The Cage Of Non Doom!

Really late guinea pig update!!!!

I did indeed get around to creating a little piggy nirvana for the guys, actually quite some time ago. I looked up a site online that had suggestions/directions on how to do this and didn't seem too tricky to manage. Basically you get some organizational grid things, they're the sort that have corner connectors and you snap them together to make cubes or what not. Instead of cubes you just build a rectangular enclosure with those and then have to make a base to hold bedding materials.

That part was slightly more tricky. The material recommended is called corrugated plastic or coroplast. Essentially this is plastic cardboard and is used quite frequently in the sign making business. Unfortunately the first place I tried to acquire this material tried to steal my dollar signs, quoting me a price at least 5 times what I was expecting it would cost. I think it's possible they just misunderstood what I wanted, in that I just need a sheet of the plastic and not a sign made, but I had made that pretty clear I thought some I label them douchebags.

I was able to acquire the sheet from an alternate vendor for a little over 20 bucks. I had to steal my moms minivan to transport it home and that night began the long arduous and painful task of measuring and cutting and scoring and bending and folding until I formed what equates to an upside down plastic cardboard box top. I then slid that down into the rectangular cage and that was basically it.

I didn't exactly stop there tho. I wasn't satisfied with just making a bigger house for the fellas, I wanted to make them an awesomer living space. I made them a small second level sort of L shaped in one corner, they have a food and water spot on both levels. I bought them some hiding places, a small hutch for upstairs and some little tunnels they like to run through and gnaw on. I bought them a hammock which I was worried would lay unused but I've seen them both hop up and just chill in there. I even bought them a lounge chair.

I've also upgraded their diet, while i still give them plenty of hay and food pellets, I quite regularly hook them up with some dill and parsley. They LOVE that stuff, if they hear me with the bag or smell the stuff they start squeaking all excitedly, good times.

Long story short...too late! I spoil the hell out of my guinea pigs. This really shouldn't surprise me, because I always tried to spoil our dogs too. I don't see why my animals shouldn't have as awesome a life as they can.

Fuzzy Bundles Of Joy

I don't really my first pet experiences. I think we probably had some sort of dogs that I don't remember from when I was quite young. I've seen pictures of dogs in my moms scrapbooks, but don't recall names or memories of them. The first one I remember was a little boy cocker spaniel named Copper. I never considered him mine tho, he was the family dog really. But then a couple years down the line we got another cocker spaniel and named her Sugar. I don't think she was specifically meant to be mine, but that seemed to be the way it worked out. I loved her and she back and for a long time she spent practically every night in my room. She even cared enough to never make a mess in there. I make messes in there all the time, but not the way she might.

After they both passed on we went without for awhile until picking up a beautiful Samoyed named Slick from my dad's sister. I may have had other pets throughout the years, a fish or two perhaps, but never anything pet-able that I recall other than the three dogs. Slick eventually passed on and since my parents were planning to start remodeling the house for eventual resale it was decided there were to be no more dogs. This of course left me saddened to some extent. I didn't think about it all the time of course but on occasion I would reminisce about the old days of having a nice pet to come home and say Hi to.

So a couple weeks ago my girlfriend came into some extra cash and we went to a Pet Store to pick out a fish for a friend of hers. We were wandering around and saw an absolutely adorable little guinea pig, and she persuaded me into getting him. She actually bought him for me and a nice little edible house for him, while I picked out a big cage/starter kit. We brought him back to his new home and he seemed to fit in nicely. He's a bit shy at times but once you have him nice and steady on your lap or chest or something he is awful friendly and cuddly. We named him Snuggles.


Since having a guinea pig was a new experience for me, I did a lot of reading on the subject and a common theme throughout was that they are very social. Since we had a somewhat large cage I decided to buy one for Becky to keep at my place. After positively confirming Snuggles' gender and searching a couple local stores we found another guinea pig that could compete in adorability. Becky loved him and we walked out delighted. After some thought she ended up on the name Patches.


They seem to get along great, there was no real fighting when they first met. Sometimes they might try and shoo the other away from hay they are eating, but I've also seen one peacefully grab a piece of hay from the others mouth. They fucking love eating hay, tho they love eating carrots, lettuce, parsley, apples, bananas and who knows what else. They seem very happy, they run around and chirp and wurble and are tremendously entertaining to watch at play. I want to build them a really big cage/playhouse so they can just goof off and exercise whenever they want.

I still miss my dogs, it was nice to have a pet that waited and greeted me when I got home. A pet that didn't shy away from me a lot, and that I didn't have to pick up to let play. But I dare anyone to tell me that these two guinea pigs aren't cute as fucking hell.