Wilber and Grady

[renonvsparky]

Two new additions to our guinea pig family.

This is Wilber. He has an epic rosette. It goes over his eyes like eye brows. He's so scared, but that will change soon.

And here is Grady. I love that he's an Abby. Total different colors than Scruffy, same cute guinea pig cheeks and Abby personality. He's a little bit skiddish but that's to be expected.

Both are 5 weeks old. Got them from the pet store. Yes, I know about pet store piggies, but rescues have been few and far in between and they're getting adopted out as fast as they're coming in. The important thing is that they'll have a good, loving home now.

[janlovingcavies]

OK address please! I am coming to piggy nap these gorgeous boys! I is in love with them both! Such sweet little faces. Look out I am coming.

[renonvsparky]

They're so adorable. I had forgotten what it was like having such young little ones. I tried giving them veggies, but their poor little mouths had a hard time biting off pieces of the lettuce leaf. I cut it up smaller and that solved the problem. Wilber is quite a bit more skiddish than Grady is. Grady comes out of the hidey to get the lettuce and he drags it back to eat it. Of course Wilber grabs it away from him so he doesn't have to come out while I'm standing there. I don't think Grady minds much. He just finishes the bite he took and goes out to get another piece of lettuce. They are munching hay every time I go in to look in on them. Luckily the bale I have has a lot of fine pieces in it for them. They like to hide in it too.

They're so tiny too. I'm used to holding bigger guinea pigs. Even Gilligan who is smaller than the other adults is heavy by comparison. But then again, he's grown quite a bit and has put on some weight since I got him. He was 1.8 lbs when I adopted him and at his nail trim appointment, he weighed in at 2.3 lbs. He's as big as Oreo now.

I did a soft introduction to the adults; and by that I mean that I put the babies up to their cages for just a few seconds to show them that there are others close by and they didn't seem to mind. Grady actually wanted to rub noses with the adults in true Abby fashion. His and Wilber's cage is right next to Sammy and Dean and I saw him and Sammy communicating with each other through the wires.

[Sef]

Very cute! I'm a sucker for rosettes. Love the eyebrows.

Babies are a lot fun.

Does that bring your herd up to 9?

[janlovingcavies]

Nine??? That is a lot of piggies. Sounds like they are full of personality already. Real sweethearts.

[renonvsparky]

I only have 8. With these two sharing a cage, I have the same amount of cages as I did before I lost BJ. Wilber's rosette is pretty epic. I just love the way it goes above his eyes like thick eyebrows. Both piggies are getting acclimated. They are starting to come out to eat now and before we know it, they'll be coming out to greet us and nibbling on the cage like the rest of the guys.

[renonvsparky]

So I got Grady comfortable enough with me to eat in my lap. He's coming along pretty quickly. He's to the point where he has picked out his spot in the cage where he will let me pick him up. When he sits with me, he likes to climb up on my shoulder to snuggle on my neck. He also lets me know when he's had enough lap time by nipping at my finger and; you guessed it, biting and pulling on my shirt. That must be an Abby trait since Scruffy did that too and was the only other one who ever did that.

As for Wilber, he's coming along too, just not as quickly as Grady. I still have to corner him to pick him up, but once I have him, he's pretty calm. He also likes to sit on my shoulder, but he prefers to get behind my head and hide there. He doesn't eat in my lap yet. He does squeak softly though. Both of them purr at each other. It sounds so much different than the adults because they're so little. Pretty soon I'll be able to get them to stay still long enough to get better pictures of them.

[renonvsparky]

I went in to get the veggie pans I use to feed the boys and while I was making my rounds to all of the cages I heard this loud wheak. I knew it wasn't Gilligan since his was the cage I was visiting. The only other loud wheaker I have is Oreo or so I thought. It turned out to be little Grady! How cool is that? Wilber got excited too although he's not as vocal as Grady. These guys have figured out that when the human comes in and gathers up the pans, it's veggie time.

[janlovingcavies]

That is so sweet. Food conquers all. So glad they are coming out of their shells. Wait till they experience grass eating outside. Bet they think all their birthdays have come at once. So happy they are getting use to things. It's always the quiet ones.

[renonvsparky]

I think it's going to be a while before these two can go outside. While they have started coming out of their shell, they're still so jumpy. Plus the outside grass takes some getting used to for their little bellies. So I'll probably introduce them to it slowly by bringing in a small amount inside and giving it to them and work up to the full outside grazing experience. Mr Bubbles and Scruffy are the only others I got that young and they took to it right off the bat, but of course neither of them were ever as skiddish as these two, even when they were pups.

As for my rescues, none of them were young pups, so they all got over the new home and new people jitters fairly quickly. I'm talking days rather than over a week like Grady and Wilber. I believe that's why they all took to it so fast. By the time 9 days had passed with the rest of the pigs, I had earned their trust enough to where they would come up to greet me. Wilber and Grady aren't quite to that point yet.

[janlovingcavies]

They will soon be old pros at grazing outside as soon as tummies get use to it. Watching the older ones will help. So glad they are getting more use to you. Soon you'll be watching TV with a piggy on each shoulder!

[Sef]

They are fast learners! Amazing how quickly they catch on when it comes to food.

[renonvsparky]

Had to separate Wilber and Grady a few days ago. I can't tell, but Wilber might actually be Wilma. Grady went after him/her like I've never seen before. There's always a little humping for dominance going on between the boys, but this looked like a serious effort by Grady to mate. They're barely two months old, so I'm not worried about pregnancy just yet but I'm not taking that chance. I got away with it once; not going there again.

Wilber has an appointment with the vet on Tuesday to be properly sexed, but in the meantime they're in separate cages. Neither one seems to mind too much because they both wheak at every sound and they are entertaining themselves with the play toys I've given them. Their appetites are very healthy too. If Wilber does turn out to be female, I'll have to return her. If not, I'll try reintroducing them. Hopefully it'll be successful or I'll wind up with 2 more single pigs.

[renonvsparky]

Took the babies out with Mr Bubbles to watch over them. I had them separated. I wanted to see if Grady would try to get at Wilber and sure enough, he did. He pulled and dug at the barrier between them. He eventually figured out that there was no way he was getting to Wilber and decided to just eat some grass. Wilber didn't pay it any mind and really chowed down on the grass. He already has the hang of it.

You could tell that Grady is a novice. He doesn't realize that he doesn't have to pull the whole blade of grass out of the ground. He can bite it off and get another piece. He started getting the hang of it at the end of his grazing time. I don't know why he didn't try to bother big brother Mr Bubbles. Might be because Mr Bubbles is a big boy and he thought better of it. Is Wilber a female? Why didn't Mr Bubbles try getting to him/her? Why does Grady go after him but not Mr Bubbles? Doesn't make sense. Guess I'll have to wait until Tuesday .

[janlovingcavies]

Boys reach sexual maturity at 3 weeks of age. Hoping Wilbur is a boy, be so sad to have to return him/her. Will have paws crossed Wilbur is a boy. Maybe get Grady neutered? Be so sad otherwise.