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Ichigo (left) and Akari from Aikatsu! in their new year kimono (Ichigo almost never has her hair up) Happy 2022!!
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A new year, a new location! Well, sort of. Half of 2021 was on the awful side due to previously mentioned events that I will not elaborate on again. I thank God all that is in the past. Then in the later half I got to move to a beautiful new flat and that's where I'm starting my year!
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Tulip and Snow having floor time
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Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that mid December I adopted 2 beautiful rescue guinea pigs, Tulip and Fluffy. Fluffy got renamed to Snowdrop, although her full name is barely used now and Snow suits her a lot. I love Tulips so Tulip remains Tulip. And extremely greedy! Tulip for sure is the most confident piggy of the two. They both eat a lot, Tulip could eat far more veggies at veggie time if I let her but I don't. She is so greedy that initially occasionally she would almost cough when eating. I thankfully found an article online that was the same issue with other piggies - they do scoff their food too fast. So now I make sure any veggies are in smaller pieces and hey presto, no coughing! Obviously if she does cough continuously I will take her to the vet but so far the smaller food works. I do regularly check for any lumps and bumps just in case its something a bit sinister, but so far so good.
I can trust Snow to take a whole bit of bell pepper or lettuce, run away with it as they tend to do even though they then both choose the same spot in the cage to eat it. Snow doesn't gobble her food! She is extremely nervous though. She has gained confidence in the cage, and happily takes food from me in the mornings when I hand feed. Laptime in the evenings when I give evening veggies is a different matter. Neither like being picked up - guinea pigs are herd animals after all, but Snow does not like being in the cuddle cup. I like hand feeding the veggies as it means I know they both get the correct amount and that Tulip won't steal it all, plus it will help with bonding. As they much away I gently stroke them. I think Snow tolerates this - if she were truly scared she wouldn't eat - initially it would take a few minutes on my lap before she would start eating, now she eats almost straight away. But when the veggies run out she likes to do her ostrich impression, burying her head in the cuddlecup and hiding from me. I stroke her for a little bit longer then put her back. She quickly goes to munching hay so is not traumatised from it.
I think Snow's nervousness dates to why they ended up at the rescue. They are around 2 years old and were together, but whoever had them couldn't care for them: Snow is long-haired, and her hair/fur was double the length it should have been, horrendously matted and they both had mites plus their nails were never clipped. So when they entered the rescue Snow would have had a lot of work done to her by people. I think she associates being picked up with awful things. Now I do brush her regularly - I have to as part of her care. My family helped me cut her fur. While it's winter I'm happy for it to be long, but come summer to keep her cool and safe from summer hazards she will get a very short haircut! Until then I will cut a little here and there as I can. Nail clipping will happen by the end of the month, trying to build up more trust before I start and I will undoubtedly have to do a paw a day to reduce the stress for them.
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Tulip up to no good!
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Today I'm setting up a run beside their cage - I will be making it bigger soon, I just got 1 packet of supplies in case the quality was poor. I think it's ok, It's a similar style grid cage system like the C&C cage I have for them which is the biggest that Kavee Cages provide (6x2) 6 grids long and 2 grids wide. I did let them run around most of the kitchen, but setting that up takes a lot of energy from me, so having a slightly smaller permanently in place run will mean they get time outside the cage so I can clean up the poop - they poop an insane amountn - and also air their beddiing to help the fleece liners last longer. I use pee pads on the most used areas to lengthen the main fleece liner's life even longer before it has to be washed. Not having to set up a run means they can be put out their cage no matter how rough I feel, and I know they will be safer: with the boxes method Tulip managed to escape 3 times! Where there's a hole she would find it and Snow would try to follow her. While funny after the event, at the time it was nerve wracking as I didn't want her to get near wires or pee on the carpet.
I don't make new year resolutions anymore. I am trying to read a bit more, and working on jigsaw puzzles too. I try to make Friday's my quiet craft days where I sew as I rewatch Little House On the Prairie dvds. Anyway, that's it for now, I will try to blog at least once a week here or/and on Nayu's Reading Corner where my book reviews go. Time to go make a guinea pig run!
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Ichigo from Aikatsu! in casual gear
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