPCORN .. *jumps fence between cages* .. Woooohoooooh!!

(Woopy, Lily and Daisy) Don't look at us, we don't know what has gotten into Chico either.

(Story written and photo's taken by my sister Janneke, whilst we were on holiday, and my pigs got pampered by my sister..)

Undercover Guinea Pigs

Bath Time: the Archives

Fundraising Pig T-shirts

Agent Christmas and her Mardi Gras Hat

We *heart* Bertie Pig

New Agent Ripple and her Hat

Carnival in the Netherlands

New Agent Oreo and her Hat

Agent Valentino signing off

Happy Valentine's Day

New Agent Cleopatra and her Hat

Agent Bumble Bee's Hat

An Agent Zeppelin Mystery

Piggy Bathtime

Bathing time!

New Agent Venus Issues a Challenge

Agents of the Month February

Perfect Pinkies; Coco

Piggyfriends Perfect Pinkies

Introducing Agent Zeppelin

Perfect Pinkies

3 More wall calendars in stock & nominate your favorite Guinea pig shelter!

Ghost and Iron Hamsters First Aid Kit

Winkyteam First Aid Kit

Happy Birthday Agent Nervous

Hammock Happiness Interrupted

Introducting Agent Yougie

Jimmy is a LAPS pig!

I am a LAPS Piggy

Piggyfriends' First Aid Kit

Someone Called IT Support

New Years Resolutions

Agents of the Months January.....

Vote for your favorite Pigmas piggies

Guinea Pig Blog soap giveaway

We wish you a tasty Pigmas

More Christmas Greetings from the Cali Collective

Merry Pigmas from the Cali Collective

Merry Pigmas

Merry Pigmas from the (uncooperative) Guinygirlz

Igor's PLAY - Baskets

Igor's PLAY - FoodBall

Small preview of the Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2012

Merry Pigmas from Agents Firenze and Mystery

Merry Pigmas from Agents Ghost and Iron Hamster

Merry Pigmas from Agents Tiny and Addytude

Merry Christmas to all secret agents from Flower!

Sinterklaas with the Guinygirlz and Agent Valentino

Vote for the christmas mouse

Order your Undercover Guinea Pigs Calendar 2012

Agent of the Month December

Vote for your favorite Thanksgiving pigture

Raystede Christmas Fayre

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving from Ghost and Iron Hamster

Happy Thanksgiving From Newest Misfit Ava and Special Guest AR

Idea for an Undercover guinea pigs calendar?

Agent F Has Been Featured.....

Hay Solutions: Vertical hay rack

This time a special guest post from our fellow agents of the Cali Cavy Collective:

Igor's PLAY - Guinea pigs

What is it?

Variations:

Target audience?

Dangerous?:

User experiences?

Mystery Agent Star

Gentleman Jack is a Winner

New Bedding

Agents of the Month November

New Agents

Mystery Agent Ted

Vote for the Halloween piggie!

Ghost and Iron Hamsters Halloween Pigtures

Lily's Halloween entry

Anita and Adriana's Halloween Pigtures

Halloween from the Archives

Lola and Buffy's Halloween Pigtures

Flower's Halloween Pigtures

Halloween Competition

We heart Bertie Pig

(Igor:) What about the Do-it-yourself-Factor?:
(Guiny:) Veggie Hide-And-Seek is not for sale in pet shops and your slave has to make it herself.