boy or girl?

hey everyone
So I've had Esther and Xerxes for about 3 or 4 months now and i am pretty sure that Esther is a boy, i wanted to breed them but they haven't done anything.... i'll have to get her professionally checked :-/
so if she is a boy his name will be either Ezekiel or hmmmm i don't know maybe Marvin hehe that would be cute!.... if you have any suggestions please comment!

i have been trying to clean both cages every other day but i guess i am just not disciplined yet, but i find that when you imagine yourself in your guinea pigs shoes (hypothetically speaking) you would not want to be stepping in your own poo all day :p
i also turn on the radio because doing things with music on is much more fun than doing it in silence but it depends on what you prefer.

i noticed a big knot in Esther/Ezekiel/? 's hair yesterday evening when i was cleaning their cages so i am going to try and cut that out later, they do need their nails trimmed as well... so i'll just have to spend a while grooming them, i'm sure carla and delilah need a good bath and a nail trim as well because if a guinea pigs nails get to long then it will be very hard for them to walk.
did you know that the longest living guinea pig was 14 years, 10.5 months.! it's owner must have taken very good care of it!

fruits and veggies for your guinea pigs

hey everyone! well if you love your guinea pigs, like me :), you would know that guinea pigs love fruits and veggies!
today I was thinking, "it takes a long time to prepare food for my guinea pigs!" (I wash it and chop it up) so I had an idea! why not prepare the food ahead of time so that I can just grab it and go when I feed them? I decided to plan ahead and put their fruits and veggies in Ziploc bags in the fridge! guinea pigs need at least 1-2 cups of fruits and veggies a day (I give it to them every other day) I would normally use romaine lettuce and sometimes apples, but this is what I had today...

                                                          I started with celery....

                                      I took all the sticks off of the stalk and washed each one.
                           we get organic fruits and veggies so they some times have dirt on them

                                                   I put a piece on a cutting board

                                                                checked it for bad spots

                                                      I cut of the bad parts (brown yucky stuff)
                                         and sliced it in half so that it would fit in the Ziploc bags

 

 

                      I then labeled the bags with my guinea pigs names (this is optional, I just did it because I didn't want my family members to use their food)

                                             then I did the same thing with the carrots
                                 checked them for bad spots and sliced them in half

 I usually cut off 1 carrot slice for each guinea pig, so they can munch on them while I clean their cages

 

   and it is very important that guinea pigs get their vitamin C and oranges are full of it! so I cut the orange in half and then in fourths and divided them up into the Ziploc bags.

and here they are finished!

thank you for reading!

please comment and tell me if you tried it and if it worked for you!

I hope this makes taking care of your guinea pigs much easier :)

These are some things that most people think are good for Guinea Pigs, But I am here to tell You they are not!
Have you ever thought "Gee, it would be fun to take My Guinea Pig for a walk"? Well I must admit, I have, its not a good idea. Especially if You were going to put Your Guinea Pig in a harness, You know the cute ones that come in different colors that have a picture of a guinea pig on them? those are extremely bad for Your Guinea Pigs spine and can result in serious injury! A much safer alternative for exercising your little darling is getting a playpen for either inside or out (be sure that if its outside its not in to much sun and that it is at least 70f degrees) something else that can damage a guinea pigs spine is those little run around balls, i mean can you imagine being trapped in a little plastic ball and keep getting your fingers stuck in the air holes? i can, and i would not be happy, especially if i kept running into things or a cat was trying to chase me. and plus a Guinea Pigs spine is built differently than a hamsters, so lets just let hamsters use those run around balls (again i strongly recommend a playpen). Another thing that some people mistake is good for guinea pigs is wire flooring, "jitters" i mean if its covered with bedding or hey its perfectly safe right? wrong! guinea pigs feet are very sensitive and small so their feet can get blisters and are so delicate that they could just slip through the little holes and they could either get stuck or break a bone! so it is a much better idea to use a plastic floor with a thick layer of bedding.and finally different kinds of seeds and/or nuts, not sure what the nutritional value is in these but i think nuts are for squirrels and hamsters and my guinea pigs just don't like them! and I'm sure your guinea pig would much rather have a nice juicy carrot or a fresh piece of romaine lettuce, yum! so the morale of this story is if it has a guinea pig advertized on it it doesn't mean that it safe for your sweet cavy.
thank you so much for reading! i hope you found it helpful and/or useful information, please tell me what you think and if you liked it please share with your friends!

how can i make my guinea pig's cage more fun?

what are ways to make my Guinea Pig's cage more fun? Well I'll tell you! here is 7 things that will make your guinea pig's cage more enjoyable!

1. stuffed animals - stuffed animals are not only soft and fun to snuggle with, but they can be very comforting to a guinea pig if you have just brought him/her home, especially young guinea pigs who are leaving their mother for the first time :) you can find super cheap stuffed animals at thrift stores like goodwill.

2. tunnels - tunnels are super fun for guinea pigs of all ages! guinea pigs are very curious and love to explore! making tunnels perfect for them :) this is just a thin cardboard box that i cut so that they could fit through. you can also buy plumbing tubes (that are big enough for them to fit through) those work great as well, or if you don't have the money, oat meal containers and milk or orange juice cartons are great.

3. hay racks - hay racks are perfect for, of course, hay! they are great to keep the hay off of the ground so it doesn't get soaked with urine(which is VERY unhealthy for your guinea pigs). i just used a plastic Ziploc container and cut the top off, and attached it to the outside of the cage with string.(sorry its a bit blurry :p)

4. veggie ball - ( i think that's what its called) veggie balls are awesome! all you do is put the fruits and veggies in the ball and hang it up in the cage! and your guinea pigs will love the challenge of trying to get the veggies out :)

5. hiding houses - hiding houses are one of the best things you could have in a guinea pig cage, they provide a safe place for the guinea pigs to hide and (if they are made of card board) they LOVE to chew on them.

you can also get pigloos but they are pretty expensive and not eco friendly :p

6. salt licks - guinea pigs love salt licks! mine aren't to interested in it at the moment but i know alot of guinea pigs love them :)

7. things to chew - guinea pigs teeth are constantly growing so they need lots of hard stuff to chew on so they can ware them down. i haven't opened this yet because i am saving it for when my 3 story cage is done, but i got it from petsmart on sale and its filled with little treats, and it is %100 edible!



well thats 7 things to liven up your guinea pig's cage. i hope you got some great ideas! please comment! share! follow! request! ask questions! and i will reply to you as soon as i can!
thanks for reading!

How to build a Super Cavy Mansion!

Here I will show You the supplies I am using to build my Guinea Pig cages.

i was watching videos on YouTube about guinea pigs and cool cages the other day, and i came across a video of a 3 story mansion that someone built for their guinea pigs! and i decided to make one (actually two) for my guinea pigs!
 so i have gathered some supplies......

here is Esther and Xerxees' current cage, its 2'x3', (sorry its a bit dirty :) Carla and Delilah's cage is about the same size. so what I'm going to do is add 2 more levels on top of this cage (and C & D's cage)
                                       

this is a 2x3 rectangle of Coroplast or you might know it as correx my dad helped me score along the edges so i could fold them up, so the guinea pigs wouldn't flick any bedding out the edges. and as you can see it is a smooth solid bottom so the guinea pigs wont hurt their feet, as they would on wire floors.

this is a medal square normally used for shelving but it works great as edges for guinea pig cages. im not sure exactly how big it is but, its tall enough that they wont be able to climb over it, and they cant fit through the squares.

and finally cable ties, or you may know them as zip ties. these work great for holding the cage together and they are easy to attach :)

well thats all i have for today but i will be posting more pics soon about the perfect cage accessories for your guinea pig! thank you so much for reading! please feel free to comment, ask questions or request articles :) i will reply as soon as i can!
 

                                        Here is Xerxees (pronounced zirc-zees), 4 months old

                                                        Here is Esther, 4 months old :)

Two of My, four, Guinea Pigs :)

                                                    

                                                                   Carla, 3 1/2 years old

                                                               Delilah, 2 1/2 years old   
                                     
                                               i'll post pics of my two other little ones soon :)