I thought that since I am creating a thread for my precious new guinea pigs, it was a perfect time to share a little background story concerning why piggies became such a huge part in my heart and the two piggies that made me realize that I could never be without having one to sharing my life with.
My love for guinea pigs originated when I was a five year old attending kindergarten. Our classroom pet was a sweet, tri-colored guinea pig named Rosie. I had an instant bond with her and loved her so much. I even asked my Mum to take me to school extra early every school day in order for me to have a chance to read Rosie stories, sing to her, and rock in the rocking chair with her before class commenced. Every weekend, all the students had an opportunity to alternate taking her home with us for the weekend. I remember having the most magnificent time doing so for my scheduled weekend. My family and I loved feeding her fresh veggies, playing with her, and brushing her soft fur. Sadly, the next student to take her home wasn’t as careful with her when returning her back to school the following Monday. He placed her cage with Rosie in it on the parking lot, and she was tragically and accidentally run over by a parent’s car. I was utterly heartbroken and the sweet memories of Rosie stayed with me.
Years later, I got my first pet guinea pig Snickers who was named after one of my favorite candy bars and was my little, fluffy princess with a truly loving and gentle heart. She meant the absolute world to me and was one of the sweetest and greatest piggies ever. She was such a magnificent companion and helped me through so much, and I was so blessed to have her in my life for approximately five and a half years. I still miss her even though she passed to the Rainbow Bridge on January 26 of this year.
This is Princess Snickers's baby picture - only a few days after she came into my life.
After being so heartbroken after my cherished Snickers became my little fur angel at the Bridge, I began looking for a pair of cavies that I could love and care for once again. This thread will tell their amazing story as it unfolds and show pictures of them being the cutie pies that they are.
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July 10, 2018
I wonder why that two-legged female is spending so much time peering into my glass enclosure. Does she see my huge eyes peeking out from my plastic igloo home? I thought I made an extra effort not to be spotted by anyone peeking in. She sure has been standing there for quite some time now and doesn’t appear to be leaving any time soon. Oh no, she just said something to the person who feeds me wearing that store uniform. Yes, I have been spotted, and they are lifting up my igloo home - EEek!!! The two-legged who was spying on me and giggling at my glass enclosure is now scooping me into her gigantic paws and holding me close. She sure sounds happy as she is softly whispering to me and her wet droplets (I think those two-leggeds call them T-E-A-R-S) are dripping down on me right now. They must be T-E-A-R-S of happiness because her face has the biggest smile on it. She is petting me and telling me that she loves me so much and I am absolutely perfect in every way. The next thing I know, I am being placed into a plastic bin. I’m so excited that I will finally have someone who is as thrilled to be with me as I am happy to be with them. I was awfully lonely being all by myself until this two-legged came along to give me a loving, forever home with her.
This is the absolute first time that I ever was held by my beloved Mum. She sure held me so lovingly and gently that I knew my life was about to change in a most magnificent way; I sure was right.
I sure was tiny when Mum first got me. Here, she is introducing me to some of her family members. As expected, everyone loves me. Yippee for me!!!
July 16, 2018
Where are we going this early in the morning, Mum? Are we going for a grand adventure? Are there any fresh veggies involved? I’m so glad that this is National Guinea Pig Day because I’m sure I’ll be getting a lot of extra spoiling today because you pamper me so much on a regular basis already. What did you say, Mum? Wow, I’m sure glad that you found that ladybug on the car door and then it flew to land on your paw, Mum! You said it will bring us extra luck today, right? I do hope we see a trillion more lucky ladybugs, but I suppose one extra lucky one will do. Oh no, it flew away to munch on a leaf over there! You don’t think it would have forgotten to drop off its luck to us prior to going, right? I can hardly wait to see what you have for us to do today that is going to be so special for the two of us.
Oh no, Mum; why are we back at this place again?!?! Please don’t tell me that I am going back to living here again. I think I will just run and hide under all of this hay instead. Wait a minute, what is all of that wheeking about from those eight guinea pigs?!?! Does this mean that I am going to have a piggy companion, too? I wonder which one we will choose and will choose us, too? I’m glad that you narrowed down the choices to the black and brown splotchy-patterned one; the completely light tan one; and, of course, the dark brown, light brown, and white one. They all seem to like you a lot, Mum. I think that you have an extra special spot in your heart for that tri-colored one though as you are holding her for a much longer time than the rest. What did you say to the two-legged wearing the uniform? Are you really going to have me interact with each one to see which one gets along with me the best, too? Yippee, I never had a guinea pig playmate before. I can hardly wait to have some piggy fun with each of them. Wheek, wheek. . . . this tri-colored one is really sweet and is playing fun games with me! Come on, Miss Tanny. . . . why aren’t you wanting to play and just keep insisting on staying in the corner? Eek, squeak. . . get this black and brown one out of here; I don’t like the way we are messing with each other. Phew, I’m sure glad that you chose the same one I did, Mum!!! The tri-colored, dark brown, light brown, and white one is most definitely the one I want as my personal playmate. Let’s take her home with us right away. Yippee! I’m glad that she is my new friend; I’m sure that we will love each other forever and get into plenty of mischief if I have anything to say about it. Thanks, Mum!
Here is Mum holding me as she is telling me that she is going to get a piggy friend for me. At first, I did not know what to expect as I never had one before. Wow, I sure was in for a magnificent treat!
This is Mum's and my first sight of Hinata. She sure looked extra sweet.
Here we are being formally introduced to one another. Sniff, sniff. . . . wheek, wheek. . . . popcorn, popcorn. . . . !!!
This is one of the very first times that we ever cuddled with one another. Please excuse my hair sticking straight up and doing a bit of a curly thingy at the end, I just finished messing with the water bottle prior to having this loving moment captured on the C-A-M-E-R-A. Don't we make a snuggly twosome?
When we came home with my new piggy playmate, Mum gave us our own special names. Named after the elven princess Arwen Undómiel or "Evenstar" that married King Aragorn in
The Lord of the Rings, my name is Arwen meaning "noble woman" in elven; I’m the one that has been telling our story thus far. I’m the lighter one with the white, grey, and tan fur and pink with brown spotted ears. I have all white paws except for that one grey and white, right front paw. I was adopted on July 10 and have been with my loving Mum for exactly four weeks today. I am a bit more rambunctious in a very silly and cute way. Mum always is laughing at my clownish mannerisms and my naughty and mischievous ways. I am usually the starter of all craziness in the piggy cage and sometimes even manage to get Hinata to be my sidekick and join in the fun. My piggy pal is named Hinata, meaning "towards the sun", "sunflower", or "sunshine" in Japanese. She is named after the princess of the Hyūga clan in the
Naruto anime series and was adopted on July 16 (National Guinea Pig Day). She has extra shiny fur, brown ears, and all white paws with the exception being her front, left paw that is partially brown with white and grey splotches. We were both only 4 1/2" (11.43 cm) in length and approximately 2 1/2 months old when Mum got each of us so we were EXTREMELY tiny. Mum loved that we each could fit perfectly in her paw. We are growing so quickly and our wonderful personalities are truly blossoming. We already absolutely love one another and love Mum, too. We also have been interested in seeing what the silly hamster called Eros is up to as she always seems to get our attention when she is out and about playing with Mum. Some of our favorite games are playing hide-n-seek in the tissue box and chasing games around the boxes, lol. We love being held and played with by Mum, too. Wow, it sure is great being a part of this wonderful family; I can hardly wait to see what silly adventures we may be up to next. Time will only tell!!!!
Here, we are playing hide-n-seek from Mum. One of our favorite places to hide is in our tissue box. We also love hiding under a huge pile of hay and then we carry the hay pile along with us as our cover as we sneakily move to our next hiding spot. I guess this gives Mum the extra giggles since she might even be fooled into believing the hay is truly moving on its own - probably we don't actually succeed in trick her, but I sure like thinking we do anyway just for the fun of it. Pics of us in our hay hiding spot will have to wait for another post as Mum is still seeing what pics are best to show that.
This is Hinata eagerly showing the me art of "properly" drinking from the bottle. Previously to this thorough demonstration, I always stood directly under the spout of the bottle, twisted my neck so I was able to turn my head to face directly behind and above me to drink it at a weird angle. Mum was surprised by this and was very pleased to see that I was a great student and learned the drinking bottle lesson quite quickly. She was always so concerned that I would get sick becoming so wet after drinking. I must admit that sometimes when Mum isn't supposed to be watching, I do still enjoy having Hinata do all of the hard work and drink water from the bottle properly as I eagerly open my mouth wide to catch any stray drops that may have missed falling into her mouth. Who says that we always both have to work for a nice sip of water if I am mighty sneaky and creative enough to get another to push the bottle spout button for me while I willingly reap the benefits that way - popcorn, popcorn!!! I sure am glad that Mum wasn't able to capture me "stealing" Hinata's droplets; I'm playing innocent in that pic! Whew!!!
It sure is exhausting being so cute all of the time. Sweet dreams, Hinata. I'll popcorn with you some more in our dreams. See you there!!!
