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Post by 3piggles on Jan 14, 2016 14:42:42 GMT
He's gorgeous He looks very confident and relaxed, which I love in a pig I don't think we've deleted any pictures since we started taking them, though hubby did transfer his school pictures to a disc for school purposes. We've deleted the accidental pics of our feet or thumbs, but nothing else. We really should at least dump them all to a disc, as we're trying to find a way to put them on a digital picture frame. We also have something called Eye-fi, that automatically uploads the pictures to the computer. It's a great way to make sure they all get loaded, though it does go spastic sometimes, and not do them all at once. No plugging in necessary. You just need wi-fi. I thing these cameras take some great pictures, maybe not museum or Nat Geo quality, but we're not trying for that.
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Post by Bean on Jan 14, 2016 19:53:56 GMT
I saw this camera had some settings related to transferring them by wi-fi - might set that up to protect myself (and save myself having to pin down the lead!).
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jan 14, 2016 20:15:30 GMT
He is adorable Bean love, a beautiful grey piggy.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Jan 15, 2016 20:54:01 GMT
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jan 16, 2016 17:19:57 GMT
That looks really great love, I could do with something like that.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by Bean on Mar 14, 2016 10:46:22 GMT
I didn't manage to take any pictures as it was a hectic day yesterday, but it was mild and sunny, so the pigs got their first grassy outing - they loved it! And it was so much quicker changing out their cages without them getting under my feet and trying to shove me and my supplies out of their way! Will definitely make time for the camera next time!
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 14, 2016 16:13:56 GMT
I can't wait to see piggy pictures from the new camera I'm glad they got to go outside. Piggies love all the different smells that waft by. I haven't checked the temperature of our ground, but I think it's still too cold for piggies.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Mar 14, 2016 21:05:35 GMT
Some days are just like that Bean hun, we will look forward to the piccies from the new camera. I can look at piggy pigtures all day.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by Bean on Mar 30, 2016 20:27:36 GMT
Pops having a post-haychomping snooze. She'll be 4 this year and I think she's definitely starting to mellow out with age (she's as sweet as anything with people but can be a bit stroppy with other pigs). Cadders definitely gets henpecked a little less these days anyway! Not that he minds - I think he likes someone else being in charge, but in a way that's not a challenge like it was when he lived with his brother.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Mar 30, 2016 20:50:14 GMT
She is gorgeous love. Perhaps Cadders is just one of those people who likes decisions made for him LOL!!
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 31, 2016 12:51:50 GMT
Aw, sweet All of my boars have been like that. Much more likely to challenge other boars, but let the sows keep them in their places It's sweet when they start to mellow out. You know they have life under control. I do miss the popcorning and the zoomies, though
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Post by jolovespiggies on Mar 31, 2016 20:16:36 GMT
"Girl Power Piggies," I can see this catching on LOL!!
Hugs JO xx
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Post by Bean on Apr 20, 2016 10:13:46 GMT
I found some old pictures of my pigs, so thought I would share my little trip down memory lane with you - a bit at a time as there are a few to get through! Our first ever pig Sooty (yes, she was all black) doesn't seem to be documented on camera. I remember her being very lively though, and managing to escape into the kitchen which necessitated the pulling out of kitchen appliances to retrieve her! The next addition soon after that was Bubble, a sweet little ginger and white pig. When Sooty died, we got Bubble a new companion, who we named Squeak (yes, we were super original with our naming!). He was such an ace pig - one of the only of this lot that you could let wander around the house without him pooing or weeing (not that it always stopped me letting them run around!). He loved climbing stairs too and would bound up them like a dog - wish I had a video of that! He lived until he was 7 and was like my best buddy, as soon as I was home from school, he was the centre of my world. I actually had a poster blown up of this photo after he died - I was devastated! Anyway, back to him being alive - mum agreed that we could let them have one lot of babies which was very exciting! So a couple of months later we got a boy called Jeep (a take on GP) who eventually went to live with some friends of ours, and a girl called Nibbles, who we kept (she's the one with the white body). With hindsight we should have kept Jeep as a companion for Squeak but at the time it was thought that boys didn't get along (mum might have tried actually, I can't remember). Forgive me for them living in glass walled cages (they used to live outdoors in hutches for half the year, and come in for winter) - there was really such little good advice around in the 80s so there are a few classic errors among these photos - you might even catch a bit of iceberg lettuce... And there's a bit of a 'whoops!' moment coming up in the next installment!
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 20, 2016 12:38:13 GMT
They were adorable You are so right about the lack of advice. In the US, there is still a major lack of good advice. Most people are introduced to guinea pigs in pet stores, where the sales "expert" gets them to buy endless things they don't need, and that aren't even good for the pigs. The animals are a lure to get people to buy all the rest of the items. Once people find out they don't need the stuff, or it's not even good for the piggies, it's too late. The store got its sales! My pigs were probably lucky that we didn't have any glass-sided containers, lol. They should also consider themselves lucky that hubby looked at all the cages in the store, and went for the biggest rabbit cage, not even advertised for guinea pigs. The cages advertised for guinea pigs were about 12x24". Not good! It took me a while to find a guinea pig forum, too, as at the time (early 2000s), only US forums were showing on regular searches. I joined a forum and learned an incredible amount that wasn't available anywhere else. It was my first real understanding of good guinea pig parenting. Considering the lack of easily found information in the 2000s, I can only imagine the lack of info available in the 80s!
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Post by Bean on Apr 21, 2016 8:45:29 GMT
There's still plenty of rubbish information around here, but it's much improved from the 80s! Continuing the story, after Jeep had gone off to his new home, Bubbles and Nibbles lived together and Squeak lived separately. We asked about getting him neutered but the vet said that at 2-3 years of age, he was probably about to die (he didn't phrase it quite like that, but you get the gist) so he wouldn't risk the surgery. So they lived side by side and my mum laboured how important it was that I didn't put them together. I think I was about 8 or 9 at this point. Can you guess what happens next?! Yes, although I wouldn't have actually put them in to play together, I did think how nice it'd be to have a picture of Squeak together with Nibbles... I remember a split second where I'd looked away and turned back to find him on top of her, but separated them straight away and didn't think much of it. Until Nibbles's belly started getting bigger... Mum asked me if I'd put them together and I said no - I think I was at a stage where I thought if I gave the answer I wanted to be true, that would make it become real?! Anyway, a few weeks after that conversation I came home from school and my mum met me at the door and asked if I wanted to change my answer to the question before I went upstairs. Meet Dulcie (with the ginger patch on her body) and Patchwork! Patchwork was a real alpha male and very feisty in his teenage years - although we did try him together with Squeak, he attacked him. Of course they were in too small a cage at the time, and we probably didn't do intros with any grace either. But the whole incident had stressed poor Squeak out, we decided to get him neutered so he could live with the girls. Nibbles, Dulcie and Patchwork together. Squeak outlived them all in the end. I'm sorry that he lived so much of his life alone (although there were other pigs around for most of it) but I spent so much time with him and used to let him run around my bedroom for hours every day, setting up stuff for him to explore, so I'm sure he knew he was adored and hope he wasn't too bored in between. I had many pig free years after that, but then after I'd finished uni and had set up home with fella, the pig itch returned! So we got Fred (ginger) and Charlie (brown), two girls who had been rescued from a shedful of pigs. They were about 10 weeks old when we got them and to be honest, although I checked their equipment, the idea that they might have been running around with boys a little later than they should have been didn't actually occur to us at this point. So we just had fun with the hilarious duo! We had a really long hallway in our flat where they had floortime a couple of times a day, and they used to popcorn and rocket up and down it constantly! Then a few weeks later, Charlie started slowing down and getting a bit rounder...
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Post by 3piggles on Apr 21, 2016 12:14:09 GMT
I love reading about the history of pigs in your life I'm also glad you haven't said "I can't imagine how it happened," or "Somehow they ended up in the same cage." I'm always amazed when people say that, as if the pigs could unlock their cages, cross huge gaps of space, and just get into each others cages. Proof it really does only take a second! You had some beautiful piggies, not that I think there are any ugly piggies I think back on all the things I know I did wrong, and breathe a sign of relief they still had really good lives. I doubt any of your pigs every doubted that they were loved
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 21, 2016 20:08:53 GMT
They are gorgeous Bean hunny and please don't worry, I think we have all learned a lot since the early days. Oh dear, that didn't take long did it? The babies and mum are beautiful. I enjoyed reading your posts too and thank you for sharing,even if I am sitting here misty eyed. Yes they all sound loved as Piggles says, which is the important thing. We made mistakes when we first had piggies and ended up with 3 litters. We bit the bullet though and kept them all (can you imagine how hard it was trying to sex them and keeping them apart) and I don't mind saying it was bloody hard work. I do however miss having baby piggies, they are just so adorable.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by Bean on Apr 21, 2016 20:43:55 GMT
You'll like the next installment then! Poor Charlie, who was still a babe herself, became a dinner plate over the next couple of months (she must have only just become pregnant before she'd been separated - and thank goodness Fred escaped). I felt so sorry for her. Fred was bounding about like a merry lunatic, and she'd just waddle about slowly. Every single morning I'd run to check them, but no babies - I was so worried about Charlie and whether she'd cope with being so massive and giving birth to babies when she was still so small herself. But then one morning there they were - three babies! This one makes me laugh with her sitting on one of them! The brown one was named Chas (like a mini Charlie), the one the white zigzag stripe on his nose got named Ziggy, and the one with the white body and brown head was named Tefal (after the guy with the big head from the Tefal advert!). They were all adorable, and although I;d only planned to have two pigs, I knew I was now going to have five!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 21, 2016 20:54:15 GMT
They are so gorgeous Bean hunny, I have gone all gooey. I must admit I loved it when you first heard the tiny wheeking noses that the babies make, how I would love to hold and cuddle a baby again.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by Bean on Apr 21, 2016 21:12:12 GMT
There is something special about guinea babies - they're just born looking so cute and ready to have fun, it's quite unique. When the boys got a bit older we housed them together, and put Chas with Fred and Charlie. It went well for a while but when the boys started getting hormonal, the presence of the females was too much for them. They started squabbling, and then one day when they were out having floortime, they fought quite badly. This is the point at which I learned your hand is not the best thing to put between two fighting guinea pigs... The result was a trip to A&E for stitches, during which I had to be patient with several ninny staff who were surprised I wasn't 'giving him away' or 'having him put to sleep' after what Tefal had done to me. They continued to have a very strong reaction to each other so we didn't persevere with trying to bond them, but instead got them booked in for the snip. A month later they were installed in their new living arrangements, each boy living with one or two females (apart from the boys, they all got on so the groups were pretty fluid). I did start thinking that maybe it wasn't quite fair that one boy had two friends, while the other had only one though!
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