Our Furry Friends...

Hi. I hope you are having a good day.

Today I wanted introduce our furry friends and beloved guinea pigs to the blog!

We have been considering the idea of getting a pet for a good few months now, however it didn't really feel like the right time when we first moved in, nor in the first few months after moving in. At the time, I also didn't really know what was going on with me going back into the office and how that was going to work, plus we didn't want to get a pet and not have the time to properly give the pet the attention and love that it truly deserves. However after the introduction of hybrid working in the autumnal months, and having quite a bit of flexibility on days going into the office... I thought I could manage taking care of a pet around work and being around enough to give the love and attention it needs and deserves. I say this on behalf of me only as I still primarily work from home and Jordan still goes out to work full time!

We went through all our potential options, and we knew we wanted furry friends rather than reptiles.. which ruled out snakes, bearded dragons and African land snails! Myself and Jordan have differing opinions on various reptiles, and we wanted to both be happy with whatever pet we had.

One day, we would love to have a dog. However we ultimately knew at this stage in our lives and the way our lives are right now, we knew it wasn't the right time for a dog. Most weekends we are busy going out, seeing family and friends and during the week we both work full time. If we did get a dog, it wouldn't be very fair on the dog as we know we wouldn't be able to give the dog the love and attention it truly deserves. Cats were another option which were quickly ruled out considering I am allergic and Jordan isn't that keen on having cats!

Therefore the next option for us which we ultimately concluded on were guinea pigs. I've always loved the idea of having guinea pigs, and Jordan used to have guinea pigs when he was younger and loved them. Until they got eaten by foxes.... Which quickly made our decision that our guinea pigs were going to be mainly indoor guinea pigs! After our trip to the Dinosaur Park and seeing them... It only made me even more certain to go ahead with getting them!

We decided on the fact we wanted two male guinea pigs. Males... to avoid potential breeding and then having so many guinea pigs to either rehome or look after! We wanted two as we wanted them both to have some company whilst we are out at times, and we wanted to get the guinea pigs together rather than buying from different people so we could assess whether they would get along. 

Our first port of call was Gumtree, and luckily there were a few people locally advertising two boars to be rehomed. Soon enough I saw two posts, both advertising two boars which needed rehoming asap. I messaged both, and we decided to go with the one which replied quicker... and we set a date to go and have a look at them. We also went to Pets At Home on the Thursday evening to get everything for our furry friends arrival!

On the morning of Saturday 22nd October, we travelled to a small village around half an hour away from us to have a look at the guinea pigs before we decided to take the plunge. We were nervous beforehand, but not as nervous as the guinea pigs! They kept hiding away so when we were trying to look at them, we could barely see them. In the end, we had to descontruct the cage and have a look and they were so cute. The woman who was selling them said she had just moved in, was struggling with the space and didn't have the time to give them the love and attention they deserved. They were both six months old, and after looking at them, we were sold. They were so adorable and cute, we couldn't not take them. We didn't have any way to really transport them back so we put the cage into the car and they just kept in the cage, hiding for the whole journey whilst I drove carefully and reasonably slowly. There was one point where one of them popped out and went right to the front to have a good look where they were going!

As soon as we got home, we made a makeshift run / play pen for them using the run we were given and some old sheets as well. Jordan built a wooden ramp for them to get in and out of their cage. Over time, we invested in litter trays when we realised they loved to do their business in the corners of the run as well as a couple of plastic covers under old sheets to protect the carpet from guinea pig urine. Daily tasks include feeding them,  a general clean their cage and giving them attention and cuddles. We change their water every other day, as they don't usually drink loads to warrant a water change every day. We also do a full clean once a week, where we clean out the cage fully, replace their bedding, wash the old sheets we have used in their run and hoover the surrounding area... the full cage clean is probably the more demanding job of taking care of guinea pigs, we fully clean, wash and hoover everything!

We had already decided on their names before we got them, I named one of them and Jordan named the other from the first name which I chose. From that, we somehow got a combination of names which is reminiscent to the Crash Bandicoot series, which is a gaming franchise we both played during our childhoods, and into adulthood as well!

Coco is the American guinea pig, with a mix of black, tortoiseshell and white fur. Although this is the most common breed, I also love how Coco somehow has one rosette on his head.. which is a mix of colours! Although both love their food, Coco is nearly always the first at the food bowl. Coco also loves to assert his dominance more by making a noise which sounds like a cats purr, often known as rumble strutting. Coco is definitely more laid back and gets excited very easily, he is definitely easier to pick up for a cuddle however he doesn't usually stay for very long!

Crash is the mainly black and tortoiseshell Abyssinian guinea pig, which is set apart from other guinea pigs due to their coat which is marked with swirls referred to as rosettes. That is naturally how Crash's coat is, and it looks pretty cool! They are both pretty lively however Crash does love his exercise, whilst running and jumping about their pen although he is more likely to use the homemade ramp to get in and out of their cage. He is also the most vocal when it comes to food, he loves wheeking which is a sound of excitement when he can hear the food bag. He is also very outgoing, if something new is added to the cage he will be the first one to check it out. 

I've decided to make this post a couple of weeks after rehoming the guinea pigs as I wanted to give us some time and experience of looking after guinea pigs, as well as getting to know our new furry friends. We have never properly looked after guinea pigs before, however we absolutely love Crash and Coco being a big part of our lives. It has been great watching their confidence grow every day. They work with our lifestyles perfectly, they are adorable, we love spending most of our evenings and spare time with them, they are adorable and they always sound so excited and happy by their squeaks! Did I mention they are adorable?

So yeah, it's all good...

Amy