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Post by janlovingcavies on May 18, 2021 5:20:53 GMT -6
I don't believe any animal is domesticated! You have dogs turning on people, cats being independent.Birds flying away to name some, and when cats are alone some to become feral. I think humans are lying to themselves when they say animals are domesticated. What do you think?
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Post by Sef on May 20, 2021 21:06:11 GMT -6
Indeed it would! I'm not sure about domestication, either. I've heard of all kinds of pets getting loose and managing to survive on their own (although, vulnerable to all kinds of hazards), but I get your point. I do think most animals, domesticated and otherwise, are just very in-tune with the natural world, same as our ancestors used to be. Only thing I can predict is rain, and it's only because my knees hurt.
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Post by renonvsparky on May 21, 2021 1:03:32 GMT -6
I encourage my guinea pigs to engage in as much of their natural behavior as possible, especially foraging. They don't have bowls for their pellets and no hamper for their hay. They all forage for their food except for their veggies. There's always enough hay for them to burrow in and they all put their tunnels or pig huts where they want them and move them around where they want them.
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Post by Sef on May 26, 2021 5:15:21 GMT -6
I don't know why I bother with a hay rack, since they always end up dumping the contents into the cage and scattering it all around, anyway.
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Post by renonvsparky on Jun 4, 2021 12:56:27 GMT -6
I'm giving updates on all of my piggies. Gilligan and Skipper are rolling along famously. They lead the way in the wheeking department, although buttercup has issued the challenge to their wheeking title. Because of where their cage is, they're the first ones to notice everyone who comes in the room or walks by and they're usually the ones who sound the alarm for the others.
It's gotten a bit hot outside, so it's been hard to get all of the guinea pigs out there to graze on the same day. I've had to alternate their days because by the time it cools off enough, there's not enough time to get them all out there before the sun goes down and the little flying vampires (mosquitoes) come out. There's a slough that runs by the neighborhood that's thoroughly infested with them and they come over here in droves to feed on the people who live here. I haven't seen them bothering the piggies, but I get bit up pretty good if I sit out there very long after sunset. The little patch of wheat grass in the garden is providing some treats for them too.
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Post by janlovingcavies on Jun 5, 2021 2:30:08 GMT -6
Glad they are keeping you on your toes! Is a slough like a creek or swamp? Never heard that word before. Hope they enjoy outside time. Glad they're doing well.
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Post by renonvsparky on Jun 5, 2021 19:18:39 GMT -6
Yes, a slough is a very slow moving waterway. It's bigger than a creek, and smaller than a river. It connects part of our watershed with the wetlands we have here. Ours is actually a pretty nasty waterway since it flows through the airport and past a lot of places where homeless people make their camp and much worse, through the park with so many ducks, geese and other waterfowl that their poop has turned it into a sewer line. That makes it an even better breeding ground for the mosquitoes.
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Post by renonvsparky on Aug 16, 2021 19:17:09 GMT -6
Gilligan and Skipper had their time in the Missouri grass too. There's like 2 acres of it around the house. More than enough to satisfy their craving. They both took full advantage and ate their fill.
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Post by Sef on Aug 18, 2021 21:06:25 GMT -6
Indeed---2 acres ought to keep them all very happy for quite some time.
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Post by renonvsparky on Aug 20, 2021 2:36:30 GMT -6
I'm quite amazed at how they've grown from the scared baby piggies to the outgoing and happy little guys they've become. They always come up to greet people with a finger nibble and both like to snuggle. They still have their occasional brush up and it's not clear who is the dominant one. I think they alternate because sometimes Skipper backs off and gives way to Gilligan and sometimes it's the other way around. You can tell when they are having a standoff because Gilligan squeaks very loudly. There's never been an exchange of hostility. It usually ends with one of them giving way.
They are actually quite a pair. Neither one is happy without the other. When I take one of them out of the cage, the other one eyeballs me like "what are you doing to my buddy and when are you bringing him back?" I actually thought I was going to lose them on the trip here when I had them in separate carriers on the first day of travel. Both of them started looking sick and depressed enough to make me very worried. Turns out that they would rather share a small space than each have their own larger space because once I put them together in the tote, they cuddled together and were happy for the rest of the trip.
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