Felix and Herbie

[gremlin40]

I got Felix on December 4 and then my boss gave me a wonderful bonus so I got Herbie on December 21.

I found out Herbie was only 6 weeks old...I was so mad because the pet store should not have allowed the breeder to take him from his mom so young.

I also discovered that both Felix and Herbie had mites and ringworm.

I have worked very diligently to get them back to health and am still working on the ringworm very successfully.

Funny thing...Felix has grown so fast in a month...he is almost double the size he was when I brought him home. His health is amazing! Lil baby Herbie is doing so well but had a hot spot in his side that he would not leave alone...and I could not wrap him because he is so tiny. I was so stressed...and poor lil Herbie too. 2 hours of struggling to figure out how to keep him from chewing...EUREKA! SOCK SWEATER!

It worked so beautifully...the sore patch from the ringworm healed beautifully to soft new skin...until Felix learned how to untie the knot with his teeth. No joke. He was helping baby Herbie get out of his protective sweater.

K. So I tied both ends. This morning...Herbie had his sweater off...and I realized instantly what was going on. Felix is like the Alcatraz breakout expert here...he is so smart, and he absolutely loves baby Herbie.

It breaks my heart a bit but I have had to separate them and tie Felix's cage door closed so he doesn't figure out how to get it open again because I know he will try to get to Herbie.

It's going to be supervised play dates for the next 3 weeks until the ringworm issue is resolved.

The Nizoral shampoo is incredible...both guinea pigs actually seemed to like it and Herbie is barely scratching at all. This morning he was going crazy with itchiness and I knew it was time for another treatment bath...now, he is so quiet and content. He sits peacefully on my chest while I crochet and just hangs out, and instead of biting himself he now tries nibbling on me.

I am also using the Nizoral to protect myself from ringworm as well - it is very contagious so good to be careful. It can appear anywhere on the body including the scalp - I use head and shoulders as a body wash because it is cheaper and works against ringworm, and if I get an itchy spot I rub sudocrem and monistat on the area right away. I use the sudocrem on my face to protect my face because I am constantly kissing my guinea pigs - it is an antifungal diaper rash cream that is absolutely amazing. I can not avoid the face contact, it's part of the bonding and now my lil guys have started licking me when they are feeling affectionate. They also don't fight me so hard when I medically treat them now...they are beginning to realize what I am doing is making them feel better. I was shocked a bit when Felix let me inspect his teeth for the first time today - he even let me get the food out from behind his front teeth with tweezers and a floss pic!

Felix purrs and stretches all the time now...and baby Herbie is starting to do this also.

[3piggles]

I always called that putting the patient in a hospital cage. I don't have a hospital cage right now, but would use grids to block off part of Pigloo City, so the patient could have some quiet time. I have enough grids to build a piggy Taj Mahal, so no problem, lol

It's hard on them to be separated, but as long as they can see each other, they will be okay

[Bean]

Welcome to Wheekers! It sounds like you're having lots of fun with your boys, despite a difficult start having to deal with ringworm and mites. I really hope it's not long before they can get a clean bill of health - they sound like they have lovely personalities, and I'm sure their characters will just grow once they get rid of any itching.

I do have a funny image of you with thick sudocrem all over your face - I'm sure you're not using that much!

[gremlin40]

Lol the sudocrem is actually an awesome complexion toner lmao. It takes the red splotchy tones way down and really evens out my skin tone. I have freckles so skin tone can be an issue... blushing, splotchiness from heat, etc.

It makes an awesome primer for makeup too. Not only is it a water barrier, preventing the effects of sweat wrecking expensive makeup after applying...it tones and fills everything so the makeup doesn't. Every gal knows that makeup makes you look older if it settles into Pores and lines and then gets cakey-dry after facial oils destroy it.

An oil will remove another oil...and makeup is usually oil based, hence why even the long wear stuff looks bad after 4-6 hours.

Another bargain find. Yay, lol

[3piggles]

Cool! I didn't know that!

[gremlin40]

Haha Herbie is doing hilarious things with his tongue!!!! What the heck...never had a guinea pig who licks like a puppy, and tries to lick everything around him???

I got a hilarious view of this when applying antibiotics to his nose...he was trying to lick the small paint brush I use to put the ointment on. His lil tongue was like...flick flick every time I brought the brush close to his nose lol.

I'm so glad he's doing so much better in our battle with the mites and ringworm. He's still itchy but he can't hurt himself because he's got his little medical sweater and neck protector.

He has the face of a teddy bear lol.

Herbie's been sleeping for the last hour...he played so hard he wore himself right out. I love my lil guys so much. 😀

[3piggles]

They do have their little idiosyncrasies, but I've never heard of that 🤗 That had to be really cute 🤗

[gremlin40]

Laughing so hard about the idiosyncrasies comment... I read it just after Herbie fell over drinking his supplement from the syringe lmao.

He was standing there suckling away, and he slowly flopped on his side with his legs splayed still suckling. I thought there was something wrong with him but he was just so relaxed hahaha. He gets his supplement and ointment while sitting on my lap on a fluffy baby blanket lol. What a personality - I think he is really liking being pampered and cuddled lots.

I tried to add a photo but it keeps saying Error:true.  Oh well.

He's in his little medical sweater and it's hilarious... he's got his little paws out and everything 🤭

Felix, not to be outdone... insisted on taking his while standing on his back legs.  He starts by reaching up with one paw and absently pawing the air...then his other one went up lol...and he stayed on his back paws door the rest of the feeding just because he felt like it. 🤪

[Bean]

I wonder if the photo was too big? There is a file size limit of 1MB per picture. I hope you can get it to work.

It sounds like he'll find ways to keep up the close interaction with you, even when he no longer needs so much extra care! He sounds like a real sweetie.

[3piggles]

That sounds hilarious, and of course, you never have a video when it happens, lol

I load photos through Tapatalk, a forum app. You select Wheekers as the forum you want to follow, and within each post, is a way to upload pictures. The app is free. The pictures can be sized small, medium or large. I usually choose medium. I have no idea what size that is, though I'm sure I did at one point.

[gremlin40]

I compressed the photo to 0.99mb and no go....

I tried Tapatalk and the wheekers forum would not come up when I searched...there was a lot of vulgar porn garbage though. I got mad and uninstalled the app...twice lol. I really tried to make it work but the side-porn stuff is just so frigging gross and I didn't feel like trying to figure out how to filter that stuff out. I can't ignore it and it makes me feel so angry and disgusted. I don't like the Tapatalk app at all.

[gremlin40]

Maybe I can't post pics as a newbie in Wheekers? I know a lot of forums are careful to establish a new member before allowing some privileges?

[amber89]

It shouldn't be a problem that you are a newbie.
I was able to post pics when I was one.

I am using villagephotos, where I have albums and can then insert here the URL.

[Bean]

Amber's right, we don't have any restrictions on who can upload pictures - all members can.

What format is the picture in?

[3piggles]

Wow! I don't get any of the porn stuff with Tapatalk. Maybe it depends on your provider. We have Verizon, which I don't think is available where you are, and it's pretty decent about managing content.

I think Bazooka Goof posts from SmugMug, but I couldn't get it to work for me, so I just use Tapatalk when I need to post pictures.

[gremlin40]

The pics are in a jpg format... I wonder if there is an upload restriction on my phone maybe.

I set the snot right out of my phone security when I got it lol...it wouldn't surprise me if I locked myself out of being able to upload certain data from private areas of my phone....hmmmmmm like camera pics lol.

I will double check this possibility.

[gremlin40]

Woohoo figured it out lol. High five 🥴🥺🤪

That's baby Herbie getting his supplements lol...he flops over now to really get the full luxurious enjoyment out of it.

I made his medical sweater out of a sock...and had to add a little cloth collar because he got at his neck so bad I almost died inside when I saw it.

He's healed up beautifully but he still chews ...couple more weeks and the mites should be all gone.

I'm giving consideration to making these sweaters in a sellable format... I sew so I know I could design something fun and professionally structured...in fun prints like zebra or leopard...?

The white on the bottom of his little feet is the Diatomaceous earth powder, just to give you an idea of how white it is.  It's got the consistency of talc.

[gremlin40]

This is Felix and Herbie 😀 -  Felix is grey and white, and Herbie is brown and caramel...the pic of them together is shortly after I brought them home from the pet store.

Herbie is way bigger now... he's almost the same size as Felix, who is also way bigger lol.

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[3piggles]

They are gorgeous! I love the way Herbie gets into his syringe feedings I've never had that feeding any of mine Critical Care!

Ooh, excellent you figured out how to post pictures. Hello, boys Nice to meet you

[gremlin40]

I have put them together again. Felix has figured out that if e leaves Herbies medical sweater on, he gets to keep Herbie lol.

I'm treating them both for the same things so I figured ok...time to reunite.🥰