Adopting Getting a friend for Bob?

Is there any way you could put a lid and a lock on a C&C cage and leave it locked when you aren't home? This would keep the animals out and no one could force a meeting you're not comfortable with. Closet shelving makes an excellent lid.

(hoo boy I have a LOT to say so I'm going to do subheadings again. Sorry this has become more of "how the heck do I convince my mom of stuff" and "PANICKING BECAUSE REASONS" but these are immediate things that must be addressed...very serious things indeed. If you want to get to the issue at hand, skip to the final subheading. The rest is just how introductions with our other animals went and all that. I know its like a novel but so much happened and I didn't want to leave anything out...)




YESTERDAY WE BOUGHT BOB HOME...
And honestly it went pretty well. As well as I could have hoped it to be. So to start, it was a half-day yesterday and my boyfriend, Jessie, and his mom volunteered to help cart Bob and the coroplast home in their truck. We put the coroplast in the bed of the truck and Bob between us in the back seat...just to give you an idea of how tiny his cage is as well...but that aside he didn't really come out from under the ledge in his cage, but he did shuffle around and eat some hay. I expected him to be timid of course having just been placed in a truck of strangers going to new places, but he was very well behaved, really! I knew the dogs--our pom and cavalier spaniel puppy--would be OVERJOYED and VERY EXCITED that we were a. home ridiculously early (12:30, when I normally get home at 3:00) b. bought home company (they LOVE Jessie and his family...Sophie almost broke his nose when she charged like a bull right into his face because she was so excited he was there), and I knew c. bringing in a strange cage from strange places that smells like strange things aND OH MY GOD THERE'S SOMETHING IN THERE would be way too much for them to handle. And Bob of course was still overloaded with all the craziness so I thought it'd be best to put him in a bedroom with the door closed and no cats in to let him settle down for a bit while we got the dogs outside.

While we took the dogs outside, I told Jessie's mom about my concerns with my mom wanting to let the animals meet Bob you know, face to face. Her first response was "Yea they're predator animals, and he's a prey animal. You can't do that without some kind of risk" which is what I've been trying to say to my mom this whole time! She then told me a horror story about when her sister had a sweet-as-can-be yorkie that bit her new cockatoo's neck when she held out the bird to it for it to say hello and the poor bird died a week later. She also told me about when Jessie was born and her parents were freaked out about their dalmation, Maggie, hurting him. So she gave them the blanket he was wrapped in at the hospital and told them to put it in Maggie's bed and let her smell it and all that. When she came home they had Jessie in a carrier and just set it on the floor. That's it. They were of course supervising her and making sure she didn't do anything bad, but the dog went up, smelled him and recognized his scent and because they didn't make a big deal out of him or told her no and punished her for getting near the baby...it all went very well. Because on one hand, if you make a big deal out of it, then they get excited and barky and crazy...but if you treat it like oh, that? yea that's been there no big deal, they'll treat it the same way.

So that's what I planned to do. Just put the cage down and let them sniff him and go to him without touching him or freaking him out too much, with him behind the safety of his cage. But first my brother, Bobby, arrived and after Jessie and co. left I took him upstairs to see Bob. Yes I realize how confusing that is, and yes it was confusing and still is. Bobby is...12? I think? Maybe 13? 11? I don't really know. But he's one of those ages. Bobby immediately fell in love with Bob and pet him and fed him hay and we talked for a while about how we'll introduce them and how not to make a big fuss about it, and he agreed. I don't know if Bobby will ever have guinea pigs later in life, but if he does, I want him to know how you SHOULD take care of them...not shoving them in a tiny cage and telling people they're FINE in there but we'll get to that... So we let him on the floor for a while and he was still for ten minutes before he realized it was safe and he wandered around and tried to eat the carpet a bit but we distracted him with some hay and lettuce and all was well!

After a while I decided to call my mom and tell her how it was going, you know how nice he's been and how everyone's home okay, and when I told her he's upstairs with me and Bobby, she sounded like she was going to tear my face off. Maybe you know this voice. Maybe, if you are a mom, you have used this voice. The Angry Mom voice. The voice of pure hatred and disappointment, with the seething fury of a thousand dying suns and a tinge of angry blood-hungry wolverine. Well she had that voice and demanded to know why he wasn't downstairs. I told her why, because as I said I didn't want the dogs to meet him yet and I wanted him to have some space before we bombard him with introductions. She didn't care, and I think its because they still think I'm an obsessive jerk. I'm not too sure yet. But being subservient to her and being as passive as I am I just told her we'd bring him down in a minute. She hung up shortly after and we stayed and played with Bob for another hour or so when I got him back in his cage and Bobby opened the door.

FIRST INTRO.: CAT AND G.P.
Just as Bobby opened the door, our most curious cat, Tinker Bell, bolted in the room. She must have been sitting outside the whole time, and when she saw the cage she was glued to it immediately and was fascinated with Bob. Bob, on the other hand, could care less and just sat down to eat his hay and drink his water. He is quite honestly the most relaxed and chill guinea pig I've ever seen. I sat back and let Tinker Bell do her thing, and only interfered when she tried to put her paws in the cage (they're declawed, but still.) and let them touch noses and look at each other through the cage. After about half an hour she settled down next to the cage with her paws tucked under her, and another twenty minutes passed and she lost interest and walked away. That was it. I didn't make a big hullabaloo about Bob being there, nor did I yell at her or punish her for being curious. It all went really well and while she's still curious she is being very well behaved around him which is great.

Bob himself, by now, was chill as can be, eating his hay like nothing was wrong and cleaning his face. There's no doubt about it he's one of the most relaxed guinea pigs I've ever seen. While at first I was fearful his tiny cage size was making him mellow (which I'm sure it is, to a degree, but we'll get to that mess in a bit) I am certain now there is a natural degree of calmness about him. He even went up to Tinker Bell himself and touched noses with her before going back to eat some hay. He's a good pig, that one.

Well after Tinker Bell lost interest, I told my brother to go take the dogs outside to go to the bathroom and don't come in until I told him to. He complied and while they were outside I took Bob's cage downstairs and set it on a table in the living room. I then told Bobby to come back inside and I showered them with attention. I may be excited about having Bob here, but I can't ignore our other pets. When they came into the living room, they definitely knew SOMETHING was there, and they were trying to get on their hind legs to see what was on the table and were sniffing everywhere. After a bit they gave up and settled down again, and I started making the coroplast tray for his new cage.

Ah...needless to say that was a mess and a half...I finished the tray and was so proud of myself only to find it was too big by an inch in all directions. So I had to re-cut the same piece and when I got it together again it was too small! So I put two grids underneath it on either end to hold it in place and it seems to work really well. I'm a bit bummed out though because the tray is now 7" high...I guess I could try to cut it down to 6" but I'm not sure yet. After I put that away in the corner, I decided I'd let the dogs meet Bob before my mom got home and could ruin it all (sorry mom but I had to say it). So I put his cage on the middle of the floor and sat back on the couch. I didn't say anything to the dogs or the cats and just put him down and let them find him in their own time.

AND THEN THE DOGS SAW HIM
Honestly I should have video taped them, but I forgot and Maximus's (the pom) dying seal noises would have split your eardrums if you had heard them. So first Sophie, the really excitable king charles cavelier spaniel or whatever she is, didn't really care at first. She poked her head at the cage a bit, but otherwise she didn't care very much. She was very quiet and good, overall.

Maximus was a different matter entirely. So, I thought he would be barking and snapping and being very angry and horrific but hilariously he was only one of those things. He was making these GOD AWFUL dying seal noises and whines and screamy sounds (he has only ever made these sounds on car rides, which he hates) and kept trying to hide behind my legs and get me to pick him up. He was HORRIFIED of Bob!! He refused to go near him and kept barking every time he moved and was freaking out trying to get me to pick him up and comfort him, but I just let him bark to get it out of his system. It was horrible, and really, really annoying but I didn't want to punish him for being scared and I also didn't want him to think Bob was a Bad Thing. So he screamed for a really long time and Sophie barked a bit when he got really worked up but otherwise it went well. I didn't interfere until my cat, Mr. Jinx, tried to put his paws in the cage, but as I expected he accepted him immediately and was rubbing his cheeks on the cage and meowing and purring. After a while I decided to take the dogs for a walk to see if that would calm them down (they LOVE walks so much and they insist on sprinting as fast as they possibly can even though they know I'm terribly unfit and can't jog without dying all over the place) and they did a bit but were still very excited. That was fine though, I knew they would be. After an hour or so Maximus stopped making dying seal noises and settled down into Really Long Growls and kept looking at me every few seconds and then back at Bob as he was growling, but even that was better than dying seal noises. By then he wasn't afraid anymore, but still worked up about the whole thing. But you also have to keep in mind, this is a dog that goes into hysterics if he so much as SEES another dog or if you leave the house for a minute so this is fairly normal, if aggravating. After a while I decided to let them see him outside of the cage, but I was gonna do it MY way.

Jessie's mom suggested if they had to meet him outside of the cage to let them sniff his bottom because at least that way he'll be less stressed and they can't harm his face or neck. She also suggested wrapping him in a towel to keep him secure, and for removing him from the situation if it got dire. So I took a piece of scrap fleece and wrapped him up and sat on the couch with him. He chattered a lot and was very annoyed, but he settled down fairly quickly and didn't struggle or bite. Sophie immediately jumped on the couch and was wagging her tail and INSISTED on shoving her face in his fur and was sniffing and snuffling all over him, rubbing her nose and face on his butt and back but she was very good. I wanted very much to tell her how good she was being, but needed to keep as indifferent as possible and make it seem like its Not a Big Deal. Bob was very upset about this, and was chattering a lot but he got over it soon enough and was a very good boy. Maximus was pretty good as well, and got his fair share of sniffs in and was still mouthy but he's like that all the time anyway. He was significantly quieter now though and it was more of panting and short barks than dying seal sounds or growling.

After about a minute I put Bob back in his cage, but he INSISTED on taking the fleece with him. He tried grabbing it from me and tried to burrow back into it, so I gathered him back up and sat in the unfinished c and c cage with him while he settled down. He made a little nest of fleece and was very happy about it, so I had my brother sit with him and gave him lots of hay to eat while he sat with him. The dogs kept pacing around the cage and trying to peek in, and I finally gave in and just picked maximus up because I couldn't tolerate his barking. He got very quiet and Bobby told be Bob was making chattering sounds and I thought he meant teeth chattering, like "I hate this and I'm unhappy and I want you all to know it" but he was actually making tiny wheeking sounds like "whee whee whee wheek" and was nestled in his fleece very calmly and seemed to really enjoy it. He started cleaning his little face and I could see it on Bobby's face that he was so happy this guinea pig was here. It made me really happy to see that, you know? Because funnily enough, Bobby gets it. He's 12 or maybe 13 years old but he gets that this little animal needs more than just some tiny cage and some food. Just because he's alive doesn't mean he's thriving. I actually talked to Bobby when I was initially making the outline of the cage in grids and he hadn't even SEEN the guineapigcages website or even MET the guinea pig yet, but when I told him it'd be 2x3 he looked at the grids and got this look on his face and said it was too small and it needed to be 2x4, which is why it's so big now. Because as aggravating as Bobby can be sometimes (he is still my little brother. you know how it is.) he GETS it! I'm sure eventually he'll phase out of caring so much about this little guy but you never know. For now anyway he gets that this little bud needs more than that little BOX called a cage, and I get that eventually he needs a friend which is why I started this thread. For now though, this bud needs some help and that's what I've got to address first. Bobby's also learning a lot about taking care of this little nerd and I'm hoping he'll take all of this advice to heart because this is important.

Anywho, after an hour or so of that we put him back in his cage and sat around for the rest of the night. I had to keep maximus picked up for the most part because he was still very emotional, but all was going well.

THEN MOM GOT HOME
And she wanted to know where he was how everything was going, you know, the works. I got that, and I told her all the work we'd been doing and how well everyone's been and the first thing she does is ask Sophie in that little high pitched voice people use to talk to animals with "oh sophie is this Bob? is this your buddy?" and she's immediately excited and as I guessed not five minutes later she's barking at the cage and getting really noisy for the first time since she saw him. I don't mean to be mean, but that's what I've been trying to avoid all day. If you act like he's a plaything, like a treat or a toy, they'll treat him like one! That voice she was using is the voice we use to say stuff like "Oh Sophie you want a treat? do ya? huh? oh who's a good girl with your treat!" or "where's your toy sophie? where is it?? go get it soph, go get the toy!". It's a play voice, a "oh my gosh this is an exciting time and I must be very excited right now because its play time and that is a thing I can play with" voice to her...and even though my mom told me the day before to not yell at the dogs when they bark and just as Jessie's mom told me to not make Bob a no-no zone she goes and yells at the dogs and spanks their bottoms when they bark! Not enough to hurt them obviously, but enough to make them notice.

But if anyone's ever had dogs you know when they're excited, they don't care if you pat them on the bottom. They're too excited to care. So obviously they go on barking and barking and everything's a mess. My mom also opened up the cage door and let Maximus shove his face all the way in the cage and I wanted to literally tear my eyes out because this was EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TRYING TO PREVENT because now every time I go to feed him or pet him Maximus is shoving his way through and insists on seeing him and screams if he can't. Just...ugh...I get she's doing what she thinks is right, and she is right when it comes to introducing things like cats and dogs (all of which have gone swimmingly in the past) but NOT guinea pigs and dogs/cats! So for the rest of the night they're both barking now and bless his little soul Bob could quite literally care less and is eating his food and settling down in his little piece of fleece and doesn't even care that there are two small dogs barking their heads off right next to him. Because they were so worked up, I took them for another walk and they calmed down a bit. They still barked, but not as much. My mom kept telling me to shut them up but I felt horrible telling them to because it was not only pointless but a waste of my time and it only made them angry about the situation.

But whatever. Otherwise it went well, really. Better than I could have hoped I guess. Or dreaded. This morning the dogs only barked a bit and Maximus has lost all fear of Bob. We now have another slight problem with him though...he INSISTS on sitting next to the cage and snarls and chases any of the cats away if they get too close to the cage. I guess that's okay but its really annoying and the cats aren't doing anything wrong. I'm also trying to reclaim that indifferent and chill attitude we had yesterday afternoon and the dogs have finally settled down and don't seem to care as much about him, which is perfect. Sophie is snoring like a monster truck next to me and Maximus is taking a nap, and Bob has made himself a little fleece nest with a piece of scrap fleece and really likes sleeping on it. Everyone's very relaxed and this is what I was hoping for...for Bob to just be accepted as A Thing That's There, not a big deal, just a guinea pig bud who's gonna do his guinea pig stuff while they do their stuff, you know? So overall its gone well...

And also, golly gosh...I hate to paint my mom like a jerk or something, because she isn't, but MY GOSH she is very stubborn in her ways and doesn't listen to anyone. I really hope everyone realizes that. She means well but if she thinks something is weird or goes against what she knows in the slightest (for example the size of guinea pig cages) I have never, not once in all my life, told my mom no about something but by golly this next thing just thinking about it makes me want to tear my heart out rather than bring it up to her again...but that brings us to what I have to say next.

AND NOW THE NEWEST ISSUE
So. I will post pictures very shortly to show what I mean when I say all of this, but first and foremost Bob's current cage is horrible. I think I said in the first post it is literally 2' x 1' long. That's about 1/3 the size of the MINIMUM cage size for one gp. He can't do laps, and can barely popcorn--if he does at all!--without banging his head on something. However my mom seems to think this is "plenty" for him, and the cage I have literally spent almost all of my money and time on is too big and it needs to be halfed in size and only then to be used as a play pen.

I honestly have never felt so infuriated in my entire life. Except for the time when my brother called me a liar and I wanted to punch through a wall. But that aside. I am very very passive and have a problem with pushing myself too hard and blaming myself for things. I don't blame others, hate confrontations, and I'd sooner cut off my own arm then tell my mom "no". Honestly my greatest fear is her, and disappointing her. I love my mom dearly but she is horrifying when she wants to be and it makes me cry and shake to think of telling her she's wrong. But by god, SHE IS. Here I am willing to spend all of my money making this little booger a new cage and a new life, with it already half-built and almost done and she tells me get rid of it or mutilate it, you can't use it.

Now. Okay. Thinking rationally, this cage is 2x4. I can probably figure out how to make it 2x3 even though I'm wasting a lot of coroplast and therefore money. But she still thinks a 2' x 1' cage is PLENTY for an almost adult guinea pig, and it makes me want to cry and drown in my own tears because I'm too SCARED to tell her its not. I must have had this horrified expression on my face when she said that this morning because she asked me whats wrong and I said its fine but she just snapped back and asked what's fine and I felt like my heart was being torn from my chest because I was too horrified to tell her she was wrong, that yea she had guinea pigs 20 years ago but they must not have been housed properly and she is WRONG but I'm SO SCARED to tell her that for fear she'll make me destroy all of this hard work or she'll give him back to my teacher where he'll never get hay, never get out of his cage, and die at a young age because she doesn't even take him to the flipping vet and doesn't know what she's doing.

I don't know what to do guys. I can realistically have this cage done by tomorrow if I wanted to as we're getting the shelf today but is it even worth it? I'm just throwing my money into hopes and dreams that can't be accomplished and I feel like such a debby downer when I'm normally very chipper and happy and helpful, but I feel broken right now. I KNOW as the child I have to do what my mom says and I have been for over 16 years. But this is the one thing she's wrong about. The one thing I can't tolerate. This guinea pig NEEDS this cage and its right in front of me but I can't even use it...just...I'm very sorry I made this a pity party but honestly it's not about me, its about that wonderful guinea pig next to me that deserves more than this. Any advice or help you can give is appreciated, and kudos to anyone if they actually read this whole thing. I'll try not to type as much next time.

First of all, this is Bob! Yes I know his nails are long, they really need to be trimmed...we're going to try trimming them in a day or two just so the dogs can get to the point where I dan take him out of the cage without freaking out. He's a real sweetie though...this was his first time in fleece and he loved it! This was when I had my brother sit in the unfinished c and c cage with him. He insisted he could cake the fleece back into his cage so I cut him a square for him to keep.


This is his current cage. It makes me want to cry just looking at it. And that ledge? He doesn't even use it. He just goes under it as a hide. He also used to have a plastic ferret food bowl that was really deep and clipped on the edge of the cage, but he's so short he could never reach the bottom! Jessie's mom actually gave me a few nice ceramic bowls to use so that's what he has now.


This is how big the largest side is on the outside. I can sense the frustration from here. Or maybe its my own.


Here he is buried in his little fleece nest. I'm tellin' ya, he'd be the one to dive in a nice cuddle cup. He loves this stuff even though he did try to eat it yesterday.


This is Maximus...he won't let the other animals near Bob's cage. I think he's being very protective of him now. A big change from the drama queen I saw yesterday!



This is the unfinished c and c cage...I messed up cutting the coroplast twice. So first it was too big, now its too small so I made this contraption to keep it in place.

I'm thinking I can make it a 2x3 and fit it on the table next to it..does that make sense? Is that reasonable? I think the two reasons my mom doesn't like it is because its huge, and it didn't come from a factory.

That's a really nice cage! congratulations! I've read this whole thread (wow!), and in my opinion it's great that your putting so much care and consideration into Bob and his possible new friend. I have a cat and not long after we got Cinnamon and Chili (Chili was my previous guinea pig who sadly passed away), did my cat get spooked by Chili who was trying to eskimo kiss him through the grid of the cage. My cat just ignored them from that point on, and didn't cause any harm to them. Although I did keep the baby guinea pigs away from him...
I hope everything goes well with Bob, I'm sure he'll LOVE his new cage, I hope he gets a friend, and maybe he'll be lucky enough to have you as him permanent owner next year!
best wishes and good luck!

Maximus is adorable Looks like he's guarding the piggie cage!

Okay. First, Maximus is ADORABLE!

Second, I understand your frustrations-though I can't say I have gone through this personally-but just calm down. You don't necessarily have to tell your mother that she's wrong, though it may help to gently explain to her that the cage is too small. If anything, ask her to put him in it-just once-and see how happy he is. Show her this website, and the testimonials. Surely if she has had guinea pigs before, she will understand how important this is? Honestly, my parents and older sister think I'm officially addicted to guinea pigs, and rightfully so. But my mom-a big animal lover-understands that it is for the best(or at least I think so). Does your mom think the cage is too big because you don't have anywhere to put it, or does she think so because it is just really big?

In all honesty, she just thinks what she's doing is right. Many people do the same thing. I must say, you had better luck with introductions than most-I, for one, didn't have the best of experiences with my cat, who has a mean prey drive with just about every animal. He was pretty much our mouse-and in some cases hamster-trap in our old house, he probably feels lost without anything to hunt. Though he does occasionally chase around a hair tie tied to a string(my DIY cat toy).

Please keep updating us, and Bob is adorable!

Hello Bob and Maximus, you're both absolutely adorable! I read this at lunch, and I was having a bad day, so it was nice to sit down to a nice narrative. I think you're going to have to talk with your mom about the cage, because while it's terrifying, I think you'd never be okay with yourself if you didn't. Just do it in a calm and cool fashion. Try not to let your voice rise, or let her know you're terrified... Which is super hard, I know. When I would get in arguments with my dad over stupid stuff (never important stuff like the well being of an animal) he would never take me seriously once my voice went up, and if there was a tear in my eye I might as well just give up. Once I learned that a calm voice and rational argument worked, I started getting my way with a lot more of the nonsense.

For convincing your mom on the C&C cage (whatever size) I think you need to try and find really good resources that support your case. I like the MGPR list of cage requirements, because they're people who live and breathe guinea pigs... https://mgpr.org/newsite/GP_Info/PigCages.htm And if you find even more sources (try other rescues, even if they're not in your area), then bring her a stack and explain that while he may fit in the small cage, it would be like saying she fits in the bathroom so that's a good size house... Or keeping the dogs in the kennel all the time... You don't do it because they need to have space to walk around and do things otherwise they get sad and overweight. And it's not that she was wrong when she had guinea pigs 20 years ago, people just didn't understand back then. Things have changed and now people know differently, so you want to do what's recommended now. Just like she wouldn't want a doctor to prescribe the medicine they would have given 20 years ago if there's a better medicine available now. It doesn't mean they were wrong 20 years ago, just times have changed.

I was poking about the internet because someone had a very cute guinea pig video from Pets Add Life (they've got a couple, this is a different one), and so I figured I'd go see what they're about, and I really liked it: (broken link removed) They have a lot of tips for bringing a new pet home, and while I guess Bob is already there it might help you to talk to your mom. Also I know my parents don't take stuff on forums particularly seriously so I usually look for other more "legitimate" organizations that have more "experts" (there are plenty of experts here, just my parent's particular quirk), so your mom might be more likely to take them seriously. Plus when it's time to talk about a Pig 2, they also clearly state that guinea pigs require a guinea-pig-type buddy. And they have really cute videos... I don't know your mom, but maybe this is a good starting point for conversation about the idea of the second pig, when the time comes?

[video=youtube;RNwaVRCmC3w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNwaVRCmC3w[/video]

Also I don't know your brother, but if he is showing so much strong caring for Bob, and everything works out but you want to go away to school, do you think he might be okay to care for Bob and friend? I know how annoying little sibs are (my sister and I fought like crazy when we lived together) but he's just about the right age to care for a guinea pig (typically 9-11 is the recommended adoption age) so maybe the adoptee can be "your brother's" and then you can care for them together this year and he can take care of Bob whilst you're away. It will even give you both something to bond over, and he can send cute pictures of Bob so you guys keep in touch. And you would be able to take it on a year-by-year basis, because often after a year or two of college people decide to live off campus and then you could take Bob and friend back if he's too busy for guinea pigs.

Oh my gosh everyone...thank you so much...I didn't look at this thread for a bit because honestly I was embarrassed for being such a spaz, but golly I feel so much better now. Thank you, everyone! I have some interesting news and wow, I'll have to check out the video when I have the chance! Oh and I'm glad everyone thinks Maximus is cute, but trust me he's four pounds of fierce and he will bark and scream VERY LOUDLY and make sure you know just how fierce and fabulous he is...until you pick him up. He's funny like that. He can be barking his head off but the second you pick him up he won't make a peep.


So the cage now has a nice wire closet shelf that Jessie's mom got for me...she is so nice, she cut it down to size, filed down the sharp edges, and even painted it so it'd be all white again! She's been so helpful with my stress and this whole situation, and her advice coupled with everything you all have taught me makes me feel confident again. So she bought up this wonderful point--and I feel stupid I didn't think of this before--but my mom said I could use the c and c as a "play pen", right? Well, its summer, and my mom works until 7 and my stepdad gets home at 9:30. So for the most part, I'm here alone. I made the cage a 2x3, as she said "half it" but 2x2 is too small and I think even she knows that, and as such it's the minimum size for Bob while giving him enough space to do Bob-things, right? That means it's still a proper c and c cage, even if it's not necessarily his "cage". But the thing is...my mom won't know if Bob's in his "play pen" for say...I dunno...twelve hours a day or so. And if she gets home and he's still in there, she can't really say anything against that, he'd just be playing! And if she asks why his food is in there too, I can say he wouldn't stop wheeking until he had it there, or I was worried he'd get hungry. Plus I can kit it out with some nice fleece bedding and hides and I can just call them toys! It's perfect!

The other good news is if I can show through this that Bob is happier in there, I'm hoping she'll see that I speak the truth. And I'll follow everyone's advice and show her all this great stuff. Not this thread specifically, but the links and website and everything. I think I can do it...and I mentioned my brother, he's in on the "scheme" and is very happy about it. He adores Bob and I'm glad he loves him so much. He's still a kid though don't get me wrong, so he's not doing all the cleaning and stuff like I am, but he's been a real help with designing the cage and putting it together and helping me with Bob when I have to clean his cage or something.

Also Bob himself has been very good...he's certainly more comfortable than he was before. He's not nearly as nervous, and is very bold around the other animals. He doesn't care that they're constantly poking their noses at him or barking or eating his hay, and he's started to wheek and make noises which he wasn't doing before. He's gotten to the point where he's comfortable enough around the dogs and everyone to come out often and he has started to demand VERY LOUDLY when he wants his veggies, but I'm hoping once I get it down to a routine again of giving him veggies at a strict time every morning he'll grow out of that. The dogs are still very surprised he makes sounds though, but Sophie has learned to be quiet around him. Except when he didn't finish his pepper and cucumber slice today and she has been barking very loudly demanding to take his vegetables. She's such a silly dog...I gave her cucumber rinds and pieces of lettuce today and she was overjoyed. My mom even tried to say hi to Bob today, and when she was petting him, Sophie nuzzled her way through and grabbed a cucumber slice and trotted away before my mom noticed. What a silly pup!

I'm going to post more pictures tomorrow if I have the chance, and I'll give more updates as they come and I'll reread all this good info and go from there. I'm not as freaked out any more, and I'm feeling really happy and confident again!!

But I'll admit, I am more than a bit infuriated that joann fabrics decided to discontinue the ONE dinosaur print I wanted today...like, come on! I was going to order it yesterday, but forgot to, so I was going to today. See, it was available yesterday, but now its not! Much sadness. There's still some available at a few Jo Ann stores an hour away, but not at the one closet to us that my stepdad said he could go to, which is a shame. My dreams of having a Jurassic Park themed cage may never come true...but actually--I have a question regarding fleece before I order a substitute print! I'm going to make myself some fleece flipper knock-offs (normally I hate taking other people's ideas, but I think its the best option for Bob and my wallet) and was wondering if Jo Ann fabrics "soft n comfy" fleece is viable for bedding. It's 100% polyester, but I'm not sure how much thicker it is and the only other trade-off is its more expensive...but it comes in the dinosaur print I want. And normally I'm that ridiculously cheap person who will fight tooth and nail for the lowest price and a deal, but you don't even understand how much I love dinosaurs. I. Love. Dinosaurs. Almost as much as I love Morgan Freeman and Bob. But dinosaurs are life. I literally spent so much time these past couple years incorporating dinosaurs into my daily life, and English class. I even made an animation of Chapter 1 of the Great Gatsby where everyone is a dinosaur, and another where I drew all the characters from The Scarlet Letter and Brave New World like they were in Jurassic Park and it was wonderful. I am ridiculously passionate about dinosaurs, and if I have the ability to spread that love to fleece and guinea pigs, I will take that opportunity! I'm thinking I could try and go to the store an hour away tomorrow to see if I could get it in Blizzard fleece, but if the soft n comfy fleece is okay to use I might get that. I'm not sure though. Input is appreciated, as always!

(but seriously this is the best and cutest dinosaur print I could find...there are two in anti pill but they don't look as nice, and I think the red will contrast nicely with the green. Complementary colors and all that. (broken link removed) )

First off, I am just going to say that you remind me of my little brother...he's in the "obsession" stage of his life right now, and the longest lasting so far has been dinosaurs. Everything. Dinosaurs. He can't even read yet, though he looks at a word and a picture and can name the dinosaur right off the top of his head. Seriously-I know so much more about dinosaurs now. Who's heard of Carchardontosaurus? I have. And Carnotaurus? Yep.

Also, it sounds like a good plan. Leaving him in his "play pen" for most of the day... innocent enough. The only thing that concerns me is that if your mother thinks a 2x4 is too big-even for a play pen-it might be hard to convince her for another. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here.

Also, in response to individual people:
@PandaPiggle: Oh my! Thank you for so much advice and links and everything...I really like what you're saying about how times have changed in the past 20 years. I wanted to explain that to her but I couldn't think of how without offending her in some way. You worded it perfectly though, and I'm not sure about letting Bobby (my brother) taking Bob, but I'm hoping the least he can do is help out and go from there. I like the idea of it though and I'll definitely consider this for the future! (and thanks for the links as well...I'll be sure to look through them. I think I saw one or two of those links before but I'll go through them again.)
@Dashmo: You couldn't be closer to the truth. He has been getting REALLY protective of Bob...he doesn't let the cats go near it, and he growls if they even look at the cage. I think he's started to relax a bit more though, but I noticed every time I get up and he gets up to follow me, he'll walk back to the cage and nose around it to make sure Bob's still there before he follows me. What a funny little dog...one minute he's barking his head off because Bob wheeked too loudly, the next he's keeping him safe from nosy fat cats.
@BaconAndEggs: I think she just thinks its big because its big. However, I did change it down to a 2x3 which is still minimum size and compared to the cage Bob is in now, it's still over 3x its size! We have a large wooden table next to where the c and c cage is now and I'm thinking if we put it on there or if we remove the table and put it where it was it'll be a perfect use of space. The table takes up more room than the cage, and the only reason the table's there is because they were frustrated I kept taking over the kitchen table for my dip pen drawings and sewing, so hopefully they'll accept this one! I think as well you bring up a good point...my mom means well, and she loves animals. I think once she sees how much good this will do she'll change her mind, but that's something she must do on her own accord. And haha about the cat...cats are great, aren't they? Our cats have a high prey drive to moths and yarn, that's about it. It's so funny how different they all are though.
@Popcorn321: Firstly, my sympathies about Chili...I'm sure they had a lovely life with you though, and sometimes with small animals its important to remember that while to us their lives are short, to them it's all they know, and if all they knew was happiness, good times, and love, I think it's all worth it in the end. But I don't want to bring up sad times too much! Thank you for the best wishes and I assure you I'll try my best to take as good a care of this little buddy as I can. And thanks about my cage...if you actually look closely in the second picture the corplast is held together by blue painter's tape and I mis-cut it the first time and had to tape around the entire cage yesterday to reinforce it. It looks a bit shoddy, but I couldn't be prouder! It's so crazy to think I paid for and made this thing myself...its the best feeling in the world!

Your brother sounds like my kind of person! Dinosaurs and guinea pigs are like the mafia, I think. Once you're in, you never come out. (and yes I've heard of the second one, but not the first one! My favorite dinosaurs are deinonychus and maybe pachycephalosaurus and iguanadon, if I had to decide.)

And yes I know what you mean...I think right now she hasn't complained about the 2x3 and if she eventually changes her mind and realizes bigger is better, I can always expand back to a 2x4 or 2x5, but that's being optimistic. I have the whole summer ahead of me though, and I'm feelin' good.

I'm so glad that Bob is integrating into the family, and it sounds like you've got a good plan for the cage for the time being. And building stuff yourself is always an awesome feeling!!!

As to fleece - I have no idea about soft & comfy fleece. I personally use anti pill, and I know others around here use blizzard, and some use cheap blankets from Walmart... So I don't think it's a terrible idea as long as it's not more plush than blizzard fleece. And my best friend is also in love with dinosaurs so I get it! I was always more of a train girl myself, and now of course piggies

I get fleece throws from Walgreens or Walmart. They're less than $5. Last winter Walmart had them for $2.88 here in dozens of patterns. Walgreens has them all the time. Their patterns aren't as cool, but they could work for now.

Yup, getting a neat looking print isn't a must-have of course. I'm not going to throw a fit because I can't get a good design, but if I can, I will. There's a walgreens right in my town, I didn't know they had fleece, but then again I've only been in once or twice. Thank you for the info, I'll at least check it out!

If I remember correctly, the soft and comfy fleece is almost furry. I'm not sure that it would work the same as anti-pill or blizzard fleece. If you want to try it out, I would recommend getting just a little bit instead of enough to cover the 2x4 cage so you don't waste your money in case it doesn't work. They may even have some soft and comfy fleece in the remnants section at Joann's so it would be even cheaper to give it a try.

I think I'm going to see if we can go to one of the Jo Ann stores a bit farther away today, because I know they still have some of the BLIZZARD fleece in the print I want, but if we can go I think I might find some from the remnants bin and test that out too. You're right though I don't want to waste my money, but if I can find out if it actually works or not this might ne beneficial, even though I'd still advice everyone else to not be like me and be freakishly obsessed with dinosaurs. Just get blizzard or anti pill people, save yourself the pain of being a dinoaur enthusiast. Every day is a struggle to fight with your inner demons who try to convince you Yesss you must buy the jurassic world lego set even though you can't afford it, or Yesss the movie is going to be a dissapointment because Chris Pratt is riding a motoercycle with trained "velociraptors" [i.e. featherless deinonychuses] BUT WE MUST SEE THE DINOSAURS

Such is life. But back on topic. I think either way I can try to get the fleece bedding and his cage all nice and set up in maybe a week, two weeks latest. I got a LOT of sewing to do for this little guy and I know he's gonna love it. He has this little dirty piece of fleece in his cage right now and he refuses to let me take it from him even though its a bit gross but he literally sits on it or bites it if I try to take it, so I know he's going to LOVE this.

Haha! My piggies aren't borrowers, but they for some reason enjoy digging up their fleece, pulling it backwards so that the towel is exposed, and leaving it there. Needless to say, that messes with my cage OCD. I really hope all goes well, and I do think he'll love it!(One more thing on the dinosaur topic-my favorites are probably Carnotaurus(love their little horns and faces, even though the name means "Flesh-eating bull"), Microraptor, and Amargasaurus.)

Ahhh!! AGGGHHHH
Jo Ann fabrics restocked their blizzard dinosaur fleece!! This is absolutely ridiculous, I have been having ALL the luck with getting fleece. First I was going to get it two weeks ago, but the sale ended and it was too late. Next day, a new sale, and its even cheaper! Then yesterday this was out of stock, and this morning I check again and it's in stock again! What wizardry! Much joy! I'm going to order it right now before I miss it again, and hopefully if I order the uhual lining today or tomorrow and hopefully I can at least get the fleece flippers set up by next weekend and I can finally move Bob into his new...ah, "play pen". I'm very excited about this oh my gosh. Not only can I make some amazing dinosaur-themed cage stuff, but this little guy's going to love it haha. But really I have to get rid of his piece of fleece asap anyway. It's really gross because the cage is so small and he does so much of his business on or near it and it's starting to smell. It's like a baby and their favorite blanket or something, he just doesn't want to get rid of it.

I WILL see if I can try out some soft n cozy remnants though, if I can. I still think if applicable blizzard and anti polar are still better because of price, but if it wicks the same it might be worth noting if you can get it for cheap. I haven't found anything else about anyone trying it before, but if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, at least we'll know for sure that it doesn't!

YAY DINOSAUR FLEECE!!! I have my own stupid neuroses with the fleece... The guinea pigs are not allowed to do their business on depictions of other animals. So seeing as I'm a pretty girly girl (well actually I'm also an engineer and I love dirt and asphalt, but my color preferences are girly and I've got a herd of lady pigs) this has led to lots of florals, and some polka dots and mustaches for the liners, and I just got feathers and rain clouds for building accessories... It always kills me when there are cute patterns with ducks and panda bears and I'm like dying of adorableness but then I just can't bear to have the piggies poop on the faces of the cute ducks. So at least to me, your desire for dinosaurs seems comparatively normal.

And that's cool about the science experiment if you can get your hands on the fluffy fluffy fleece for cheap... The only problem I ever have with the remnants bin at Joann's is that all the fleece is just labelled "fleece, 100% polyester" so you can't actually tell which type it is. But maybe your Joann's is different. Fingers crossed. Although I'm not too picky and there are plenty of florals so I'll probably just stick with anti-pill.

My fleece right now is dogs, though I'm hoping to soon get new fleece, and have a royal blue/dog themed cage. They have no fleece accessories.

It's a great feeling to build something yourself! Even though my coroplast was already scored and the grids carefully picked out(got it from the cages store), I still got to build it and it felt great! Especially when you know what you're doing is beneficial to something-or someone-else.