The Life and Death of Our Guinea Pigs

Back in July this year, we became the owners of three cute guinea pigs. It was spontaneous and fun. These little creatures gave us a lot of amusement and love. The girls loved to take videos and photos of them, and feeding them each day was always a highlight. We dutifully took them out to their grass enclosure each morning and brought them back onto the deck at night. These daily trips meant we had lots of time to bond with them, and love them more and more. 

So it was a terrible shock to come home one day, and find that two of them had passed away unexpectedly in the day. We still don't know what happened for sure. It wasn't a hot day and there were no signs of heat related stress digging, so we don't think it was that. Our best guess is that a neighbourhood cat might have visited and they got stressed about their survival.

Jupiter was still alive and well, but Marmalade and Westly, were very much gone. The girls were distraught. I think the shock more than anything else, but they did love their little guinea pigs, so it came as a blow. Both Steve and I felt quite underprepared to suddenly have to guide the girls through their grief, but some how we managed.

We wrapped them up in some scrap fabric that I had, the girls chose which they thought would suit the guinea pigs best. Steve dug a hole and we buried them in the yard. Afterwards we talked about them, Sophie drew pictures, Rachel needed lots of hugs, I found pictures of each of them to print and show the girls we would remember them. 

It was a strange time. We passed a week going through the motions, listening to the daily reflections from the girls that they missed their guinea pigs. But slowly, the missing became less as the reality of the new normal set in. We were thankful to still have Jupiter and worried about his now lonely existence.   

Neighbours of the best street ever to the rescue. Across the road had three guinea pigs, who didn't particularly get along with each other. Their eldest child offered her guinea pig (the most trouble making of the three of them), to us, on the hope that he would get along with Jupiter better than he did is current friends.

Thus we went from three, to one, to two guinea pigs in residence. Taco and Jupiter had a few tussles while they decided who would be in charge, and thankfully they were both happy with the status quo at the end of things. In the enclosure, Jupiter is the big boss. If they escape, it's usually Taco who initiated and out on the grass, he becomes the alpha. It's a bit funny to see the balance shift, but I'm glad they have decided to be friends; it's worked out for both us, our neighbours and the guinea pigs.

Now that it's warmer at night, and since we have adjusted the outside enclosure to include a roof (no more escaping!) we don't need to move them as much any more. I kind of miss the daily interaction, but we still find time to feed and cuddle them most days. Live long and good lives little guinea pigs. You have signifigantly impacted our lives more than we knew.

Pets Again

The girls have been asking about having pets for a long time. Rachel especially who loves her animals. We have had stick insects over the last two years, but I was secretly glad when the last lot died of old age and I no longer had to stop and pull leaves off gum trees while driving through Tarragindi.

Even though we kept telling the girls we would not be getting pets, and sensible reasons why, every now and then I get the urge to have something cute and cuddly to love. So when someone in our community was giving away three male guinea pigs and their cage, I was spontaneously excited. Steve didn't say no, so I drove round one morning in the holidays to have a look at them, less than twelve hours after responding to the original post. 

The first morning with guinea pigs.

The family were downsizing to prepare for a move and couldn't take their guinea pigs with them. They were happy for me to take them then and there. So I did. I was a little bit in shock as I drove home with a cage full of guinea pigs in the back, and it was pretty funny to see the girls reaction to these very suddenly appearing pets.

Rachel, drawing guinea pigs in her sketch book

Their names were Groot, Gambit and Loki, but we wanted to rename them to really make them ours. Name discussion took a good day and a half before we were all settled and happy with the names. I told the girls a firm no to any names that were descriptive or cutetsy. Speedy, Fluffy, Furry, all got resounding nos. It wasn't just my way or the highway though, we did pick with a fair amount of democracy.

Dr Rupert Marmalade

The first name we settled on was Dr Rupert Marmalade, who we call Marmalade for short. He is the crazy haired, orange/ginger guinea pig with red eyes, so his name suits him very well. Dr Rupert Marmalade is a character from The Bad Guys books by Aaron Blabey which the girls love. He is a guinea pig in the book, and not to give any spoilers away, but the crazy suits him well.

Sophie and Jupiter

The second name we liked was Jupiter. Steve and Sophie both like space, and I don't remember who suggested planet names, but Jupiter was the one we liked the best. Jupiter is a mixed bag of colours and the biggest guinea pig we have. He is also not the brightest crayon in the box, as he will often try to eat food from the others, even when there is food right in front of him.

Jupiter

The last guinea pig to get a name was the white one with black markings on his eyes. It took us a long time before we found something that suited him. I realized that his black markings reminded me of a mask, and I had recently re-watched The Princess Bride, and was reminded of the Dread Pirate Roberts who comments: "Masks are just so terribly comfortable, you'd think everyone will be wearing them in the future." Oh, so true Dread Pirate Roberts, so true.

Westley

Anyway, the girls were not fans of calling this last guinea pig Dread Pirate Roberts, even when I suggested we could call him Roberts for short, and since I had said no to many of their names, I felt it was only fair that they could say no to mine. Thus I suggested Westley as a compromise. They agreed and our guinea pigs were named.

Rachel and Westley

After we got them, I had a good half a day of regret over the whole thing. What had I done? What would we feed them? How do you keep them alive? Are they getting enough food? What will we do if they fight? But that night I cuddled Westley while we watched a movie and I felt better about the whole thing.

After a week though, I have told Steve that he absolutely has the power to veto any future pet decisions. They are cute, fairly easy to care for, but at the end of the day, it's something else to think about, be responsible for and costs money. I'm glad we have them, but I don't think I'm cut out for pets in the long term.

Rachel holding Marmalade, watching the other two in their makeshift outdoor cage.

Of course, having guinea pigs was a fun excuse to get out the power tools and do some building. After we had them for a week, juggling them back and forth between their inside cage and the grass, (and having to capture an escaping Westley a few times), I decided we needed a proper outside enclosure that could stay out on the grass and they could live in semi-permanently. I wouldn't mind setting up a bigger run for them, or somehow make a larger movable enclosure that the kids could sit in with them on the grass as well, but slow steps. I'm a little busy with a million other things at the moment anyway.