The GirlAlive Blog

I finally got my new computer, to replace the one that was stolen.  It is bigger and kind of nicer than my old one, but I'm still missing all my old stuff.  Plus, it came with Vista and took three days to get connected to the wireless network.  There's a bug in Vista that makes it unable to properly assign an IP address, so you have to make one up and assign it manually.  And Microsoft absolutely will not admit that this bug exists.  But the important thing is that I found a workaround.

Had to buy a new hamster cage.  Jayne chewed a hole in the side of the old cage.  There's a new pet store in town, exactly where the old one was, with the same staff and everything.  Which is weird.  But the good part is that their prices are lower now.  The old pet store had tiny hamster cages for about £35.  The new one had the same cage for £15.  I even went all out and got the big two-level cage for £22.  Jayne is now happily climbing the walls, and then falling on her head over and over in a new cage.

Last night Fudge (who is a guinea pig) was either having a weird dream or a seizure.  His butt and hind legs were twitching all over and his eyes were rolling around.  Then he woke up and seemed fine.  My theory is that he was dreaming about humping Elvis.  He misses his old roommate, but Elvis is happier in the other cage, not being humped all day.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I haven't posted any pictures of my guinea pigs for quite a long time.  So here are some pictures I took last night, since I finally have fresh batteries for my camera.

Fudge, reclining:

Elvis

Spike, begging for treats:

Spike and Elvis, getting along just fine:

I still miss Homer like crazy.  He was my little buddy.  But as you can see, our remaining piggies are getting along quite well.  Things are pretty peaceful in the piggy corner these days.  Other than Fudge, who squeaks a lot because he misses humping Elvis all day long.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is Jayne.  She is very cute.  So far no biting.  She's friendly but nervous.  She loves to dig and poop.  She poops more than any other hamster I've ever had.  She has pooped on me more in two days than Binky did in his entire life.

So that's the newest hamster in our collection.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our new hamster Jayne is very shy and nervous, which is totally normal for any new pet.  A while ago, something startled her and she ran into her little house and stayed there motionless for about half an hour.  Until I put on an MP3 of "Pork and Beans" by Weezer.  Then she came out of her house and started trying to climb up the walls.  After that, I wasn't playing any music for a while and she just kind of sat around and nibbled at some food.  Then I put on the early demo version of "Buddy Holly" from Rivers Cuomo's solo album, and she started running in the wheel like a fluffy little lunatic.  I've been playing more Weezer music since then, and I've never seen a hamster so active during the day.

So our new hamster likes Weezer.  Good thing, cause whether she likes it or not, she'll probably be hearing a lot of Weezer around here.  The other rodents don't seem to have strong feelings one way or another, although Spike does like The Beach Boys and The Monkees

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have another hamster.  She's a syrian.  Her name is Jayne.  She is orangey colored.  (No pictures yet cause she's still scared and hiding.)

Um.  Yeah.  Now we have three hamsters.  The coffee table is now being called the hamster table.  Cause that's where the three hamster cages are lined up. 

How did we end up with yet another hamster?  With Homer dying and me being homesick and everything I was kind of depressed.  We did inventory and decided that with only three guinea pigs, we could afford another hamster. 

I can't help it.  I like hamsters.

If we had a big enough cage, we would have come home with degus.  But we don't have a cage big enough for two, and they're too social to live alone.  So we're sticking to the plan to get degus once we're down to only one cage of guinea pigs.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday night, the hamsters were fighting.  They've always fought a little.  It would usually be a little squeaky girlfight, and then they'd run to separate corners of the cage and it would be over.  But Thursday they just kept going after each other.  We left them overnight and in the morning, they were still fighting.  Or more accurately, Dru was chasing and attacking Fred.  I examined Fred and found that her tail had been chewed to bits and there was a fresh wound inside one ear, and there was evidence of a few bites and chomps on her sides and back.  Time to separate the hamsters.

Neil has Friday afternoons off, so I took Fred out of the cage and put her in the carrier with a makeshift food and water bowl.  Then I met Neil at the pet store in the town center and got a small plastic aquarium, wheel, and food bowl and water bottle, and I set up a second hamster cage for Dru.  Since Dru was being mean, she gets the smaller cage.  Fred is happily stuffing her cheek pouches in the big cage, while her wounds heal.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the living room Spike was a bit quiet and depressed since Homer died.  We decided to put Elvis in Spike's cage to see if they can get along.  Fudge is okay on his own because he spends all his time humping and terrorizing Elvis anyway.  

So far Spike and Elvis are doing better than expected.  Elvis has spent all morning humping Spike, but there haven't been any fights yet.  And at least Spike is getting more exercise, as he's being chased around the cage by Elvis.  

In the other cage, Fudge is lonely.  And he won't let us forget it.  He's been squeaking for attention ever since Elvis left.  Fudge is a little like a kid with ADHD, constantly squeaking "Lookitmelookitmelookitme!"

Ah, the joys of rodent ownership.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to the dentist this morning for my stupid broken tooth.  Apparently, here's the deal: the tooth was crooked after I got my braces off, and that put pressure on one point of it.  That made it crack a little, and all kinds of foul germs got into the tooth, around the filling that used to be in it.  So it rotted from the inside, and then fell apart when I was eating a crumpet.

The dentist said that my options are root canal or extraction.  Neither of those sound particularly fun.  I chose extraction because then I'm guaranteed never to have a problem with that tooth again.  Plus, the phrase "root canal" makes me want to scream and cry.

I've got an appointment for next week for the extraction, and I also need a filling in the adjacent tooth.

After the dentist, I went to the pet store to see if I could find any toys to amuse a Spike guinea pig, who is now living alone.  I found a little treat dispenser ball that I think he'll like.  There was also an adorable baby guinea pig that I totally wanted, but I don't want to move any new piggies in until we're sure Spike didn't catch anything from Homer.

We're hoping to move Elvis into Spike's cage in a few weeks.   Fudgie is a little terror and never stops humping Elvis, so it would be best if Fudgie lived alone.  Then we wouldn't have to worry so much about Spike being lonely.  If that doesn't work, we'll think about getting a baby piggy to move in with Spike. 

I failed to mention before that when Homer died, it was to a great extent the vet's fault.  I think he would have died young regardless, but the vet made it faster and more painful by injecting Homer with an antibiotic that is toxic to guinea pigs.  I'm a little pissed about that, and I won't be going back to that vet.  I found a small animal hospital nearby that has rodent specialists.  I'll be taking them there in the future.  (The daughter of one of my former co-workers who hates me works for the vet that killed Homer.  So I'm not sure how accidental the poisoning was.)

The biggest miracle with Homer's illness and death was in my allergies.  I'm allergic to guinea pigs.  I get a rash from handling them, and if I hold them too close to my face I get an asthma attack.  I handled Homer almost all day every day for about three days, and I never got a rash.  Five minutes with Elvis, and I've got hives.  But for the last week of his life, I wasn't allergic to Homer.  It may have just been some chemical changes in him caused by his illness, but whatever it was, it was good that I was able to hold him and feed him without getting sick.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since Homer died, we've had to spend extra time with the other guinea pigs to make sure none of them caught Homer's infection.  Especially Spike. 

Spikey has been fine.  He's been eating okay and pooping up a storm.  Elvis and Fudge are fine too.  As normal as they ever were.  

Fudge is irritating.  Yesterday we had to clip his nails because on the front paws they're curling around a little.  I clipped his back paws with no problem, but the front paws are always harder.  Neil held him while I did the clipping.  Right at the start, Fudge latched onto the diamond on my engagement ring and wouldn't let go.  When he got tired of that, I turned the ring around so he couldn't grab it.  So he latched onto my finger instead.  

I have two vampire-style puncture wounds in the side of my finger because Fudge latched on and wouldn't let go.  

I saw a documentary about a scientist who was trying to say that great white sharks aren't dangerous, and you shouldn't be afraid of them.  He's a moron.  Sharks eat meat, and people are made of meat.  Animals can't be trusted.  Fudge is a vegetarian, and he still tried to eat my finger.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 03:56 PM | Permalink

Just after I moved to Scotland I begged my husband to let me get some guinea pigs. I wanted to get females, but there was a bad illness going around among UK guinea pigs at the time, and no breeders could afford to sell any of their females, so only males were available. We got two male piggies and Neil wanted to name the black one with the white spot on his head Spike, after the gremlin who was black with a white spot in the movie “Gremlins.” I agreed because I'm a big Buffy fan. I was left to pick a name for the other one: the brindle colored crested with the little white spot in his crest. I named him Homestar Runner.

Within a week we were calling him Homer because it fit his laid-back personality so well. He was not dumb like Homer Simpson. Never make that mistake. He was a clever devious little piggy. When they were little, Spike and Homer were like Pinky and the Brain, and Homer was the Brain. The first week that we had them, Homer peed on both of us several times, but never uttered the tiniest squeak. Meanwhile Spike never stopped squeaking. So for a while we called them Squeaky and Leaky.

Homer grew to a weight of a little over a kilo by the time he was full grown. He was the chubby one in the cage. We called him Homer-Chunk. He was a picky eater and a bit of a princess. He wouldn't eat anything until his royal food taster (Spikey) tried it first. He still never squeaked.

In November of 2007, when Homer was about 2 years old, he started losing weight. We brought him to the vet and they said he wasn't diabetic, and didn't look unhealthy, but they couldn't rule out heart, liver or kidney problems. He drank more water than two normal piggies, so I suspect it may have been kidney problems. But as long as he was healthy and happy we just treated him like all the other piggies and gave him attention and treats and playtime.

He stayed thin, but mostly healthy until last week. He caught a respiratory infection. He was treated with antibiotics, but his already weak system couldn't handle them, and the treatment killed him before the illness could.

I will miss Homer so much. I will always remember how he used to beg for fenugreek treats and tug on my shirt to let me know when he had to pee. He was a friendly and sweet piggy. Everyone who met him loved him. I just wish we could have had more time with him.

I love you and I'll miss you Homer.  As I'm writing this, the song playing is "Closing Down" by Poor Old Lu,  I think there might be more crying.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 10:27 AM | Permalink

I brought Homer back into the vet this morning.  His lungs sound pretty good, and his runny nose is getting better.  The problem is that he still won't eat.  He's maybe been drinking on his own a little, but he hasn't eaten anything other than the pellet sludge I've been syringing into him as much as I can.  And now he's even resisting that.  He's holding it in his mouth and refusing to swallow.

On Friday afternoon, Spike and Homer were in the crate on the couch while Neil cleaned their cage.  Neil put the vegetables for their dinner on the couch next to them, and I had to spend the whole time pulling Homer off the side of the crate, where he was trying to climb out and get to the veggies.  Then on Saturday, he started getting sick.  

Homer is sitting in the same crate he was in on Friday.  In only a few days he's sitting in the same place, and instead of scolding him to stop trying to steal the food, I'm crying and begging him to eat something.  I can't get him to eat, and he was too skinny before he got sick.

I don't think he's going to live much longer.

I'm going to have to warn Elvis that he only has a year to live too.  Let me explain.

When I was a kid my brother and I had three guinea pigs.  Mine were Emma and Oreo.  My brother's was Kate.  I mean, we both took care of all of them, but he named Kate and I named the other two, so there was some posession there.  Emma died suddenly of undetermined causes when she was two and a half.  Oreo had to be put to sleep from a bad tumor when she was two and a half.  Homer is two and a half.

I named Homer and Elvis.  My husband named Spike and Fudge.  Elvis only has a year to live cause he's about one and a half, but Spike and Fudge will probably be fine for some time.  They're not really mine.  It's just my guinea pigs that always die way too young.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 01:49 PM | Permalink

I got Homer in to the vet this morning.  They said his breathing doesn't sound too deadly bad.  Catching it quickly and giving him antibiotics right away might have saved his life.  We'll see.  They gave him an antibiotic injection so I don't have to force any more baytril into him today.

The instructions for the moment are to try to keep his boogey nose clean, force feed him if he isn't eating, and make sure he gets plenty of water.  I have to bring him back in tomorrow to get checked again, and maybe get another shot.  The vet and I are being fairly aggressive with it because even though it just looks like Homer has a cold, this kind of thing is deadly to wee little rodents.

So I have to feed him about every hour, and give him water even more often.  Husband is going to pick up some baby food to give him a little more variety in his force feeds.  Mushy guinea pig pellets are bound to get a little old. 

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 10:44 AM | Permalink

My favorite guinea pig Homer is sick again.  This time it's kind of bad.  He's been lethargic for a few days, just sitting in the corner with his fur all puffed out.  Last night he didn't even move when I put in the evening food.  He usually begs for treats and for the third night in a row he barely moved.  I picked him up and listened to his breathing.  His lungs are making a bad noise now.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night in a complete panic.  I was sure that Homer was dead.  My husband had to go downstairs and check on him before I could get back to sleep.   We gave him some antibiotics we had left from a few months ago when he was sick.  Hopefully, he'll hang on until I can get him to the vet to get him some more medicine.  It's just a respiratory infection, but respiratory infections kill guinea pigs, and pretty quickly.

Poor little guy looks kinda miserable.  The good thing is that he's been eating okay.  If I get him to the vet tomorrow morning he's got a good chance of recovery.  It seems silly to ask you to pray for my guinea pig, but he's such a sweet little piggy.  I hate seeing him sick and I'd hate to lose him so young.  He isn't even three years old yet.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 01:44 PM | Permalink

A while ago I bought myself a drop spindle.  It's a clever technology that been used for a few thousand years to make thread and yarn.  I also bought myself a big bag of random wool bits from Etsy.  After a large amount of spinning and pulling and plying, I now have a huge weird callous on my right index finger, and this bunch of yarn:

It's all squishy and pretty and crazy.  I'm not sure what I'm going to knit with it.  

Also, I went to a party last week and on the way home I saw a hedgehog on the sidewalk, just waddling along.  It was so cute!  I'd consider getting a hedgehog for a pet, but I don't like pets that eat meat.  They tend to have stinky poop.  I like my little vegetarian hamsters and vegan guinea pigs. 

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 09:16 AM | Permalink

Last December you may recall that we had some issues with our guinea pig, Homer.  He was losing weight and generally a bit unwell.  After visits to the vet we found that it was a combination of things.  He was slightly ill, and he didn't like the brand of food we were serving.  We spent most of December desperately trying to get him to eat.

In the middle of all this trying to get Homer to eat, we found a new treat in the "natural" section of the pet store.  They are called Fenugreek Crunchies.  They're made of fenugreek and corn and nothing else.  The package said "Stimulates appetite", and I read online that fenugreek lowers blood sugar and makes you hungry.  So we bought a bag.

From the time we got Homer, he has been shy, afraid of people, and not overly interested in food.  He also never squeaked.  My brother was shocked and asked if Homer was okay when he met him because he was just so quiet.  His roommate Spike is a neverending squeak machine, but Homer barely uttered a peep.  Until recently.

From the first time we gave him a Fenugreek Crunchie, he snatched it out of our fingers and chomped it down quickly, then came back begging for more.  Anytime he sees anyone in the room get up to walk around, he puts his paws up at the front of the cage, begging for treats.  And late in the day, near dinner time, Homer lets loose the most ear-piercing squeal you've ever heard, letting everyone know that it has been far too long since his last Fenugreek Crunchie, and he's jonesing for a fix.

Last night I went to the guinea pig cages to move a plastic bag that Fudge had decided must be a tasty snack.  After I moved the bag out of Fudgie's reach, I gave Homer a treat.  Then I re-stocked their hay and pellets and by the time I was done with that, Homer was begging for another treat.  Instead of giving him another one, I picked him up to play with him for a minute.  He hates that.  After I put him back in the cage, I offered him another treat.  It was the first time I ever saw him hesitate about a fenugreek treat.  His little brain was saying, "There's a treat, but maybe it's a trick and she's gonna pick me up again.  But I want the treat.  But I don't want to get picked up again.  Uuhhhgggg!  Don't know what to do!"  I left the treat in the food bowl before his little furry head exploded.

The rest of the piggies couldn't care less about the fenugreek treats, but Homer is addicted.  He's a fluffy brown junkie.  I hate to think what will happen if the pet store ever stops stocking those things.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 10:19 AM | Permalink

We bought our hamsters a couple months ago, and we were told that they were boys.  I was looking around the internet yesterday and I found pictures of male Chinese dwarf hamsters.  They all have scrotums the size of their heads.  Not just noticable, but disturbingly huge. 

I looked over at my hamsters.  There is nary a testicle to be found.  They're both pretty well fully grown, and completely nutless.  I looked in my dwarf hamster book and found pictures of hamster genitals.  Ours looked quite a lot like the "female" picture.  

So Nobby and Karot need new names.  They are apparently girls, so we're giving them new girl names.  And we have the difficult pronoun shift of getting used to saying, "she's so cute" instead of "he's so cute".   

Karot, the brown one, will now be known as Drusilla, or Dru.  Nobby, the white one will now be known as Fred, which is short for Winnifred.  So instead of hamster boys named Nobby and Karot we now have hamster girls named Dru and Fred.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 12:54 PM | Permalink

The last few days have been full of rodent urine for me and my husband.  Neil takes care of the guinea pigs because I'm allergic to them.  Just today Elvis peed on him.  I take care of the hamsters, and Nobby pees on me as a hobby.  Several times a week.  I think I have the better deal because hamsters have much smaller bladders.

Have I mentioned that I hate my job?  I requested a temporary reduction in work hours, and my boss had, according to policy, 21 days to respond.  It's been 23 days.  24 on Monday.  So that's one more for the checklist of reasons for filing a grievance when they finally reject my request. 

My job is boring.  I hate maternity coding.  My boss thinks she's a kindergarten teacher.  The person "in charge" of maternity has the IQ of a mushroom.  I very much need a new job.

I've sent in applications and resumes and stuff all over town.  Most of them never even bother replying.  I think I'm unemployable.  I have a history degree.  What can that get me?  You'd think maybe one of the dozens of museum jobs I've applied for.  But no.  I have experience as a software tester and an HTML writer.  But it was a couple years ago so it doesn't count.  I'm forever branded as "medical paperwork girl".  I hate medical paperwork.  I hate working with people who are glad to have worked their way up into medical paperwork.  

The only good news I have at the moment, other than the comedy of my husband being peed on by Elvis, is that I finally got plane tickets to go back to visit my family in the US.  I haven't been in the US in years.  I miss Americans.  I miss people with morals and being able to afford to eat in a restaurant.  I miss root beer.  I want to go home.  Too bad I don't really have one.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got some pictures of the new hamsters.  They're not great because they are sneaky and tricksy little guys. 

First, two pictures of Carot in the bowl.  (We've decided to change the spelling of his name to Carot so that all of our pets have 5-letter names.  Yes, we're weird.)

Now a couple pictures of Nobby.  You can see that Nobby has a stumpy tail.  Chinese dwarf hamsters are supposed to have a tail about an inch long, but Nobby either has an old injury or a birth defect, and his tail is all stumpy.  As far as we can tell, it isn't causing him any problems.

We bought some little fleece pocket things and we've been able to put them into the pockets and play with them a little.  They're very sweet, but Nobby is definitely more comfortable with us than Carot.  And Carot can be a little bit bitey.  But we like them both, and they are looking to me like they're both boys, but I'm still only about 80% sure.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Alana at 09:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sadly this afternoon, our beloved hamster, Binkerton J. Hamster, known to his family as Binky, passed away. We hadn't seen him out of his house all day, so we took him out and he was still alive, but not well. He passed away peacefully wrapped in a flannel shirt, in a box with a hot water bottle.

Binky was a king among hamsters. He never bit anyone and in his two years of life he only peed on me once. He loved yogurt treats and banana chips. He never ran in his wheel, yet he still managed to break it. Twice. I will always remember Binkerton hanging from the wires on the top of his cage, begging for treats.

In the last few months of his life we had taken some pictures that I never got around to posting here.  So in memoriam, here is a photo tribute to Binky.  He remains my favorite hamster ever.

Binky will be greatly missed.  The smell of boy hamster will not be missed so much.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I had to work today, on Christmas Eve.  Grr.  I hate working in general and it's even worse on Christmas Eve.

I didn't work for a few days last week because I had bronchitis and mild pneumonia.  I'm mostly okay now.

We brought Homer back to the vet to get him checked and he has gained nearly 100 grams in weight.  Hooray!  We think Homer might just be picky and stubborn, so if he dosen't like the food he's given he just refuses to eat.

Ever since Homer's first vet appointment, the little piggies, Elvis and Fudge have been acting weird.  They've been fighting constantly for about a week.  I'll be sitting watching tv and suddenly hear "squeak thump thump squeak thump WHEEK!" as the two little retards chase each other around the cage and attack each other.  Elvis has a Fudge-inflicted scratch on his little pink nose.  We haven't found any wounds on Fudge yet.  

We don't know why they're behaving like this, and it seems to get a lot worse whenever we take one of them out of the cage, then put him back.  Fudge gets angry if I pet Elvis.  We think that the whole battle is somehow connected to them wanting more attention and battling for dominance at the same time.  

Meanwhile, Homer and Spike have been getting along just fine.  Homer has been happily sitting on top of their little wooden house nibbling on the roof and eating hay.  Spike has been sweet and adorable.  

At least we have two loveable guinea pigs.  And two that I'd like to stick in a sound-proof closet.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yay!  I was wrong!  Neil brought Homer to the vet today and found out that he is not diabetic.  He is, however, sick.  We don't know if it's a viral or bacterial thing, but that's probably why he's lost weight.  There's a chance that it is something more serious, like a liver or kidney problem.  But it's not diabetes, so it may not be anything that shortens his life. 

In the meantime, we have some antibiotics from the vet and we know it's okay to give him the cranberry treat sticks he loves.  In fact, the fat and sugar in the treats could be a good thing to put some weight back on him.

In case any of you have guinea pigs, you should know that I have no regrets about spending money to bring Homer to the vet when he seemed sick.  It didn't cost nearly as much as I feared it might, and now hopefully Homer will get better, and I don't feel nearly so worried.   But I don't think Homer enjoyed it much.  Someone stuck him in a box then took him someplace bumpy and noisy and cold (the bus) and then he got sniffed by a bunch of dogs and then some complete stranger squeezed him until he peed and did horrible unspeakable things to his butt.  It is trips to the vet that are responsible for nearly all alien abduction stories among guinea pigs.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Alana at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So the award for the best guinea pig ever goes to Homer.  Neil was clipping Homer's nails and Homer has dark brown paws where it is hard to tell how far back the clippable part goes.  He accidentally nicked a blood vessel and Homer was bleeding all over.  But Homer is so sweet and easygoing he didn't even squeak.  Right now we've got him wrapped in towels in half a piggy carrier on the couch enjoying a carrot snack for being such a good boy.  When the bleeding stops we'll put him back in the cage.

People have asked me to go a bit beyond "ehn" to explain the job interview.  It was fine.  I did a good job, but I'm not sure that job is the right match for me.  It would be a lot of talking on the phone and I might just be too naturally introverted for that.  I'm sure something else will come up, and in the meantime, I still have a job and a paycheck.

Back to keeping an eye on Homer.  Not that I really need to.  He's such a good boy he hasn't even tried anything mischevious while he's been on the couch.

If anyone thinks they have a really great guinea pig, it's just because they haven't met Homer.  He's the best.  (Not that I don't love Elvis, Spike and Fudge.  But Homer is still the best.)

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday my husband and I went to my husband's sister's house to say adios to his younger sister who is moving to England.  It was also a good chance to see our new little 5-month-old nephew Ruary, or Roo for short.  My husband's sister had Roo's diaper off to change him and air out his junk, cause he was getting a little diaper rash.  So little Roo is sitting on his mom's lap pantsless, and as you could predict, he peed on her.  All down the leg of her jeans. 

Like any brother, my husband was quite amused at the sight of his little sister getting peed on.  He proceeded to mock her and tease her and say how it totally made his day.  Like any normal big brother.

We went home and in the evening I was holding Fudge and Neil was playing with Elvis.  He has been avoiding Fudge because he is quite the incontinent little rodent, and peed on him earlier in the week.  After only about 10 minutes or less, Elvis let loose and peed with more volume and force than I knew a guines pig could muster.  He managed to spray my husband's shirt and trousers and even the arm of the sofa.  Some of it was a good 6 inches from Elvis' little furry butt.  Elvis was a little squeaky fire hose.  

So I think we all know why Elvis peed on my husband.  It was just a little urinary karma because he was so pleased about his sister being peed on.  

Of course, in writing this, I'm setting myself up to get peed on by one of the piggies very soon.  But it was still just too good to pass up.

Alana

www.girlalive.com 

Posted by Alana at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some pictures of Elvis and Fudge.  They're both very sweet and they're adapting to their new home very well.  Although Elvis spent a great deal of yesterday humping Fudge.  I think he's gotten over it, and they've sorted out their dominance issues.

Here is Fudge:

And here is Elvis:

And here is a lovely picture of Elvis and Fudge together.

We're loving our new piggies.  They haven't met Spike and Homer because they need to be quarantined for a bit first.  Plus, these guys are so tiny Homer could crush them with one godzilla-like stomp of his paw.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My husband and I went out today to buy an exercise machine, and we accidentally bought 2 more guinea pigs.  We went to the pet store just to see if they had any abyssinians in stock, and they didn't.  But we ended up falling in love with 2 regular smooth-haired guinea pigs and then we bought them.  We've been thinking of getting more piggies for a while.  And we even had the means to build a quick cage.  So now we have two more boys named Fudge and Elvis.  They're still freaked out about the bus ride home and everything, so I can't get pictures yet.  Fudge is 2 different shades of brown and Elvis is white, cream, and agouti.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 04:07 PM | Permalink

So just after I posted the last entry, I heard a strange banging noise from behind me. I thought it was the guinea pigs throwing stuff around their cage (as they love to do). I was just about to yell across the room for them to knock it off, when I turned around and saw that it was Binky. I gave Binky a stick to chew on, and he was trying to drag it into his igloo. The stick was about 9 inches long, and he was trying to pull it through a doorway about an inch and a half wide. He continued to try to get the stick into his house for about 15 minutes before he got tired and went back to bed.

I'm fairly certain that Binky spent most of last night trying to dig under the wall to his old house area. He even got up briefly this morning to get a drink of water and try to dig under the wall. I'm not sure how to convince him that there's plenty of cool stuff that is not on the other side of that wall. I think I may hang some more treats from the ceiling just to try to distract him.

So now we have 3 very interesting rodents. I think Homer has the guinea pig version of autistism. Then Spike has the guinea pig version of ADHD. And now we have Binky, with a case of hamster OCD.

Now that Binky has joined the family, Spike seems a lot more normal and calm. He's still a spaz, but by comparison, he's downright lethargic.

Alana

Posted by Alana at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is my 100th blog entry (counting the previous stuff from diaryland).  I wanted to post something significant here.  But instead, I have stuff about my hamster.

I have reason to believe that Binky may be possessed.  Or at least crazy.  Binky has a cage designed like this:

The food bowl is mounted recessed into a little hole, and Binky's nest is built under the food dish, and he gets to it by going through the doorway under the ramp.  One morning, my husband and I came downstairs to find Binky's cage like this:

He had pulled out the food dish, dragged it to the other side of the platform, and filled the food dish hole with wood chips.  We put everything back, and he did it again a few days later.  He didn't like that we would wake him up by taking the food dish out (usually to fill it).  

We formulated a plan.  We would buy a hamster igloo to give him a new nest, then we'd get a heavy ceramic food dish, and plug up the hole under the food dish and the doorway into the nest area, so that we have better access to him and he can't trash the cage like a rock star in a hotel room every night.  It would look like this:

So I got to work and took the plastic platform out of the cage and left Binky in the cage, all exposed and annoyed that I had woken him up in the middle of the day. I modified the cage, blocked off the openings to his old nest, then went to install the new thing.

I opened the plastic top of the cage, thinking that I'd just grab Binky, put him in his plastic rolling ball thing, and then do what I needed to do with the cage. It didn't work that way. Binky launched himself over the side of the cage, off the coffee table and onto the floor, all on one lightning-fast movement. I found out that flying hamsters make me scream like a girl. Then I chased Binky around the living room until I finally caught the naughty little rodent. He didn't bite me, which was good. He just looked up at me like he was all sweet and innocent.

I put him into the cage with the new igloo and the nest blocked off. He filled his cheeks with most of the contents of the food dish, then tried over and over to get through to his old nest. He tried to dig under the wall. He tried to dig under the other side of the wall. He tried to move the food dish. Finally, I picked him up and put him inside the igloo. After that, he got the hint and made himself a little nest in there. He is currently asleep in his new nest. But I'm still a little afraid to see what he'll do to his cage during the night. He's crazy.

Posted by Alana at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So my guinea pig Homer has developed the nickname "Princess" for various reasons.  (Yes, Homer is a boy, but he's still a little princess.)

First of all, I've never seen a guinea pig that is such a picky eater.  He'll eat cucumbers, but not the squishy part in the middle with the seeds.  He won't touch any fruit.  He'll only eat the center part of carrots.  And he gets mad if we feed him his veggies in the wrong order.

In the morning when I give the guinea pigs their food pellets, Spike is all over the cage, jumping and squeaking for joy.  Guinea pigs do this thing called "popcorning" when they're happy.  Basically, they jump straight up in the air.  So while Spike is popcorning and running around, Homer will be frozen in the corner, trying his hardest not to popcorn.  Eventually, he hops in the air.  Immediately after, he shakes his head, as if to say, "That was undignified."

When we hold Homer, he will basically just sit there and let us pet him and play with him however we want, until he's had enough, and then he grabs a mouthful of our shirt and yanks for all he's worth until we put him back in the cage.

Homer is the most demanding and grumpy little rodent I've ever had, but I like him.  He's snobby and grouchy, but he's also adorable and can be very sweet.

Alana

www.girlalive.com 

Posted by Alana at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have finally taken a few pictures of Binky.  Last night (sadly when the camera was out of reach) Binky climbed the treat stick and was stuffing his cheek pouches with anything he could get off of it.  So he had a head three times its normal size and was clinging tenaciously to the treat stick.  Very cute.

So that is our new adorable little hamster Binky. He's justa cute little furry ball of adorable poses.  I never thought I'd like hamsters because I'm totally a guinea pig kind of girl, but he is extremely cute and friendly.

Alana 

Posted by Alana at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Okay, so I was holding Spike again.  I found a small drop of what appeared to be blood on my sweatshirt, and since I was pretty sure I wasn't bleeding, I got concerned about Spike.  As I was trying to check him out, he got freaked out and ran into my hood again.  Then onto the top of my head.  Then down my back and into my sleeve.  I had to take the sweatshirt off to get him out.  I'm still not sure where the blood came from.  His feet all look fine and all the front and rear orifices seemed fine.  I have no idea.  But I'm pretty sure that little rodent is going to drive me insane.

Alana

www.girlalive.com 

Posted by Alana at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just holding my guinea pig, Spike.  When I pick a guinea pig to hold, I have to decide whether I'm looking for a cozy guinea pig or some excitement.  Spike is excitement.  He's quite a spaz.  I usually wear a hooded sweatshirt when I play with the guinea pigs because I'm allergic to them, so it keeps their fur off my skin.  Spike likes to sit on my shoulder.  One of the times that he made a mad dash for my shoulder, he instead launched himself into the hood of my sweatshirt.  So I went looking for my husband to help me fish the guinea pig out of my hood.  He was in the bathroom, so he couldn't help.  I got the little weasel out, but got a rash and some scratches on my neck from the sharp little nails.

This is pretty much a normal day with Spike.  He's a little furry retard, but he is fun.  And today he didn't try to eat my engagement ring or poop on me, so that was nice.

Alana

www.girlalive.com 

Posted by Alana at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 3:19 p.m. - 2005-12-27

Happy birthday to me.

Yesterday I gave my guinea pigs a bath. I started with Spike because that gets the hard one out of the way.

I put him in the tub, inside his little crate. The water started flowing in and he started drinking it. Then as it got higher, he looked confused, then afraid. His face had a look that said, "It's getting kinda high. Is it supposed to do that? What's going on?" But he didn't really freak out until I poured a cupful of water over his back. Then he learned that when properly motivated, he can launch himself completely out of the crate. I shampooed him with baby shampoo and then rinsed him, the whole time, trying to hold him down and keep him from hurting himself. He bit me several times quite hard, but no skin broken.

After I dried Spike, it was Homestar's turn (we've been mostly calling him Homer because he loves watching tv). I put Homer in the crate and started the water. He freaked out immediately, running in circles as if to say, "It's the end of the world! We're all going to die!" But I was able to hold him still and clean him pretty uneventfully.

They both kind of hate me now. But that's okay.

Today is my birthday. My whole house smells like mole chicken, which is cooking in the crockpot.

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 9:05 p.m. - 2005-12-05

Okay, so I finally got some pictures of my new guinea pigs. The pictures aren't great, but that's cause my camera is still not cooperating and so my husband used his cell phone.

Here is a picture of Homestar:

Here is a picture of Spike:

Here is a picture of Homestar and Spike:

Aren't they just the cutest things ever in the whole world?

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 7:20 p.m. - 2005-12-04

Okay, so we got our new guinea pigs, but it didn't entirely go as planned.

We got to the pet shop and they only had male guinea pigs. But they are very young and they've known each other since birth, so it will probably be okay to keep 2 males together. We hope.

We got 2 guinea pigs. One is smooth-haired black with a white spot behind his head and 2 white feet. He is named Spike. (My husband named him after the black Gremlin with the white tuft of hair in the movie "Gremlins".) Our other guinea pig is mottled black and tan with one little rosette on his head (cause he's a crested breed). I named him Homestar Runner. Homestar for short. Although we've been also calling him Homer sometimes because he seems to like watching tv.

We got the odd couple of guinea pigs. Spike is a hyperactive little spaz. He's smaller than Homestar, and always the first to try eating anything. Especially the newspaper lining the cage. Homestar is a little neurotic. For the first 6 hours or so after we got him, he wouldn't move. Even if we poked him. He just sat there playing dead, due to the shock of the bus ride home and everything. But now he's moving around more and eating and everything. He is still much calmer and quieter than Spike. Spike is a constant living soundtrack of squeaking. I've only heard Homestar make noise once or twice. So they are opposite in many ways.

One thing they have in common is that they're both adorable. They also both like eating carrots, dandelions and their own poo.

I'll post a few pictures once I get the pictures off my camera and onto my computer (I don't have the right cable, and my memory card reader is still in a box which isn't being shipped here until later this week).

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 10:43 p.m. - 2005-12-02

Hello.

There are 2 reasons that I'm all hyper today.

First of all, my book got published today. I can legally hold the title of "Cookbook Author" now. How weird is that? Anyway, it's for sale at my store, http://www.girlalive.com/tshirts/. It's pretty exciting.

Then the other reason I'm all excited is that my husband and I will be going to the pet store tomorrow to buy some guinea pigs. I don't know what they will look like, but I know they will be cute. And they will be female. Because we do not want any breeding, and 2 boys will just fight all the time. Boys are like that.

Getting some guinea pigs makes all the wounds from cutting and stapling the chicken wire for the cage worth it. I've still got scratches all over my arms and hands. But now there is a cage, where formerly there was just a coffee table, a toilet seat, and a roll of chicken wire.

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

diaryland entry 4:51 p.m. - 2005-11-28

My husband and I are preparing for the arrival of hopefully 2 new additions to our family. No, I am not pregnant. We're getting guinea pigs.

I have never owned a dog and I am allergic to cats. Plus, they seem to require a lot of attention and walking and crap-scooping and stuff like that. I like pets that don't tie you down so much. Plus, guinea pigs are just so darned cute.

We looked into every available type of cage. The most popular guinea pig cages are made of cubes and coroplast. They're very nice, but we couldn't find cubes or coroplast here in the UK. So we got creative.

First we flipped our coffee table upside down and measured the inside dimensions. It is just the right size for a plastic underbed storage bin, which we purchased at Home Base. The only problem was that it was a little short on one end. The legs of the coffee table will be the uprights we attach the wire to in order to make a cage.

We needed a way to block the short end so that the guinea pigs could not climb over the bin and get stuck between the plastic bin and the cage wires. So I was looking around the house and found an old tiolet seat. The lid was exactly the size of the cage. So we cut one edge flat and attached some legs to make a little platform to cover the hole.

So our guinea pigs' cage is made from a coffee table and a toilet seat. I hope that the guinea pigs like it. And I hope that they don't think it smells like butt.

Alana
www.girlalive.com

Posted by Alana at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)