Guinea Pig Weights

Today's weights are:

Molly: 1176g

Keleigh: 1020g

Betty: 1265g

Jenny: 1207g

Bonnie: 1271g

Fiona: 1375g

Zoe: 1046g

Cassandra: 1197g

Diane: 1224g

Amy: 966g

Angela: 909g

Monica: 909g

Melissa: 1035g

Amanda: 868g

Thanks, Keleigh, for listening and putting on some weight.

Photoshoot: Jenny

Next up on the catwalk - or rather cavywalk - is Jenny:

She is such a special piggy! The bravest and most strong minded guinea pig I've ever met! 

Guinea Pig Weights

I gave the Gorgeous Guinea Girls a manicure/pedicure today and took their weights:

Molly: 1170g

Keleigh: 993g

Betty: 1269g

Jenny: 1239g

Bonnie: 1286g

Fiona: 1359g

Zoe: 1042g

Cassandra: 1190g

Diane: 1227g

Amy: 955g

Angela: 909g

Monica: 910g

Melissa: 1044g

Amanda: 819g

(listed by age - from oldest to youngest)

Although Bonnie looks by far the largest, it's interesting that Fiona is actually quite a bit heavier. Amy is too light for my liking probably due to being on antibiotics for 3 weeks this summer.

I also would like Keleigh to be over one kilo again, but she has always been a slender piggy and her gradual weight loss is likely due to her age. In comparison Molly used to be around the 1300g mark so she's probably lost the same amount of weight as Keleigh as she turned from a woman into an older lady.

Angela and Amanda are about the same age as Melissa but about 130g lighter - I guess that's the difference between hairless and hairy!

Photoshoot: Betty

Here are some pictures of our lovely Betty:

I absolutely love black piggies and Betty's coat is so very shiny. She's a fantastic piggy!

Photoshoot: Keleigh

Here are some pictures of Keleigh after her recent bath:

I hope she wasn't questioning my talents as a photographer in this last picture!
She's our second oldest piggy, but doesn't show her age at all.

Photoshoot: Molly

Here are some pictures of beautiful Molly taken after she had a bath a couple of weeks ago:

Video: Guinea Pig Travel Journal

Here's another video I uploaded to You Tube a while ago:



I tried to tape them a few weeks prior to this on the same journey, but most of them decided to remain in the kitchen and I had to pick them up and carry them back to their home. You just can't count on cooperation from my beautiful girlies. They have a mind of their own and strong personalities. That's why I love them so much!

Relaxing in Style

The Guinea Girls certainly know how to live a life of leisure and luxury:

Princess Angela

Queen Amy

Empress Betty

I bought this jewellery box quite a while ago but the girls never liked it. Now it looks like it finally has come into fashion - guinea pig style.

Skinny Pigs

Our gorgeous skinny pigs enjoy the warmer weather. They are full of energy which they mostly spent on arguing with each other. They are proper teenager brats right now.

However they also have their peaceful moments:

Angela is sunbathing while Monica retired to a shadier area (and Amy hiding underneath the bed).

Another picture of "Put-A-Jumpa-On-Angela" in the sun, this time with Amanda in the background.

Close-up of stunning "Monca".

And last but not least a picture of wee Amanda better know as "Horsey-Face":

A few more things

I've made another couple of cosy things for the Guinea Girls today.

A new padded mattress for their bed:

A comfy pillow made out of old pyjamas and stuffed with off-cuts:

And to wash all these nice new things - 15 litres of home made laundry detergent:

Spoilt wee sausages!

Comfy cushion and blankets

I've made a few things for the Guinea Girls today.

A new cushion for their cage:

Three lap blankets:

Thanks Clarence, Marvin and Stephen for showcasing these.

I've spotted several of the Guinea Girls sleeping on and fighting over the cushion and Zoe has kindly christened one of the lap blankets already ;) So quite a success!

Video: Sunny Sunday Outside (June 2010)

The weather is miserable this weekend, so I thought I would share the following video to remind us that Scotland can be warm and sunny:

Video: 14 Guinea Pigs Enjoying Their Lettuce (20th April 2010)

Here's the next video:

Video: Breakfast (28th Feb 2010)

I've made various videos over the last few months and it's about time I post them here too.

So here are the first two:

Chirping Cassandra

In Greek mythology, the god Apollo was smitten by Cassandra's beauty and bestowed on her the gift of prophecy. However Cassandra did not return Apollo's love and so he put a curse on her: no one would ever believe her prophecies!

Our own Cassandra, like her namesake, is a gorgeous little princess. We just hope that when she was chirping the other night, her prophecies were of good fortune and that the other girls believed her.

Please click on the below link to listen to Cassandra's prophecy:

http://lycrawford.posterous.com/cassandra-is-tweeting

Friday Evening

I love Friday evenings and not just because it's the end of the working week. Mostly I enjoy sitting in the rocking chair next to 14 Guinea Girls eating their readigrass. There's nothing more therapeutic than the munching noises of a happy guinea pig herd.

On top of that, later in the evening, I get to see the startled expression of the Tesco delivery man who gets surrounded by my lovely screaming girls who know quite well that this means the arrival of fresh veggies!

Long passed are the days when the Guinea Girls were afraid of visitors. Now it doesn't matter if its the arrival of take away food, groceries or any other visitors, if there is bag rustling then there will be guinea pig screaming and little feet finding their way into the kitchen!

Molly

It's strange to think of Molly as our oldest Guinea Girl. When we first got her she was so very small and we called her "Baby" rather than "Molly" for months!

These days we like to call her "Big Nose Girl" and she now has her own dedicated page on our website. Click on her image in the "Our Guinea Pigs" section to read all about gorgeous Molly: www.ly.crawford.com.

First Time in the New Run

Last weekend the Guinea Girls went outside in their new custom made run! It was the first time our new piggies - Angela, Amanda, Monica and Melissa - were outside and it looks like they enjoyed it. It was still a wee bit chilly so the skinny babies, Amanda and Monica, had to come in long before the others as they don't have a coat to keep them warm.

Here just a couple of pictures of our lovely herd outside in the garden. You can view more pictures in the photo gallery on my website: http://www.lycrawford.com.

Introducing Melissa

As you may have guessed from the title, another girlie guinea pig has joined our herd. It's a hairy one this time.

We drove down to Helen's on 14th of March to pick up the beautiful Melissa. I fell in love with her a view weeks earlier when visiting Helen and kept thinking about her non stop until we finally gave in and put her on reserve for us.

Melissa was part of a group of 14 which Helen picked up around the 5th of March. They were mostly girls and a few boys so there was a risk Melissa was pregnant - luckily she doesn't appear to be. All piggies were scruffy: they had wounds and were missing hair. When we first saw Melissa she had scabs around her eyes and ears and a wound on her flank. However by the time we picked her up from Helen she had healed nicely.

I reckon Melissa was born around December time. She's older than Amanda but not quite as old as Monica. She's settled into the group nicely without arguments and is one of the happiest pigs I've ever seen. She loves popcorning and running around like mad. She's still a bit shy whenever we humans are in the room but she doesn't run away and hide as much as she used too.

Introducing Amanda and Monica

Hubby and I decided to get another skinny pig to keep Angela company so we went down to Helen's the weekend before last to pick up our new girlie. Only turned out that we came back with two skinnies rather than just the one.

Here's a picture of Amanda who's the lovely girlie we had decided to get in the first place:

Amanda is Angela's half sister - same daddy Arthur. She was born on 11th January 2010. She was part of a litter of 6. She's still absolutely tiny esp. when compared to Amy, Molly or Bonnie. She's sometimes a bit of a drama queen: when one of the older sows tells her off she will sit in the corner and whimper for ages. She's very cute!

Here's a picture of Monica who had been reserved but never collected and we just couldn't leave the beautiful lassie behind:

Monica is Angela's niece - her maternal grandfather is Arthur. She was born on 6th November 2009. She looks very similar to Angela, she's a bit smaller but putting on the weight fast so it's sometimes hard to distinguish between the two. She was a bit more timid than Monica but is getting braver by the minute. She's absolutely adorable.

And here a picture of my three skinnies (from left to right: Monica, Angela, Amanda/Abby):



Introduction to my herd was straightforward: by the time we got back home my other girlies were screaming for food so I fed them and while they were busy eating I popped the two new babies into the cage. The older sows where more interested in their food then the new girls. As a precaution I removed all hidey houses but to be honest there was no drama at all.

Once the older girls had eaten their fill they lay down for a snooze and the two new skinnies were popcorning and running laps and bumping into my older pigs. They're just so funny and very energetic!

Nicest part of the guinea pig day

This time at night is when I enjoy the guinea pigs the most. I've just finished cleaning their cage and now I can just enjoy watching them eat their readigrass. They seem very peaceful now: they're all gathered around the readigrass munching happily while wee Jelly Belly is sitting in the middle on top of the food pile. Soon some of them will lie down for a nap, while others will beat up a card board box and others (yes, I'm pointing at you Bonnie) will just eat until there is nothing left.

They're a very enjoyable herd just now. Since I've cut back their food a bit they seem to have a lot more energy. They're very funny at dinner time! The other night it was after 9pm by the time I started preparing their dinner, Betty, Jenny, Angela and Diane boxed me in in the kitchen in front of the fridge. They looked so accusingly and were literally bullying me into feeding them. While Jenny is quiet and lifts herself up on her hind legs with her front legs resting against the cupboard to beg for food, Diane and Angela prefer screaming at the top of their lungs. I have quite a few loud pigs, but those two are excessively loud!

Goodbye My Gorgeous Chloe

My little Chloe girl sadly passed away on Tuesday, 19th January. She was getting gradually weaker over the last few months. Our vet couldn't find anything wrong with her so we believe it was just her age catching up with her. She passed away in my arms on Tuesday morning and both Ryan and I were glad that we were present when she passed over the rainbow bridge.

I love all my guinea pigs but Chloe has been my very favourite ever since getting her back in November 2005. Something in her personality just seemed to click with mine and we seemed to share a special bond.

Chloe was such an outgoing and inquisitive piggy who loved a good wander around the house. She had a very independent nature, yet at the same time was a fabulous cuddler. She enjoyed music and seemed especially fond of a particular relaxation CD: she would sit with me for hours listening over and over again to the "Om mani padme om" chant and eventually we would fall asleep together.

Chloe was a very vocal piggy. I would have recognised her voice and the urgency with which she begged for food anywhere in the world. She also blessed us on numerous occasions with her lovely chirping. The first time we heard her chirp, Ryan and I were working on her cage together. We were filing the wood down to make a ramp for the guinea girls, when we suddenly heard this sound which seemed to imitate the wood file. I bet Ryan thought I was joking about until he realised it was our lovely Chloe who produced this extraordinary sound!

Chloe will be greatly missed but I'm glad we were able to enjoy so many wonderful years together. Now it's her time to be reunited with Maya and Twinkle!

Rest in peace, my Chloe Closet and know that you will always keep a special place in our hearts!

Happy New Year

Wishing you all the very best for 2010!