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!