Hay Solutions: Vertical hay rack

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

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.

My crib: Where the Misfits live

We got an email from Jean, slave to the Misfits, this will be a photo report!
The cribs are mostly built by Andy, we hope to get a report later about how to build these misfits Cribs...

The nine  4 by 2 cages that Andy built.

Ned is in his condo cage

The middle section of the big condo cages that andy built is the top cage of adeline and amanda.

Lazarus lives in the bottom of the middle section of the big condo cages

Biff who lives next to Charles.

Charles in his cage.

A closer look at the middle section of the condo cages.

Notice that the middle cage has a red ribbon that Ringer won for the second biggest eyes at the Chicago piggie open house that He shows off on his water bottle! That is his cage! This will give you an idea of their housing. They have soft fleece that is changed every two days. (yes a lot of laundry) they get oxbow food and lots of Timothy hay. Each has a hut and clean water daily :) and they get a vitamin c tablet daily, as well as a veg plate in morning and a snack at nite at 9pm! Yes, they are spoiled. we have a kids plastic swimming pool for floor time as well. easy to clean out and they love it!

My Crib: Where do I live?

Hi there,

We think it is time for a new series, as we have shown you lots of available veggies around here now
in the 'Veggie of the Wheek' series. Of course if you have any suggestions or entries in that category you are very welcome to send in your posts or emails...

Our new series will be My crib, and for this we will need your pigticipation!
Some of your slaves might know the My crib tv programme which we think is on MTV, with celebrities who show your slaves their homes.
Of course, we can do the same and show you our cage!
So you are all invited to send us pigtures and some info about your cages, like what's your bedding, interior of your cage, favorite toy in it, maybe your view...
If you have a Do-It-Yourself cage, we are very interested how it was made. Then we can also do a series about C&C and other DIY cages.

Well, for the kick off we will show you our cage made by mommy and daddy.

Well, this is our crib! We have a cage with drybed (like vetbed) on the floor, which is nice and soft. We usually have an assortment of houses, soft baskets, tunnels and/or cuddle cups in it. At the moment we have two hammocks, which are nice to hang in!
Things that are always in our cage are the wooden hayrack (we sent one to our friends the Surrey Squeakers, us being their secret santas), and a hanging hayrack, which actually comes from the kitchen department at Ikea (thanks, auntie Janneke for that idea ;), water bottles (three actually!) and of course our selections of pellets (three kinds as well). Are we spoiled or what!?
Latest addition to our cage is the extra floor, with a very cool brick staircase our mom built

All of the girlz know how to use this, but Chico would rather stay safely on the ground level...

Our cage was made by our mom and dad, and is made out of hobby glass (in holland also known as Plexiglass), glued together with white plastic corner strips. The front glass can easily be lifted out of it for cleaning. It measures 150x50x50 cm (approx. 59x19.7x19.7 inch). Mom and dad are planning on making a bigger one, but they been talking about that since getting Lily and Daisy, and they've been here for half a year now, so that could take some time... We will ask mom to devote a post to the construction of our cage in a Do-it-Yourself (DIY) section.

Wheekz,
the Guinygirlz and Agent Valentino

More floor time!

I want to share another video with you. This is agent Thunderbear, together with Lotje and Guiny.
It looks like Lotje is being mean nipping agent Thunderbear. But have a good look at what she is doing exactly and then realize that Lotje adored her food...

See what I mean?

Agent Not-so-Lil'Woop

The importance of floor time!

Hi there fellow Agent piggers.

We want to tell you something about the importance of floor time...

First of all, what is floor time?
Floor time enables us to see a different part of the house we live in, and is ideal when our slaves need to change the bedding in our cages.
Floor time is also a good way for us to get some exercise, and if we get exercise we will be healthier and probably happier. Our slave Mikey makes sure we always get at least one bowl of pellets (we got three in our cage), some hay and a water bottle when we are out. Ghost has a ramp from his cage to the floor area so he can decide when to come out and when to stay in and eat or drink.
Our slave Mikey likes to give us obstacles and challenges, in the video below our slave made a little maze with fences and in the middle was a house upside down filled with hay!

Plus floor time can be so much fun!!
Here you can see lily'Explorer, Lil'wheeker and not-so-lil'Woop in action, Valentino was hiding somewhere out of view:


Getting used to your slave
Floor time is also a good way for our slave(s) and us to get used to each other. Slave can sit in our play area and not move to much at first, maybe talk softly to us. After a couple of times (or maybe even from the start) he or she can try to get our attention by calling our names, or just the name she used for all of us, like little monsters or guinea piggies. And if we come to her or him, maybe tempted by the sound of a plastic bag or veggies tearing, we get to have a piece. Our slave Mikey always gives us a house or something to hide in. We also have one of our travelling cages lined with newspapers in the kitchen (our floor time area) available in case we need to go... but we don't always use it ;) Ghost likes to sit under the ramp on the floor area and have a poop, his humans would rather he used the ramp to go back into cage and have a poop, silly humans...

Floor time outside?
What is also nice is piggies having floor time outside. We loooove eating the grass or other yummies, but if we have never had grass before (remember agent ghost and his early tummy upset) make sure we get used to it slowly! Your human can cut you a handful of grass with the scissors and add it to your food bowl before you actually get to go out and mow the lawn. Remember humans are lazy and if we don't mow the lawn they have to mow it themselves and they don't like that.

Be sure we cannot reach any poisonous plants, animal droppings or other things we cannot have...
Always make sure we are safe, we don't want any other animals getting in our play area.
Best is to use a pen or run and cover the top. Covering the top also gives us some shade when it is very sunny outside. Some boxes or houses to hide in would be nice too...
Ow yes don't put us indoor piggies outside when it's raining or cold and windy, we might get ill. And don't put us on grass that has recently been mown. But I am sure we don't have to tell you that!!

Here you can see our late leader Agent F and Agent ghost having 'floor time' in the grass


Now its your turn, we want your floor time stories, pigtures and videos, get working!!


Agent Valentino and Agent Ghost

G Force Update.......

It appears me is not the only one to have concerns about the G Force movie those guinea pig loving people at guinealynx are also concerned and have come up with 2 information flyers for the not so well informed humans.

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102639438904&s=818&e=001Br8fPsZUCaGT3c6vc47oCVpWFesrFdw8jJL1hiOxiIGco1rHURLHoJDGlQTV222sGUIEhmTTl6VANr-jkg3gu3uUrKhWtbMeoh4qTcprod_TlgfkcSORLB-IyCd3bANL5hUfQx33V0YzeuXHTF8L2g==

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102639438904&s=818&e=001Br8fPsZUCaFj3uae6sQWQuN7k6MJ85cWXcITPc4CgDUllAE5G4R1bAz8Pd8KBjwAtJwDiXq-gujJWZagAAdT35-BtOQ0l4r5h7nHZ23qXy1mvWKsBSrtsLKzfO0MkZH1S28FNkiwbq4YvTS6-uooBdlLuRhvjMoc

While I am quiet happy being a super hero in my own head and virtually online, the idea of humans believing we can actually do these stunts scares me, so me is making Mummy print the guinealynx information and get it displayed in the local vets and pet shops to advise humans who may want their own super hero guinea pig what that really involves.

Me has no objection to the film in fact me is looking forward to watching and cheering along (dogs + cats have had the limelight way too long), but those simple beings we know as humans need strict supervision and good advise and its our job to make sure they get it!!

G Force........

As you probably all know there is a movie coming out soon about an elite team of hero guinea pigs (Hollywood have somehow found out all about me) known as G Force (guinea pig force)

This movie is not out here in the UK yet but we have seen trailers (the cartoon guinea pigs are nowhere near as good as the real thing)

The trailers show guinea pigs travelling around in large plastic balls and while this is fine for cartoon guinea pigs we dont want the humans to get confused and think this is ok for real guinea pigs.

Unlike Hamsters, Guinea Pig spines are not flexible enough for us to be able to run in a ball, putting us in a ball can cause spinal damage.

Humans dont get confused NO BALLS for guinea pigs!!!

Boars Behaving Badly??

Or just Boars will be Boars?

Do your humans watch over you and panic over every small disagreement you may have with your cage mates?? If so this brief guide may help to reassure and let them know when it really is time to panic.

Ear Pulling- this is a form of grooming, normally it doesnt hurt the pig being groomed but accidents can occur, if the groomed guinea pig is ending up with bleeding, sore or ragged ears then you need to stop the grooming. (humans may need to seperate you and your friend) If there is no bleeding then humans should leave you alone to get on with it.

Rumble strutting- this is how us boars show each other who is dominant, there is no aggression shown with this action just a slow wiggling of the hips and bum sometimes accompanied by a rumbling noise. No need for humans to panic.

Humping- another way of showing dominance, be warned we can hump from any direction (heehee) again no aggression, no biting just a quick hump and off again, no need to panic.

Bum sniffing- boars love sniffing bums and following each other around nose to bum, again nothing to worry about but if guinea pig being sniffed starts to get fed up it could be worth removing sniffer to give him a break (me too old to keep running all the time)

Head Butts- we do this when we are fed up with whatever the other guinea pig is doing, we normally butt the backside but we can butt anywhere, no teeth are used and the guinea pig butted is not hurt, its a warning for them to stop what they are doing and behave. No panic.

Neck Rubbing-we have scent glands in our necks and like to make the other guinea pigs smell like us, so we rub our necks over their heads, no need to panic.

Nips- not bites teeth are used but skin is not broken as long as this is not accompanied by teeth chattering, things should be fine, keep an eye in case of esculation.

Teeth Chattering- this is warning sign that fight could be about to kick off, humans should keep a close eye on this in case somepig ends up getting hurt.

Showing Teeth-big yawns designed to show how big and strong your teeth are (not to be confused with yawning when tired) this again is an aggressive move and could indicate a fight is about to begin.

Biting/Fighting-this is a very bad sign especially if blood is drawn, this really means that we cant be friends anymore and need to live seperately, humans should break this up by throwing towel over the biters before somepig is seriously hurt.

The general belief is that we do this during our hormonal stage which can be from 3-18 months (thats a long time) if we both make it together passed the 18 month mark, we should be happy living together forever. (Mummy has fingers crossed for the next 2 years heeeheee)

Here is a website dedicated to us boars http://www.susieandpigs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/home.htm

I am sure there are lots of things I have forgotten to mention, so feel free to add your comments.

Keeping Cool (its sooo hot)

Well my little corner of the UK is being hit by a heatwave (the weather people promise it will be cooler for the weekend)
Here are ways to keep cool until then;

My humans are very extravagant and have air conditioners this means at the flick of a switch I have all the cool air I need.

Other ways you can stay cool include filling bottles with water and freezing them, then standing them in front of a normal desk fan, when the fan blows you get extra coolness from the frozen bottles, or wrap the bottle in a towel and have it in your home where you can lean against it and keep cool. (wrapping it in a towel is important otherwise you could end up frozen against it, not nice!!) Outside piggies can have a damp towel placed over the front of hutch, this will need to be kept damp throughout the day.

You could convince your humans to invest in a cooler tile, these work by giving you something cool to sit on  (without getting stuck to it) as they are made of marble they stay cool.

Get your humans to leave the curtains half shut as this helps stop the sun getting in and making your room too hot.

If you are outside in the garden make sure you stick to the shady areas, to keep cool and to prevent getting sunburn on your delicate ears and noses.

Guinea pigs can get very ill with heat exhaustion, the link belows tells your humans what to look out for and how to treat it.

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/heatstroke.htm

Any other hints and information we can share?

Fresh Water

Now things are hotting up and summer has finally hit the UK (sure it will be over by the weekend) I thought it would be a good time to remind you all that guinea pigs need fresh water everyday.

It doesnt matter if you dont drink all of it, that is no excuse for the humans to leave it there, would they like to drink a glass of water that had sat on the table all night?? I dont think so!! At least dead flies cant get into water bottles so guinea pigs have an advantage there.

I have pure unsweetened cranberry juice added to my water, to give me extra vitamin C and also to help prevent painful urinary tract infections.

So make sure your humans get you fresh cool water everyday and make sure the bottles are checked for leaks or worse than that not letting the water out.

Of course if your humans need reminding to get you fresh water you can always play with the bottle and empty it on the floor of the cage.
Thanks for that tip Agent I ;)

All About Hay

As every good guinea pig knows hay is the must have essential for every cage/ hutch.

Hay has many uses, it is essential for keeping teeth worn down (remember guinea pig teeth grow constantly) the fibre helps keep your digestive system working properly (no soft or hard poops thank you very much)

Hay is also a good plaything, it can make a tunnel, a nest a castle anything you want and can imagine really, it can help keep you warm in winter and when you want to nap you can hide under the hay from the annoying humans.

I have 2 types of hay (me special you know) I have meadow hay to use for bedding and playing and burgess excel herbage timothy hay for eating (dont tell mummy but I eat the meadow hay as well heehee)

Make sure your humans know to provide you as much fresh hay as you can eat and some spare to play in, and make sure they dont get confused with hay and straw, straw can hurt guinea pigs if it pokes them in the eye, hay is much softer.

Well I am off to play king of the castle in my hay.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeek

Me Has Spurs

Like many other guinea pigs I suffer from spurs on my front feet.

These are hard dried bits of skin that grow out from the foot.

Here is link to good description and photo on the guinealynx website.

http://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html#spurs

The spurs on the piggy in the photo seem to grow out of the bottom of the foot, mine grow up the side up of my feet and are also a lot darker than the photo.

Mummy thinks I may have got mine from sitting with my feet overhanging my old mezzanine floor which was plastic and uneven due to chewing (I now have a melamine mezzanine floor) who knows I may have developed spurs anyway.

When mine get long they irritate me so I either have to wait for mummy to cut them down with the nail clippers or I chew them off myself.

I have sometimes pulled them with my teeth but that hurt and made them bleed when they came away from foot where they were attached, I have learnt and now I only bite the side bit off NO PULLING.

I prefer to remove them myself so whenever mummy tries to cut them I throw myself about and wriggle and try to bite to put her off, she can be determined though and between us we keep them short.

If you have spurs make sure you or your human keeps them trimmed down as they can catch on things and pull off causing you pain and bleeding and risk of infection.

You have been warned!

Reading for Humans

If your human is anything like mine they love reading about and looking at pigtures of us guinea pigs.

Mummy says for cute pigtures and handy tips your human should read the books by the late great Peter Gurney, the man was seriously addicted to us!!!

There is also a webpage of health tips your humans might like to use here is the link   http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/

For detailed anatomy and an indepth list of foods and what they contain mummy likes the Guinea Piglopaedia (try saying that after your carrot rum!!) this is written by Margaret Elward and Mette Ruelokke.

So now you can get your humans reading and while they are doing that you can get up to mischief heeheeeheee

And yes humans really can read!!!!

Cutting Nails

I the wild us guinea pigs would keep our nails short by walking on hard surfaces, while this would still be the ideal way to keep nails short the modern lifestyle doesnt always allow it.

We have to trust the humans (eeeek) to cut them down for us.

Mummy says she is glad my nails are clear as dark nails scare her.

What mummy does is she sits me on her lap and distracts me with romaine so that I am not watching what she is doing, then she carefully cuts a little bit of each nail, we do this little and often.

With clear nails the humans can see where the quick ends (this looks like a dark pink line in middle of nail) if a human cuts the quick it hurts and we bleed (this means we can guilt trip them for ages heehee)

If your quick is cut the humans can use a styptic pencil or dip the toe in cornstarch or flour to stop the bleeding, dont worry its not that serious and you get lots of sympathy food.

With dark nails your human should only cut a little bit of the ends each time as its not obvious where the quick is.

Some humans put a brick under the water bottle so the piggy wears the nails down on the brick, mummy says she cant do that as I am so silly when I popcorn I would probably bash my head on it.

Mummy's top tip is, you dont have to do all the nails at once, if I am too restless or agressive she will stop with the ones she has done and come back to the others another day, sorted.

If your human trims your nails little and often you shouldnt have problems with them curling, although the older you get the more they tend to harden and curl grrrrrrrrrrrr.

If your human is afraid to cut your nails lots of vets will do it for them for a cost.

Guinea Pigs are Rodents

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing. (Wikipedia)

We are rodents, this means our teeth are always growing to stop them over growing we need to gnaw alot.

Good things to gnaw grass and hay, this helps keep teeth worn down as well as being yummy.

Bad things to gnaw headphones- Daddy was not happy the first time I gnawed through his headphone wires he was very unhappy the second time!!

Warning to humans if you leave something where a guinea pig could gnaw it a guinea pig WILL gnaw it!! BEWARE

Make sure the humans learn coz we wont.

What do you guys gnaw?

Guinea Pigs Need Vitamin C

Like the humans we are planning to enslave Guinea Pigs can not make our own vitamin C, this means we need to get it from our diet (by diet I mean large amount of food we eat heehee)

Fresh grass if available is good for vitamin C as is plenty of hay.

Mummy puts cranberry juice in my water, this is a good source of Vitamin C it tastes yummy and can also help prevent and treat urinary problems. Your humans need to make sure this is fresh every day.

Guinea pig foods contain added vitamin C but beware this can deteriorate over time.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are good for vitamin C and give us a yummy treat to eat, make sure you humans know that fresh food is necessary not just yummy wink wink

My favourite sources of vitamin C are beetroot (yummy and good fun more later)
Peppers especially the red ones.
Baby tomatoes (not too many coz of acidity)
Romaine lettuce (good for eating and wearing)

What do you guys like best?

Why are we called Guinea Pigs

Nobody really knows how the name guinea pigs came about coz we dont come from New Guinea (we are originally from South America) and we are in no way related to pigs, in fact we are rodents.

Our Latin name is Cavia Porcellus or cavies/cavys for short.

Mummy and her friends call us pigs or piggies.

It is thought that the Guinea may relate to the amount of money we cost when first brought to Europe, an English Guinea was a lot of money.

There has been speculation that we are called pigs because we squeak and squeal so the humans say weee prefer the term wheeking.

Mummy says we are known as pigs coz we eat like pigs hmmmmpppppphhhhhhhhhhhhh