hello

[jabberwock]

Hi,
I've been lurking for about 8 months and posting for about 3 months now so I thought I'd introduce myself.

My children (aged 10 and 8) each have a guinea pig. Before we agreed to have the pigs they had to take responsibility for an area of garden each and show us that they could keep it tidy. Now they do a good job of helping look after the pigs with me retaining overall responsibility.

Unlike many of you on the forum, we're not a pet-filled household. My husband doesn't really agree with keeping animals caged up. So after extensive reading we chose guinea pigs as pets largely because one of the books I read said that guinea pigs like small cages because they have very poor eyesight and large cages make them feel insecure! Anyway, while I was researching cage prices on the internet I came across this site and realised that pretty much everything I had read was rubbish. We'd already promised the children piggies by this point but they persuaded Daddy that as long as we rescued a pig then keeping it caged was an improvement over its original life. So we built a 2x4 for our two girls who were about 7 weeks when we got them. But I kept looking at the left over grids and left over bit of coroplast and within a fortnight I'd had to build a 3 grid L-shaped loft. And they're so happy with the space - they do a lot of what we call "Scalextric racing" - rushing through their tunnel, round the perimeter and through their hidey house at incresibly fast speeds.

The other reason for having guinea pigs is that we grow lots of our own veggies (organically) so that at certain times of year we can supply nearly all their veggies. As a family we try very hard to reduce our "global footprint" by not driving unless really necessary, growing our own food, recycling, composting and generally trying to reduce our C02 emissions. So we really wanted pets that fitted into all that. So we have a plentiful supply of grass for the piggies - given our climate they should be able have fresh grass for all but about 30 days of the year I estimate. We bed on Megazorb which we compost as much as possible.

We're long term vegetarians (the chilldren since birth). But although we believe strongly in animal rights we're not really activists. Environmental campaigns and development issues such as Fairtrade, third world debt relief and trade justice fill up much of our time and I believe it's better to campaign vigorously in one area than to try and spread oneself too thinly over all available (very worthy) causes and campaigns.

That's nearly it. Just to say - I have a tendency (which I try to curb) of asking too many questions. I have a really strong urge to understand why I do things - I used to be a research scientist so maybe it's a left over habit from my PhD. For example, I know that fruit should only be fed twice a week because of high sugar content and potential problems with diabetes. That's what I do - I have no problem with following the advice. But a little bit of my brain keeps wondering why, if it's OK to feed a total of x grammes of fruit per week, it isn't OK to feed x/7 grammes per day. For the diabetics on my family it's stable blood sugar that matters and they need to keep their carbohydrate intake regular, so every day would be better than every 4 days. It's the sort of question that keeps buzzing in my mind and I'd like to file away tidily. There are others but, as I say, I do try and suppress them.

[nonamian_girl]

Welcome! You sound like you'll fit in very well around here.
Do you have any pictures of your piggies?

[jabberwock]

The reason I waited to introduce myself was because I wanted to wait until I had photos. But the computer doesn't seem to recognise the format they're in. Back to the instruction book and maybe tomorrow!

[PiggieMom]

You better figure it out! We demand pigtures. You are not welcome until we have them!

Actually it's kind of hard to unwelcome you since you've been around for a while. So, um, just hurry up with those pictures and stuff.

[jabberwock]

OK, I think I've figured it out.

Here are Smokey and Smarky together


Here's Smarky on her own


This is Smokey's best side

[suzilovespiggie]

Great intro and great pictures. Glad you are aboard this great forum.
Ask all the questions you want. There is just so much good info on this site.

[fourbwabbys]

Awww, they're both adorable!

[jdomans]

The pigs are so cute and I know theya re very happy with you. welcome to the group.

[zoepiglet]

Aww, what adorable pigs and a wonderful lifestyle you lead.

[PiggieMom]

Okay you're officially welcome now!

They're beautiful. They have such great colors, thanks for sharing!

[Marlania]

Hi and welcome. Your pigs have great markings!

[Texas Rustlers]

I have to agree with your logic on the fruit feeding, it makes more sense to feed a moderate amount on a more regular basis than to over load the system on one or two days a week.

Additionally, lumping all fruits into one category is not accurate as some are very high in sugar and others very high in water with little sugar.
Many vegetables are high in carbohydrates, this also turns to sugar.

I think what you need to do is look at all the veggies and and offer a variety of different types.

We actually followed the philosophy of limiting fruits to once / twice a week but after having several piggies develop calcium stones, even though we also limited high calcium foods, we have introduced fruits more regularly. Of the 5 veggies offered daily typically one is a fruit and that doesn't inlcude the tomato slice they get daliy too