Meet Boadicea

Say hi to Boadicea. 

It's pronounced Boe-di-see-ah, rather than the more common Boo-di-kah (Boudica).  Why?  Well, at some point I was told that's the proper way to pronounce the name.  More importantly Boadicea is a bodacious little rodent.

The shelter had very little info on her, since she had been transferred from another shelter.  I like to know my adoptee's background (age, environment, health).  I contacted the previous shelter and found a couple of people that remembered her background.

Boadicea's records indicate she's about a year and a half old.  She's been in shelters since mid-November.  Her original home had children.  She was surrendered with another sow (but not a cagemate), due to allergies.  The other sow had been adopted before Boadicea was transferred to Boston.

Boadicea is definitely a people-pig.  When she's picked up, the nose goes nearly as much as Pinniped's.  She settles quickly when I sit with her.  When we met at the shelter, Boadicea was more curious about me than Cannoli.  She's inquisitive and a taste tester (she startled me when I wasn't looking by taste-testing my fingers!).  Every time she's in a new environment, she immediately starts investigating her surroundings.

Boadicea is good with Cannoli, too.  They've been together for only a week; we'll see how it goes in the long run.  So far, they explore the floor together.  They spend plenty of time doing their own thing in the cage, but I have occasionally found them sleeping within close proximity to each other.  They eat well together (not too much food stealing).  Boadicea knows what to do with leafy greens, but has been suspicious about melon and bell pepper and thinks that cilantro smells terrible and cannot be eaten.  Noli will have to teach her that it's all good to eat.  Boadicea may be a people-pig, but she seems quite happy with her own piggy-kind as well.

I've never had a guinea pig adjust to a new home like Boadicea.  Usually it's weeks or months of pig-panic whenever you walk by the cage.  Not Boadicea.  She's just as likely to come over and check me out as Cannoli.  I put her on the floor, there's no sitting in fear or confusion (like Cannoli); it's all "ooh, let's see what's over here!"  She's going to be trouble - I've already had to set up barricades to keep her from under some of the furniture.

Boadicea seems to be settling in really well!  If I didn't know better, one would think Noli was the new pig in the house.