Guest Piggies: Larry and Mo

Hi humans! Today's post is about our featured piggies, Larry and Mo. 

Larry and Mo are six-month old brothers. 

Their favorite foods are plain pellets, cantaloupe, cucumber, hay, carrots, dandelions, and grass.

Like Lola they love to cuddle up with their human, Bella, and watch TV. They especially enjoy cartoons!

Want your piggies to be featured on Cavy Savvy? Just send an email to cavysavvyaguineapigblog [at] gmail [dot] com and tell us a little about them!

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Romaine Lettuce?

You know what bugs us? When the humans give us something delicious, and it turns out we can only have it as an occasional treat. Take bananas, for instance. They're delicious, but we can only have small amounts, and the humans like to space it out for our health. Romaine lettuce, on the other hand, can be fed to us almost daily. So, if we like it, that's how often we'll be demanding it, and the humans will have no good excuse not to give it to us!

Tug of war!

Lola! Hey! I wanted that piece!

This is good lettuce!

Romaine lettuce is crisp and delicious. We give it 5/5 stars, and will be demanding it almost daily from now on.

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Spinach?

We received a suggestion on the comments section from Astro, saying we should try spinach. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is the first time we've received a suggestion for a new food to try. If any other readers would like to suggest new foods, we're all ears! Just don't suggest anything that guinea pigs can't eat.

By the way, spinach should only be fed to us 1-2 times per week.

Look at me! I've got a green beard.

Hey! Let me in! I want some more.

Why are you so greedy, Lola? There's plenty for everyone.

Spinach was delicious, and gets 5/5 stars! Thanks for the tip, Astro! Now if only someone had a tip to make Lola more generous with food.

Should I Get Another Guinea Pig?

Thinking about adopting a new pig into your herd? You should think carefully about what will need to change before you adopt a new bundle of furry joy. Here are some things to consider:

Broccoli is the newest member of the herd.

Interactions between us takes interesting new twists and turns

Since guinea pigs are herd animals by nature, throwing a new pig into the mix forces us to reassess our social hierarchy. The battle for top pig begins all over again, so be sure you introduce us carefully and monitor us so the fighting doesn't get too ugly.

You'll need more space (and an extra pigloo)

The number of pigs you have should determine how many square feet our cage should be. Check out the guineapigcages.com handy guide for exact measurements.

Make sure you can handle the extra expenses

You may think that since you already invested in cage, hay, pellets, your water bottle, bedding, etc., that another pig won't be a big deal, but consider that if you have one pig and get a second, your vet bills will double. If you have two and are adding a third, that's triple the vet bills. In our experience, vet bills are always the biggest expense, and can be as little as $20 here and there for nail trims to $80 for check ups each year, to $400 for major surgeries. So just remember that you'll have to put some extra cash aside for your new furry friend. We love the saying, "If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet."

We get a bit louder

Our need to communicate broadens from just chatting with you, the human, to this new pig. Be aware that we will have a lot to say, and we might not stop chatting just because you've gone to sleep at night. 

When Do Guinea Pigs Sleep?

Here are a few things you should know about the sleep habits of guinea pigs:

• Domestic guinea pigs do not have the same sleep habits as our wild cousins and ancestors. We've adapted more to human life than they have. So we'll be up when you're up.
• Some people describe our sleep habits as "on an hour, off an hour," but sensitive to routines. So once we learn that nothing is going on at night time, we'll be less active at night. 
• We tend to wake up at the same time every day and wheek for breakfast, Just think of us as your furry alarm clocks.
• If we wheek in the middle of the night, it could be because we can't sleep due to noise (like from an air conditioner). It could also be because we've learned that wheeking in the middle of the night means extra food.
• Once we get comfortable in your lap, sometimes we can actually fall asleep in it.
• Sometimes we will sleep with our eyes open.

Writing blog posts really tires me out. I think I'll nap now.

Can Guinea Pigs Eat Lychees?

Lychees are listed as a "question food" on the Guinea Pig Hutch food list. However, someone with 14,000 posts on the Guinea Lynx forum said that their piggies love them, so we figured they were safe.

Peel the skin, cut out the pit, and then feed them to us.

Yum!

This is amazing!

Lychees were so good that we fought over who got to lick the lychee juice off the plate. 5/5 stars!


On a side note, after we already tried lychees, we came across another message board post saying they are not safe because they cause "diarrhea or severe digestive problems." If anyone would like to weigh in on this claim, we'd appreciate it. The thought of never eating lychees again upsets us greatly!

Product Review: Oxbow Orchard Grass Hay

At first, we would get annoyed when the humans would forget to reorder more Hayloft hay for us on time. However, we've learned that they always feel guilty and try to make up for it by buying us some new kind of hay to try. Their forgetfulness in the past allowed us to try all the Kaytee brand novelty hays. Now, it's allowing us to try Oxbow Orchard Grass Hay.

Yay! Oxbow!

I like it!

Buffy got bored and went back to the old hay. Oh well. More for me!

Two out of three of us loved it. Buffy liked it at first, but said she preferred western timothy hay instead. We give Oxbow Orchard Grass Hay 4/5 stars.