Gypsy is so tame now....

Gypsy is coming along beautifully.  I am so pleased with her progress - she's a very sweet little girl now and rumblestruts hardly at all.  It seems she's happy with her cage and with life in general now.  Even her food consumption has gone up again.

The biggest hint at her progress came earlier this week when my daughter wanted a cuddle.  She's 7 and hasn't had much to do with these guineas as they have been so afraid.  Well I thought Gypsy would fall apaprt, but while she did tremble a little at someone different holding her she also wolfed down major parsley and was rooting about looking for more.  That is the very first time she's eaten on a lap and she was so enthusiastic about it too.

Bessie is a bit behind Gypsy in the confidence stakes but she'll get there.  Gypsy is virtually there - go Gypsy!

All change again! Hope it's the last one for a while.

I have changed things about in the cage and am not favourite again.  The girls seemed a bit squashed in their corner houses upstairs, their big bottoms were always sticking out of them!  As amusing and endearing as that was it didn't smack of comfort, they also couldn't ever snuggle up in a hidey together.

So armed with my concerns I have been and got a plastic igloo and that combined with my other spare igloo is now downstairs under the upstairs floor.  They are side by side and placed on vet bed.  They absolutely hate change but while we are finding our way to the perfect cage it's going to have to be.  All food (except hay) is now being served upstairs.  I am considering making upstairs newspaper and hay but tomorrow is clean out day so maybe i'll do it then, we'll see.

This afternoon I have seen them sleeping seperately and chilling together in one igloo so result.

They came out and did the usual wheek wheek wheek for food (How good is it that that sound seems usual now!) but when I put it upstairs they were very confused for ages and frantically running about in circles downstairs but in the end RESULT they found it and are currently happily munching on their veggies.

Gypsy has lost 60g over the last few weeks, so not sure how good that is.  Could be that she isn't eating museli any more and only picking out the sugary bits but part of me thinks she isn't getting enough hay.  Neither of them pay any attention to the hay manger despite nibbling from it once or twice and me loading it with about 5 different kinds of hay (I bought 2 more types today to try and convince them to eat!).  That's one of my reasons for maybe making upstairs all hay.  Could inspire more hay eating and I currently have LOADS.

Going to weigh her again in a week and see how we're doing.

FIGHTING!

Today has not been a good day for Bessie and Gypsy.  I had to clean them out inside so used an inside run.  I cleaned out my 6 guineas first and then put them back and put Gypsy and Bessie in the same (now empty) run.  Gypsy straight away started swaying, rumbling and teeth chattering.  Next thing I know they are inside a wooden (big) house and it's lifting off the floor where they are fighting like mad.  I shout and take up the house and they carry on teeth chattering but Bessie goes to the pile of grass in the middle and starts to eat.  Gypsy goes into an igloo and starts teeth chattering but they are staying apart.  Next thing I know Bessie snaps and walks sideways over the igloo and heads inside where all hell breaks out again.  I remove all hideys and hope they will settle down but the challenges continue, so I took Bessie out and put her in the guinea carrier.

Once the cage is clean I put them back together and it's business as normal, no fighting and they have been normal since.  Gypsy is not a friendly soul, she's the one who started a fight with one of mine and she's always rumbling and barging Bessie out of the way and normally she takes it.  I hope things stay as they are and there aren't any further problems.... 

Cage changes and being unpopular

I have enquired about adoption of these two and it looks like it could be going ahead!  My reasoning was that these two have come so far but any little change they still don't like.  Also if I gave them back then what would I do - well get two more so why not just allow these two to live out the rest of their life in one place in a very nice way?  Don't think I am cut out for fostering right now as I get attached and don't want them to go.


So one of the requirements to adopt them was a cage expansion, they currently have just under 8 square feet and would need 8 1/2 square feet.  And I had already been planning on giving the cage an upstairs, it seems like fate now!  Hubby and I had been discussing using grids and correx to make upstairs bigger.  So that's what we did and here are the results

An upstairs sleeping pad lined with vetbed and now has 2 corner houses in it.  The ramp is enclosed so no one can fall off and covered in roofing felt to stop slipping.  It's a very gentle ramp and immediately they were back in the cage up they went.  Success!  Downstairs does seem transformed and there is so much room for charging about at food times if they ever get that tame.  But they can now run.

They are on fleece again and as you can probably see it's pegged at the sides as they burrow under it otherwise and I worry that they wont be able to find a way out.  They are more than capable of using the ramp but they have decided that they either just love their bedroom or that the change has unnerved them for a day or two as they are spending every minute except meal times and when they go out in their run in there.  It IS cosy but before the upstairs they were rooting about and out and about lots more.  Going to put their fiddlesticks back in today - it's large but it provided them with cover that made them feel alot more secure so going to put that downstairs to see if it encourages them down a bit more as they have a tunnel to go in.  

Normality is almost here!

This is a very very happy post.  Things are really getting fairly normal here.

New milestones:  Gypsy is doing proper wheeking for her food, real "where is my dinner!! wheek! Wheek!", the tearing round the cage is still going on, they have both started using the hay manger and Gypsy is using the water bottle (I can only guess they got enough water from their veggies so far).

Gypsy is definitely the braver and happier of the two.  She is clearly in charge and I hope that Bessie follows her lead and starts being a bit more confident in herself and her surroundings.

I have been putting them in the run every day for the majority of the day since they have been indoor pigs.  For 2 weeks or so they just scampered up the ramp and if it wasn't blocked off they would go hide in the bedroom.  So I blocked it off and today they acted pretty normally, going about eating grass for about 2 hours (from the cover of a fiddlesticks home).  After 2 hours they scampered up the ramp and stayed there so I brought them in.  They get on average 4 to 6 hours outside a day at the moment.  Winter it's inside runs only bless them!  Probably just as they get totally used to the outside run.

Not much to report!

Been on holiday so not much to report.  I set up 2 cages so that mum who was minding them could simply swap them over.  When we got home they were very subdued but I suppose they got used to the peace and quiet - not this mad house.

Today I put them out in the run and blocked off the top of the ramp to keep them in the run.  Put the others next to them in a seperate run so they could see each other and got on with my day.  About 4 hours later I went out to find them and ARGHHH they had gone!  The block was still there but they were in the hutch, they had pushed the block and sneaked up and it had popped back into place!  The bedroom was very warm as it's a sunny day so I brought the cheeky monkeys back in.  I have to say tonight I saw one of them use the water bottle for the very first time!

At 6.30pm they came out of their house and for the very first time they began foraging for food.  They do still come out when veggies are being prepared - in fact they popcorn and tear about like mad now but this was not that time.  It was just the regular (but clean) cage that they were foraging in so that's another milestone.

I held them both for a cuddle last night, one of them shook very gently and the other was cool as a cucumber.

They eat grapes and tomatoes now on top of everything else and are learning to love green beans

I bought them some sample bags of other dry food (good quality pellets) as they didn't seem to be eating the other one and as soon as I served it they started eating the old one!

I have gone from fleece to hay as bedding and back to fleece again.  Changed as they started burrowing under the fleece then changed back as they started only eating the cheap bedding hay and ignoring the good stuff so now it's fleece pegged at the sides.  

Considering fashioning some kind of a small upstairs sleeping area for them so they have all of downstairs for foraging and running about but that's something I am going to consider....

The new indoor cage is here!

Well the new cage arrived yesterday and has been great cause for concern to both Bessie and Gypsy.  They aren't coming out as much although they did both dart about at speed at night time veggies time.  For some reason they don't react the same in the morning, they hide until veggies time.

Bessies back looks brilliant, the hair is almost all back in the spot where it came out.  We took both girls out last night and put them on a towel on the sofa, my husband one side and me the other side with our legs preventing them from running off and both came running over to me for protection.  Bessie snuggled up in my arm and Gypsy next to her.  I was very flattered but it throws the re-adoption of them up in the air.  The only thing that would prevent me from having them rehomed once tame is if they are scared of others but okay with me.  Last night they were exactly that.  Watch this space.

I also put them both together with a few of my guinea pigs and the photos are the results.  It was great actually and they got on very well indeed.  I got cocky and put in the top girl from my herd in too and that's when we got dominance displays.  It turns out that Bessie is happy to not be top but Gypsy is obviously top girl and she wasn't happy about Bessie being subservient to my Nibbles and following her around.  They rumble strutted, there was teeth chattering and they went inside a box and that started jumping around so I seperated them at that time.  I do plan on allowing play time again as it seemed to really help Gypsy and Bessie before that, they were running about normally in the open with the others.  But not going to put the two top girls in again as it wont work and I am not planning on housing them all together so it's unnecessary stress.  But until top girl went in it worked really well and all were happy.

Indoor living

Well I made a split decision and after shampooing them they haven't been back outside since,  They have lived in the kitchen in a cage that's a bit too small while we wait for a good size one to be delivered (should be tomorrow).

My instincts have been saying to do this for ages and I could take it no more.  Turns out it's the best move I have made.  They have made strides forward since being in and its rained non-stop since then so they would have been really miserable just sitting in their bedroom in the hutch.

Firstly they have been able to hear the other guineas at veggies time.  The second night the wheek wheek wheek began in the other room and Bessie came out of the igloo she's been hiding in.  She started foraging round her food bowls and hay while I was in the kitchen.

Next she went to the space in the cage and POPCORNED.  She was happy!  Now this is something all of the indoor guineas do all the time.  They dart and run about popcorning every day.  Their cage is large and they can tear up and down the enclosed ramps having fun and getting exercise.  But Bessie and Gypsy have always looked so sad.  To say I was walking on air that Bessie had popcorned is an understatement.  Next I put the veggies in the cage and out they came and just started eating - like that was normal.  Eating in front of me.

Then yesterday I introduced them to some of my guineas and it went very well for ages.  They all got down to the serious business of eating grass.  It was only when top girl of the indoor guineas went in that the teeth chattering started.  I learned that Gypsy is top of the 2 fosters and Nibbles on the indoor piggies.  When the strutting started I seperated them while I think about things.  There really isn't room for them in the big cage, one extra would fit in at most but 2 would be cramped and that's not what I want.  Everyone deserves room.

Veggies time last night and both came out to forage and BOTH popcorned and tried to run about.  I felt sorry for them actually as they don't have the room to dart about like they want to.  The cage company said tomorrow it will be here so not long.  They both ate veggies outdoors and then they went back in.  I got some coriander and Gypsy started taking it out of my hand, again amazing.  And final achievement last night Bessie came out of the igloo and had a lay down in the open.  What a difference a few days make when they are indoors eh?  I knew it.  I think they are out more at night because it's quieter with the kids in bed.  I mean all of them forage at night and go round the cage from food to food but the indoor guineas do it in the morning too and so far that's been absent from their behaviour.

I also haven't held them since they moved inside, going to start today but I wanted to give them real settling in time.  So there is still that to do yet, taming on laps, normal behaviour and taking food on laps.

But we have come a long way already right?