I Like Thursday: Guinea Pigs

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I like guinea pigs.  (If you haven't, you'll figure it out from all the links and videos I have in this post!)

My mom was allergic to cats; Dad disliked dogs.  So I was never going to have a "normal" pet when I was a kid.  The pocket pets were all cute and I thought rabbits were neat - but guinea pigs talk to you.  It was the first thing I liked about guinea pigs, and from that point I was sold.

I like that they have conversations.  Boy, can they talk!  They burble, they complain, they speak their mind.  Eclair once told the entire vet's office at the top of her lungs that she was being manhandled and it wasn't to her liking.  Here's a few of the sounds I've captured over the years:

I like watching guinea pig antics during floor time.  They're funny.  Eclair and Teddi would zoom through the living room at top speed (guinea pigs are fast!).  Abercrombie would hop all around; she'd get so excited she'd run headfirst into the walls.  I was half afraid she'd hurt herself or she was having fits - but seriously happy guinea pigs will do that.

I especially liked watching Bertie run laps and do doughnuts.

Bad guinea pigs get threatened with the stew pot.
(It had absolutely no effect on these three.)

I like that they're bad.  And when I say bad, I mean that there is an amazing amount of opinion, contrariness and naughtiness wrapped up in small packages.  It's embarrassing to lose a battle of wills against a little guinea pig.  Seriously.  (You can follow the saga of Bertie and her Hay Rack in order here:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  People were rooting for her, not me.)

But I like that they have enough personality to cause the consternation in the first place.  Bertie was certainly the most opinionated guinea pig I had; Abercrombie was probably the most devious.  Pinniped was a determined little escape artist: 

I swear the ones that cause the most trouble are my favorites.

Willow, the non-stop flirt

I like their different personalities.  Cannoli was always on the go; she was quite bouncy when she was young.  Athena would go off like a car alarm if you picked her up, but loved to be held.  Pinniped's nose never stopped moving.  Willow always flirted with everyone. 

I like interacting with them.  Eclair would follow me around the house.  Wedgwood sits with me and converses; it's hard to get a word in edgewise.  Boadicea comes to the edge of the cage just so I can reach in and pat her.

I like pig trains.  You need at least three pigs for a proper train.  I see them sometimes at the pignic.  Or like this one, here.

Oh - pignics.  I like pignics:  it's a picnic with guinea pigs.  Take a large grassy area, add about 50 guinea pigs and their caretakers and mix for a few hours.  Maybe add a costume contest.  Sunshine, pigs, goofiness.  Hard to not like that.  So much so that I've been organizing one for over 10 years.

I like their colors.  Teddi was a lilac - her fur was a nearly purplish gray.  Very striking.  I'm drawn to pigs that have multiple colors, like Bertie or Boadicea.  I'm a sucker for agoutis - I was so excited to adopt Wedgwood with her silver ticked fur.

And I like all the different hairstyles.  My first guinea pigs were all smooth haired.  I never thought I'd like Abyssinians because their fur is in all the wrong directions.  After having four of them, I find I miss the bed-headed look.  Teddies weren't a favorite either, with their wiry fur - until Cannoli won me over.

I like my guinea pig slate.  My sister made it for the aunt who introduced me to the wonders of guinea  pigs.  She moved, no longer had a place to hang it, and it came to me.  Makes me happy to see it when I return home.

Are you still reading?  I'm impressed - this was a marathon post.  I hope you enjoyed some of what I like about guinea pigs.  Be sure to check out some of the other I Like Thursday posts over at Not Afraid of Color.