Beatrice's New Friend

Meet Gertrude!

Gertrude was originally Guinness. Guinness had a piggy friend that passed away recently. Then her owners had to move to a condo that didn't have enough room for Guinness and her paraphernalia, so Guinness was rehomed to a friend of mine that teaches grade 5. Guinness was to be a classroom pet, and was renamed Bugsy. But one of kids in the class had horrible allergies, so Bugsy had to go. My friend knew that I had Beatrice and asked if I was planning on getting Bea a friend. I was, have been talking to a local lady that does small animal rescue and rehoming, and have been waiting on a good match for Beatrice to become available. So Guiness aka Bugsy came to me this afternoon and became Gertrude.

Gertrude is about 3 years old ... and has a bit of a weight problem. She was loved ... really really loved in the way that guinea pigs appreciate most, through food. But her super long coat is in great condition and her nails are nice and short, so I know she was doted on before an unfortunate series of events lead her to me. Gertrude will go on a bit of a diet now, if that is even possible. I guess portioned and measured feedings? Though with two guinea pigs in one cage, I don't know how I will monitor who eats what. And I have a feeling that Gertrude is going to hog all the food for herself. Might end up being Beatrice that goes on the diet!

The piggies had some floor time and a nice treat of mixed greens while we introduced ourselves. Gio and Romeo are perfectly fine with the guinea pigs, and Gertrude took the introductions like a champ. At least Romeo isn't terrified of Gertrude like he was with Beatrice in the beginning. The Shelties have just accepted that I am insane and take the new additions in stride.

In their cage, Gertrude and Beatrice aren't getting along swimmingly just yet. They were happy to eat together on the floor, but in the cage they are trading off teeth chatters and whining. And, so the interweb tells me, these noises are noises of unhappy piggies. Apparently a little bit of animosity is normal with introductions, so hopefully they will sort it all out between them soon. They are currently both resting in their individual hidey-holes, but Gertrude keeps venturing out to check that the food supply is adequate. That draws Beatrice out, and the chattering and whining begins. It has escalated to Gertrude chasing Beatrice around the cage a couple times, but nothing more than that. I have hope for them!

Bea's New Digs

This evening I set to work building Beatrice a larger cage. In all of the reading I've been doing the past week, I have learned that most pet store type cages are much too small for guinea pigs to be truly happy. GuineaPigCages.com is a great website full of really useful information, so I decided I would follow their advice and build what is called a "C&C cage" ... or "Cubes and Coroplast". The cubes portion are those grid squares that you make utility shelves out of ... you know, you've seen them in utility rooms, laundry rooms, or bathrooms. And coroplast is that corrugated plastic used to make signs. I had a stack of the metal grids donated by the doting "grandparents" and found a great deal on coroplast. Little plug here, for anyone in Saskatoon wanting to get plain coroplast for building one of these babies, check out 77 Signs. They were super helpful and I was able to get what I needed same day for less than $30!

GuineaPigCages.com has really great instructions on how to build a C&C cage, so check them out. I'm writing this only because my methods may have deviated slightly from theirs. Take you pick!

Step 1: Gather materials

• Stack of grids and handful of connectors ... I didn't count, so sue me.
  
• Hammer to "gently persuade" the connectors onto the grids
• Pen
• Exacto knife
• Zip ties - of particular importance!
• Tape
  
• Beer
• 2 helpful Shelties

Step 2a: Take a couple of minutes to figure out how the heck the connectors hook onto the grid squares. Once you figure that out, connect the grids to form the perimeter of the cage based on the size guidelines outlined on GuineaPigCages.com.

Step 2b: Smash the connectors with the hammer, sending them flying across the room and scaring the dogs.

Step 2c: Drink beer and repeat step 2b.

Step 2d: Swear profusely, open the window 'cause it's getting really freakin' hot in here! Return to step 2b and continue.



Step 3a: Place the perimeter frame on the coroplast, in doing so watch as half the connectors and grids fall off.

Step 3b: Curse the damned guinea pig, swearing that she better like this cage or she is becoming dog food and the grids are going in the trash.

Step 3c: Get another beer.

Step 4: Remove all the damned connectors and tie the damned thing together with zip ties.


Step 5: Place back on the coroplast and trace the inside of the frame with a pen.

Step 6: Refer to GuineaPigCages.com for instructions on fancy scoring, cutting, folding ... most of which I just winged anyways.



Step 7: Pray to the god of small furries that the frame fits around the coroplast tray.

Step 8: YAY! Celebrate with beer.



Step 9: Realize that the coroplast tray is wedged so tight into the frame that it holds its rectangular nature and you don't even need a bottom to hold things together. Yeah, I planned that all along. Celebrate with beer.

Step 10: Build cubes with one open side ... is that technically still a cube? About 3 should do it. Use them for building a platform to raise the cage off the ground, thus preventing Sheltie-Guinea Pig Cuddling and/or Reindeer Games. Also serve as storage places for guinea pig food, hay, bedding, etc.


Step 11: Line with towels and fleece (YAY for Dollarama!), stock with food, water, hidey thing, and paper tube that is supposedly a good toy for guinea pigs. Sure.



Step 12: Add guinea pig and watch the frivolity!



Turns out Beatrice really does enjoy her new cage. It is MUCH larger than her original cage, and she spent forever exploring her new digs. I think I even witnessed her first popcorning (which is apparently how a guinea pig expressed their happiness ... sorta like Sheltie zoomies?)

Introducing ... Beatrice!

Sheltie Hair presents to you, our new family member ... Beatrice!

Beatrice was a rehome situation that I heard about this past weekend from a friend. Said friend's sister is moving out of town and having to rehome sweet little Beatrice. I have been contemplating the addition of a small furry non-dog beastie for a while now, so the situation was perfect!

Beatrice is my first guinea pig, so she will likely teach me a lot. But she is super sweet and I'm sure will be a great teacher.

We did the initial meet-n-greet between Bea and the boys, and she handled it VERY well!

Romeo is a little bit terrified of her ...


But her and Gio really seemed to hit it off! Gio is completely fascinated by her, and she seems politely curious about him as well. Gio's already caught on that he has to be in a "down" if he wants to sniff at her, and Bea has started to learn that Gio's tail is a GREAT place to rustle around in.



Romeo will take a little longer to come around, but it will come, I am sure.

For now, Bea just has a small cage, so I will have to work on upgrading her living conditions. Though with how well the introductions went tonight, supervised floor time should be a breeze!

I really don't know much of anything about guinea pigs, so I've been doing a lot of reading online and asking around to friends. If anyone has any idea what sort (breed?) of guinea pig Bea might be, that would be really cool to know!