Me and My Pig(s): Hello from Andrea, Tala, and Yona

[asterling]

OK. I read all the rules and I think I can handle it. (I appreciate the rules actually. They make it so much nicer here.)

Here's a run down of us:

Andrea = Female Human
Tala = Female American cavy about 2.5 yrs old
Yona = Female Teddy cavy 2 to 3 months old

We live in Ann Arbor MI. Andrea is a Chemical Engineer and a huge science geek. Please excuse her for this. Both pigs came from a pet store (sorry! I'll do better next time.) I rent a condo with my boyfriend. He claims he doesn't like the pigs at all, but he plays with them when he thinks I'm not watching (and also when he knows I can see him too.) He likes to teach Tala little tricks. He'll set the TP roll on end and encourage her to knock it down. Or, the first time I went on a business trip, he put her lettuce on top of her house every day. Now, she always looks for food on top of things. He can't fool me... he likes the pigs!

At the pet store, Tala was crammed in a tiny cage with lots of other piggies. I think she got beat up a bit as she was really skinny and scared of everything. But, I took her home and fattened her up. Now she's calm, smart, and sweet. She likes to lounge in a corner with one back foot sticking out. I felt bad about her being all alone; hence Yona.

Yona is a furball of energy. But, I tell there's a calmer pig under all the youthful energy. She let me sex her about 15 times (I definitely only want 2 piggies!) without too much hassle. She likes to run around super fast.

Their names come from their markings. Tala is kinda different for a cavy (I think.) She's mostly a muted brown with some white. But, instead of nice sectioned markings, she's got random bits of white streaks/areas all over. At some point I decided that she looks more like a wolf than a cavy. She also has red eyes so I decided that she's secretly a werepig. I looked online and found a site that claims "Tala" is a Native American word for "wolf." I didn't check legitimacy, but I liked the word/name and it worked.

When I brought Yona home, I thought about a lot of different names. Afro was an obvious choice as she's a black Teddy. In the end, I kept up the (supposed) Native American theme. According to the internet, "Yona" is a word for "bear." Her black color and "fuzzy" hair made that a good fit. Plus it goes so well with Tala.

They've been living in their new C&C cage together for about 2 weeks now. Things seem to be going well. They get along OK. They don't actually fight too much, but I'm guessing Yona will take over as alpha pig as soon as she's fully grown. She's pretty bold (taking food away from Tala) already and gets herself snaped at pretty regularly. I'm thinking about doing a buddy bath this weekend to see if that helps. I just wish Tala would let her cuddle up. Yona really wants to cuddle and Tala wants nothing to do with it. They'll work it out though.

OK, thats us. Thanks so much to the owners/mods of the site. Its been super helpful!

[Peggysu]

Welcome! Glad you've learned a ton from the site. Most of a us like to see pigtures, I know I do. Some guinea pigs will never love eachother so to speak but will tolerate one another. That's what mine do. They are not alone and that's what's most important.

[akstrohm]

Welcome! I'm also in science (plant genetics) at UW-Madison.

I wouldn't recommend a buddy bath. That's normally a last resort intro type of thing, and since they are already living together okay, it's not necessary. It would probably just make them stressed. Unless there is blood, leave them together. Having a big cage and two or more of everything definitely will increase the chance of them getting along. Pigs are often not super cuddly with each other, but they still do interact and are so much happier in pairs.

It sounds like you're doing a great job caring for your pigs!

[asterling]

Thanks for the thoughts on buddy bath. It saves me the stress of the bath too. As for pigtures, I've got a couple pics of my cage posted and the girls are in those, but its also good to have some attached to my intro post. Not sure if you guys prefer inserting images into posts or attachments, but I'll go with attachment to keep page load time and thread length down.

Attached pigtures:
1) All three of us cuddled up.
2) A very comfy (and a bit pudgy) Tala
3) Yona's first lap time
4) Floor time
5) Begging for food

[NicholsS10]

Welcome to GPC! It sounds like you are doing wonderful with your piggies! I had to mention that your Tala looks a LOT like my Root Beer, who is also a girl! Root Beer has red eyes as well, and is a mousey brown with white streaks everywhere! I named her Root Beer because her coloring reminded me of a root beer float! If you look at my pictures in my profile, I'm sure you'll spot her! They almost look like long lost sisters!

[asterling]

Wow! They do look like sisters! Root Beer just has more white than Tala. She even sticks her back leg out when she's comfy just like Tala.

[NicholsS10]

Yep! I call that her sexy leg pose!

[Oliversnana]

Hello and Welcome

[sean.mstevens]

I am also new and from Michigan. Your pigs are adorable!