Amethysta
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2012
- Posts
- 47
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2012
- Messages
- 47
I joined early last month after I had been looking through the forums for a month or so previous to when I joined... glad to have found my way here.
My name is Amy, I'll be 40 a week from today, and I am definitely a Cavy Slave.
I have owned cavies in the past when we lived in Alaska -- but I haven't had any in quite a few years. I had been looking at Craigslist (I know.. it's bad, but I couldn't help myself...) and came across Pepper. After my husband and I had talked it over - okay more like, I told him I wanted to give her a home here, and he reluctantly agreed (lol) . After we brought her home, I started doing research on what was the best food - pellets/hay/ect.. which was when I found myself here. I found that Pigs were best kept in pairs, so I appealed to his softer side and we found a "little" girl to bring home to keep her company. That was Paprika.
Velvet, Sparkplug, and Nibbler came next... they have a story that I'll blog about later... it's long.
I had done quite a bit of research about breeds and colors and such, and I know how horrible this is, but I wanted a Himalayan. I am really glad I was persistent about this... they are all so adorable, but it was something I just couldn't help.
One afternoon last month, I was particularly bored, I had been looking at Craigslist again.. and there she was... Snowflake. She was stunning.. a Peruvian Himalayan. We drove to the woman's house to get her... I was absolutely over the roof. I love all my animals, but.. you know when you see a picture, and you just know that it's instant love? She was what I was looking for. We arrived 45 agonizing minutes early, she pulled up in her car, and inside her house we went. I saw two cages... both a little smaller than a 2x3 c&c cage. As we moved closer into the living area... she moved up... and there was Snowflake... dead in her cage. From what I could gather from the conversation with her, she had been juggled from home to home... and had just got back from someone's home that couldn't care for her. I was in tears.. not only was it a horrible story, but the girl had likely starved to death. In the cage next to hers, was a male, female, and two babies. She told me that she was going to "rehome them at 4 weeks anyway, so if I wanted to take them, I could". So.. I didn't give it a second thought... we grabbed the cage and brought them out to our car. My husband wasn't too happy with me, but after the discussion we had on the way home (plus he knows how I am) he understood why I snagged them. I have to say, that without the ad for Snowflake, I would not have Phoebe, Smudge, Muddy and Sapphiera. They have the best personalities, and are so incredibly lovable.
So, that brought our total to 9... until I saw Odin's ad on Craigslist.
Odin. My Himalayan. I am not sure about his home previous to ours, but, his owner "wanted him gone." I actually didn't believe my eyes, it was worse when the previous owner dropped him and his "wife"( - his words, not mine) and their 3 month old son. The female (Apollymi) was almost as small as the baby, Odin has a cloudy eye I believe he has some vision distortion out of it, but he can see out of it. He'll be seen by our vet in March. The only one that was normalish was the little one Archeron. He is VERY skittish, even outside of the cage.
So with them, and Velvet's 3 babies, that brings our total to 15. I am on the "waiting game" with Paprika, Phoebe, Nibbler and Apollymi. I am hoping that they turn out to just be "watch", not to actually be expecting.
They all get veggies twice a day, I feed Mazuri pellets right now, but I am seriously thinking about switching to Oxbow if I can find somewhere locally that sells it in larger quantities than 10 lbs. They get unlimited Timothy hay right now (bought a huge 3 string from Reber Ranch - 115 lbs I believe they said it weighed). I plan on adding Orchard Grass next month also. I'm allergic to the Timothy, and from what I've been reading Orchard Grass might be a better option.
Thank you if you made it through my novel, I have enjoyed being here, and hope to continue to learn and grow with the information and experiences I've found here!
~Amy, Ben (Hubby), 4 non - FURRED kids (18, 10, 8, and 4), 1 very spoiled orphaned kitten "Tiggy", and our 15 Guinea Pigs: Pepper, Paprika, Velvet, Sparkplug, Nibbler, Phoebe, Smudge, Muddy, Sapphiera, Odin, Apollymi, Archeron and the newborns, Sheepy (thinking of a name), Twinkletoes, and ZoomZoom.
My name is Amy, I'll be 40 a week from today, and I am definitely a Cavy Slave.
I have owned cavies in the past when we lived in Alaska -- but I haven't had any in quite a few years. I had been looking at Craigslist (I know.. it's bad, but I couldn't help myself...) and came across Pepper. After my husband and I had talked it over - okay more like, I told him I wanted to give her a home here, and he reluctantly agreed (lol) . After we brought her home, I started doing research on what was the best food - pellets/hay/ect.. which was when I found myself here. I found that Pigs were best kept in pairs, so I appealed to his softer side and we found a "little" girl to bring home to keep her company. That was Paprika.
Velvet, Sparkplug, and Nibbler came next... they have a story that I'll blog about later... it's long.
I had done quite a bit of research about breeds and colors and such, and I know how horrible this is, but I wanted a Himalayan. I am really glad I was persistent about this... they are all so adorable, but it was something I just couldn't help.
One afternoon last month, I was particularly bored, I had been looking at Craigslist again.. and there she was... Snowflake. She was stunning.. a Peruvian Himalayan. We drove to the woman's house to get her... I was absolutely over the roof. I love all my animals, but.. you know when you see a picture, and you just know that it's instant love? She was what I was looking for. We arrived 45 agonizing minutes early, she pulled up in her car, and inside her house we went. I saw two cages... both a little smaller than a 2x3 c&c cage. As we moved closer into the living area... she moved up... and there was Snowflake... dead in her cage. From what I could gather from the conversation with her, she had been juggled from home to home... and had just got back from someone's home that couldn't care for her. I was in tears.. not only was it a horrible story, but the girl had likely starved to death. In the cage next to hers, was a male, female, and two babies. She told me that she was going to "rehome them at 4 weeks anyway, so if I wanted to take them, I could". So.. I didn't give it a second thought... we grabbed the cage and brought them out to our car. My husband wasn't too happy with me, but after the discussion we had on the way home (plus he knows how I am) he understood why I snagged them. I have to say, that without the ad for Snowflake, I would not have Phoebe, Smudge, Muddy and Sapphiera. They have the best personalities, and are so incredibly lovable.
So, that brought our total to 9... until I saw Odin's ad on Craigslist.
Odin. My Himalayan. I am not sure about his home previous to ours, but, his owner "wanted him gone." I actually didn't believe my eyes, it was worse when the previous owner dropped him and his "wife"( - his words, not mine) and their 3 month old son. The female (Apollymi) was almost as small as the baby, Odin has a cloudy eye I believe he has some vision distortion out of it, but he can see out of it. He'll be seen by our vet in March. The only one that was normalish was the little one Archeron. He is VERY skittish, even outside of the cage.
So with them, and Velvet's 3 babies, that brings our total to 15. I am on the "waiting game" with Paprika, Phoebe, Nibbler and Apollymi. I am hoping that they turn out to just be "watch", not to actually be expecting.
They all get veggies twice a day, I feed Mazuri pellets right now, but I am seriously thinking about switching to Oxbow if I can find somewhere locally that sells it in larger quantities than 10 lbs. They get unlimited Timothy hay right now (bought a huge 3 string from Reber Ranch - 115 lbs I believe they said it weighed). I plan on adding Orchard Grass next month also. I'm allergic to the Timothy, and from what I've been reading Orchard Grass might be a better option.
Thank you if you made it through my novel, I have enjoyed being here, and hope to continue to learn and grow with the information and experiences I've found here!
~Amy, Ben (Hubby), 4 non - FURRED kids (18, 10, 8, and 4), 1 very spoiled orphaned kitten "Tiggy", and our 15 Guinea Pigs: Pepper, Paprika, Velvet, Sparkplug, Nibbler, Phoebe, Smudge, Muddy, Sapphiera, Odin, Apollymi, Archeron and the newborns, Sheepy (thinking of a name), Twinkletoes, and ZoomZoom.
