Wilber and Grady

[Renonvsparky]

Two new additions to our guinea pig family. Wilber and Grady are 5 weeks old. I got them from Petco. Before I get scolded for the whole rescue vs pet store thing, I didn't intend to get guinea pigs when I went there for other supplies, but when you see them you'll understand why.

Grady


Wilber

I've been watching the humane society for piggies in need, but so far there have only been a couple of females which a) I can't adopt and b) are gone within a day. There was a one month old little boy in Carson City I tried to adopt, but he was gone in under an hour. I wasn't really looking to expand the herd, but things don't always go as planned.

I saw Grady first and as you can see, he's an Abby. Different color than Scruffy, but he's a lot like him in a lot of other ways. All I could think of was someone who doesn't know what having a guinea pig entails, buys him for their kid and once they figure it out Grady ends up going through a lot before winding up in rescue or worse. Since he and Wilber are together, I couldn't just get Grady and leave Wilber by himself.

Both are healthy but being so little, they're pretty jumpy. We're working on that.

[ItsaZoo]

I'm so happy for you, but I just have to giggle a bit. You really are a soft touch when it comes to those sweet guinea pig faces! I know they will come to realize how lucky they are. And I'm sure you checked that they are truly the same gender since you have so much experience with these babies! I can't wait to see more pictures and hear about all the cute things they do!

I swear if I had room I would be doing the same thing. Love little critters!

[Renonvsparky]

Yes. Both boys. Both are healthy too. No runny noses, watery eyes. No issues with their fur, skin, feet, nails or teeth. Had to do some more rearranging to accommodate adding back the other cage but it worked out well. New, sturdier furniture with lots of shelf space to put them on and store supplies. It's actually a lot more efficient and no more cramming blankets under the coffee table the cages were sitting on.

They are so tiny. I had forgotten what it was like to handle the little ones. My smallest, Gilligan looks huge next to these guys. Gilligan isn't exactly small though. He's as big as Oreo now and his weight is up to 2.3 lbs. He was about 1.8 lbs when I first got him. I also have to cut the veggies up a little bit smaller for Wilber and Grady. Luckily the bale of hay I got this time has a lot of fine pieces in it for them as well. They eat a lot of it. I check on them very often and they're usually always nibbling on it. I expect they'll grow pretty quickly. I'll get more pictures of them once they get over being so skiddish.

[Bookfan]

!!!Excitement!!! They're just adorable. We've adopted 2 pigs in the last 9 mos. and I know how quickly they get adopted from the Humane Society. It took several tries each before we were able to adopt Vicky & Emelia. Babies are so soft and so fast. It's hard to hang onto them.

I understand how you feel about getting pigs from Petco with people not knowing how to care for pigs & how much work it is. Really, the same goes for adopted pigs. I always worry about that, but there's no end. You can't adopt every piggy in the world.

I'm looking forward to stories.

[Renonvsparky]

It was the Abby factor. Since I lost BJ I've been thinking about Scruffy and wanting another Abby more than I have been lately. I saw Grady and despite all of my second guessing about getting guinea pigs from pet stores, I wasn't able to resist. I didn't want to leave Wilber alone nor did I want Grady to be by himself in the cage at home, which is why I got them both.

Those guinea pigs need loving homes just as much as the ones at the humane society. I will always, always, always adopt pigs from rescue before buying them from Petco but I won't completely eliminate the possibility if the conditions are right as they were with Grady and Wilber.

[daisymay]

Handsome and very cute boys! Will look forward to hearing more about them as they start their lucky journey with you!

[Bookfan]

Our three sweetest pigs were Abbys.

[Renonvsparky]

So it would seem that I have another loud wheaker. I'm very happy about that since I love the sound. Grady has such a big wheak for a little guy. My guess is that he picked that up from Gilligan. As for Wilber, he's still shy and scared, but he's getting there. They both know when it's veggie time though. Didn't take them long to figure that much out.

[ItsaZoo]

They must have been somewhat socialized if they're already looking forward to veggies and wheeking their commands. Or you have a couple of smarty pigs!

[Renonvsparky]

It took about a week for them to start doing this. If memory serves it was about the same for the others, give or take a couple of days. They still get apprehensive about being picked up, but it is getting better.

[Renonvsparky]

Had to separate Wilber and Grady until I could have the vet verify Wilber's gender. Grady took to seriously mounting him and it had me worried. All of my paired boars mount for dominance, but it is usually just a quick thing that ends right away. This time it looked like a serious attempt at mating. After I made sure they were both boys, I put them back together.

I didn't just put them back in the cage together and let them have at each other though. I cleaned their cage thoroughly, replaced the bedding pellets and got them some brand new fleece that had no other guinea pig scents. I also took out the house with only one opening and put two tunnels in so they could both have one. Grady did go after Wilber again, but it was a lot less agressive and he didn't carry on with it for long. They're getting along just fine now. They lay together and share the food equally.

They both will come up to take treats from me. They like to graze outside too, although I only take them out sparingly and for a few minutes at a time. They'll get more grass time when they get a little bigger and their little bellies get used to the wild grass. I pick some and feed it to them inside a little at a time. They've picked up foraging very nicely. I spread their pellets around for them to find like the rest of the piggies and they have no difficulty foraging them up. They're making very good progress.

[Lynx]

Sounds like you are doing the right things to give them a chance to get along! I hope they continue to make good progress!