Chucklebunnies!

Hello. I haven’t added to this for ages, due to sadness. Little Ishmael died, mother of fifteen little baby hamsters I gave away to girls at school. It was very sudden, which worried me a lot, so I have been keeping a vigilant watch on the two boys but they’re both fine. I’m not entirely sure what I could do to help a sick hamster who would die overnight, but it helps to see the boys each morning, getting up out of bed and coming to see me - coming to see what food I’ve brought them anyhow!

Tex has just one more week before he is neutered. This is a single day operation apparently, next Weds I shall take him to the vets first thing and pick him up after work. This is supposed to make him less aggressive etc, but he simply isn’t aggressive anyway. He asks for cuddles, crouching down and staying perfectly still so that he can be picked up. He even rings the bell on a toy in their run and then tries to climb into the bag if I sit down at the computer where he can see me. I think it’s a hint, but I haven’t given in yet. My rabbit is trying to train me…..how familiar is this to rabbit owners! Tex’s picture is on the front page of this site, if you want to see an amazingly cuddly dwarf rabbit!

Tex did the submission thing, lying right down and pushing his face just under Columbia’s chin as I started to stroke Columbia while I sat in their run. Columbia stayed there, for the stroking which she loves, chuckling away, and Tex worked his way forwards then settled down completely. Totally relaxed. Columbia is the oldest guinea pig and very much in charge by the way. Fascinating behaviour. I found myself relaxing too, almost falling asleep, feeling happy to be with them.

Sarah

The same rules apply to all small animals, they will learn to trust you if you can make them feel safe, which means not threatened in any way. At this point they will stop biting you, running from you, leaping out of your hands etc. They will go to you willingly, happily explore your hands/clothes and appreciate your presence.

To make a small animal feel safe you have to help it to relax. Your voice and the way you use it is critical. Never squeak or use a high pitched voice. Too many bird predators have high pitched cries. Always use encouraging tones, it really doesn’t matter what you say, you could be reciting the phone directory, but you have to be encouraging. Imagine they are a small child and you are trying to get them to do something for you and make them happy. Keep your voice even, no sudden loudness and don’t let anyone else loom over your shoulder or talk across you. The animal needs to hear your voice alone, quietly, creating a link between you.

Body language is also important. Don’t ever be afraid, pretend confidence even if you don’t feel it, never loom over them and never approach suddenly or from behind. Your hand is huge compared to a hamster or a mouse and still pretty big compared to a piggie or rat. Move slowly, even if they bite you, they have to get used to you and feel no fear when in/near your hands.

Let the animal climb on you, explore you. They need to know you, your smell and breath, where your voice comes from and so on. Mice will hide in your hair and clothes, rats will explore you and then wash your scent off themselves. Hamsters will hide in your clothes and elbows and put piggies close to your face as they are happiest there. If you have a fast moving animal and aren’t certain you can keep their interest then sit in the bath maybe and have something they they can go and hide in next to you. They will come to you, just be patient and keep talking.

Some animals are more territorial than others, they just are. They may seem completely untamable, but use soft gloves to get them out of their cage (which they can bite) and then play with them on neutral ground. They will bite until they aren’t at home anymore, then they’ll settle down and start to be interested in their surroundings. Use the same gloves without washing them, the scent of the glove is important. That particular animal just can’t relax at home, you will always be seen as an invader, that’s all.

You don’t have to get them to associate you with food, but it can help. Feeding them tidbits from your hands can be marvellous fun, take care to make it part of their balanced diet.

Never stick a piece of your hand in the cage (eg a fingertip), never give up, always forgive them for biting you because they do it from fear and if you were afraid you’d have a go too.

Once you have established that you are safe, then start to examine the animal when you hold them. Look at tummies, feet, ears and so on. Parents always do this, you will be seen as another parent and it will help to build a relationship. Always support them with care, stop if you sense any fear or nervousness. It is hard to be patient enough sometimes, it takes real work to build a relationship but it is well worth it. To know that your pet sees you as a safe place, a refuge or haven, feels fantastic. They will reward you over and over for your efforts by simply being happy to be with you.

Hello. Columbine is in my lap, gazing up at me with interest. She just guerned down a large piece of cucumber peel, causing much merriment as she did so. I have never seen any piggie eat so fast, or shuffle their mouth about as much…When I gave them long pieces of grass the other day she worked her way along to one end, then ate it like a piece of spaghetti. The other piggies can fold and inhale the grass at speed, but little Columbine still kept up in sheer amount consumed. Amazing. (I’ve just been widdled on - they say cucumber is a diuretic…sigh)

Columbia has been soaking up the sunshine, warming her old bones this week. It gets pretty warm in that conservatory, it really hasn’t seemed like October in there. I’m a bit more worried than usual though, she is spending a long time snoozing in between snacks. Every time I pick her up and hold her she seems bonier. She still loves life though, bossing little Columbine about, actually jumping into Tex’s hutch and picking the nicest bits out of his dish, demanding cuddles from me by stretching her head up towards me and weebling in a loud voice. And she’s very vocal when cuddled, it’s just that now the chuckles quiet down and then stop, and she’s asleep again. It doesn’t have to be the fleecey pocket any more, she doesn’t have to be really warm, she just snoozes whenever she’s comfy. I wonder if I’ll get to be like that when I’m old - make me comfy and I’ll go to sleep. Some days I feel pretty old already if that’s the qualifier….

My tip this week is about getting animals used to general handling. When Tex went for his injections he was remarkably calm both times, the vet remarked how calm. The same techniques work for any animal, but some are easier to work with. I suppose the biggest thing you need is patience and I have masses of that. Working with secondary school children trying to teach them science really is like trying to push treacle uphill, so a little setback in the handling stakes never really bothers me much. You just try, try and try again!

Sarah

Guinea pigs can catch colds from people, especially as the cold virus lives on the palms of our hands which we use to stroke our piggies. So colds are always going to happen, even when your piggies don’t seem to have a source of infection you will pass them on. Guinea pigs sneeze as a matter of course anyway, it helps to clear their sinuses. So don’t assume that the first sneeze you hear is a cold. Giveaway signs are a wet, runny nose or soggy sneezes - you can see a mist emerge with the sneeze in fact as piggies don’t use hankies - wheezing breath and odd noises when breathing. Not all piggies make noises but some make very strange bubbly, gulpy or asthmatic noises. This is just because their airways are full of mucus.

To hear a guinea pig’s breathing properly, hold the guinea pig carefully, supporting it properly all the way along it’s tummy, and place it on your shoulder. Then put your ear to it’s side just behind the front leg and listen carefully, waiting for the piggie to stop chuckling (which is really loud). Never let go of the piggie. You will hear tummy rumblings, a good sign, and the heart beating which is much faster than ours. But any asthmatic sounding wheezes or difficulty breathing will be evident. I have found that listening like this to a piggie can tell me of breathing difficulties I can’t hear when they’re in my lap.

Mild colds can be left alone, just as in a human the piggie will recover. Make sure there’s plenty of fresh water available and keep them warm. If your piggie has a sore throat or is an older and more delicate animal then try warm water mixed with a ‘recovery’ food sachet which are available from vets. Mine are called ‘liquid feed for small herbivores’ and all of your piggies will happily guzzle it down. It smells like vegetable soup and contains essential nutrients which help them to get better. They tend not to find it as interesting if you make it with cold water.

Breathing problems can be solved two ways. The less intrusive method - use a few drops of olbas oil on a tissue and hold the piggie in a cuddle with the tissue near their face. Don’t put the oil on the piggie’s nose, it will irritate the skin. Remove it if the piggie gives a really big sneeze, this will have cleared the airways and eased the breathing, which is the best olbas oil can do. I use olbas oil as there is no menthol in it. I know from being a teacher that a lot of people don’t like menthol at all, it irritates them. So I apply that knowledge to other animals too as menthol is very powerful.

A more intrusive method is 0.2 ml of cough medicine - use a non drowsy type with a decongestant in. If you use just 0.1 ml then this dose can be repeated again later if needed. Any small piggies, use 0.05 ml. You have to swaddle the piggie and persuade the medicine in from a syringe, they need to swallow/lick it. I use Robutisson’s chesty cough medicine, and then only for bad colds. I’d rather not medicate if possible.

If the cold is really bad and the guinea pig is distressed with it then go to the vets. It costs, but I prefer the peace of mind. Chest infections can be nasty in any animal.

If you have any further tips to pass on, please comment.

Hello. Columbine is in my lap in the fleecy pocket while I type this, snuffling and snotty nosed. Poor little piggie, she has a cold and doesn’t like it. In this she is not alone - I don’t know anyone who actually enjoys the runny nose etc etc. I just listened to her breathing and it was not terribly good, so she has been introduced to olbas oil as well. It’s already working, I can just hear tummy rumbles when I put her to my ear instead of forced wheezing now.  (See tips for all about piggy colds)

Columbine has been trying to raise herself in the rankings this week, all part of being a teenage piggy I think. She’s been hustling Columbia (the old piggy) and rounding her up while making those low thrums . She’s also been mounting her, or rather trying to and then getting told off, but none of this behaviour has been shown to Carmina. Carmina is still mum, and therefore not to be messed with.

Tex is proving to be a bit of a handful, far too inquisitive and a born troublemaker. Just like any teenage boy then. On investigating the bag of rubbish from the piggies cage when I was cleaning it earlier, first he bit at the plastic, then, when I lifted it away from him, he put his paws up on it and scored three long rents in the side. Mucky hay etc everywhere….sigh… He’s also taken to rounding us up with low snuff snuff noises when we sit on the floor inside the run. You have to listen carefully, and make sure he doesn’t eat your hair/clothes, but he is amazingly cute as he goes round and round and round and round….

Igor, the dwarf hamster who features in the photos we do of hamster pockets because he’s so photogenic, is no longer able to climb up his tubes very well. He had ladders when he was little (he’s in a rotostak cage with plastic vertical tubes) but he got into the habit of killing them thoroughly, ‘bang bang’ endlessly, which was seriously irrritating. So we took them away and he learnt to climb. Well, I think he’s just plain getting too old to pull himself up now, he’s going thin at the ankles and wrists which is a giveaway of age in hamsters. So I’ve reorganised his cage all onto one level, all the food, water, bedding, wheel etc available downstairs. I think he approves, he seemed very pleased anyhow, nice happy busy busy sort of body language. I confess I don’t like the idea of Igor getting old but it happens to us all. We’ve kept a lot of mice over the years and loved them dearly because mice really do have distinctive little personalities. The trouble is, just as you get to know them properly, they die on you. My science club fell in love with one little mouse. Pandora, the mouse, used to adore going to see all of them on Thurs afternoons. They were trying to find out which food groups she would eat in preference so she was played with and then got treats to eat…mouse heaven! It was a terrible wrench telling them that she’d succumbed to a virus (she was getting on a bit by then).

Columbine is feeling a bit better, she’s woken up from a nice nap and is starting to demand attention and climb onto my arm, front feet weighing heavy for such a little girl. She probably needs the toilet, they don’t like to go in the pouches and you have to learn their signals really as they all have different ones. Children at school were easier, I can recognise a raised hand and twisted expression a mile off. Yup, there’s a weeble, bye for now!

Sarah

The outside run around the cherry tree…

Oh dear…..I have teenagers in my conservatory now…

First - Columbine. Four days ago she emerged in the morning a changed piggie, swinging her bottom from side to side, thrumming in a deep little voice, telling any boys out there that she was a fit and healthy piggie with twisting jumps and so on. Carmina hid and Columbia ignored her - until she tried to mount Columbia’s head! She was told off roundly and went wheeping back inside. So our Columbine now wants to paint the hutch black and put up posters. Here we go…..she’s actually cuddlier now though, and more needy somehow. Such a loud chuckle when she gets going. I can cuddle her separately from Carmina, they used to go in a pocket together every time, so coming into season for the first time has given her confidence.

Second - Tex. Over the last week he has become ’stride wide’ rabbit, making room for his testes.  He’s become more curious, more interested in my brown skirt (!) and is trying very hard to explore the total conservatory. He really likes having the piggies there, he’s socialising as much as possible. So I’ve rearranged the conservatory a bit to try to stop him from getting to the bits he shouldn’t get to, and I’m leaving the piggies hutch open more often to allow him to visit. He has eaten too many greens, I know this because his poos were too soft earlier this week, but deliberately shutting him out of there in the evening when the piggies are given their fresh veg is working. He looks so piteous though, asking for more like a mini Oliver. I harden my heart….

Sarah

Hello. It’s doing that British grey soaking drizzle outside so I have just turned the guinea pigs loose into the tiled conservatory with Tex - a dwarf velveteen rabbit who looks like a normal rabbit with cream accents but is a lot smaller - so the view in front of me is filled with movement. This is mostly because little Columbine the piggie, (scruffy rosette tricoloured teenager) who has only been here three weeks, is exploring and Tex (4 months old) is following her closely, enjoying himself.  I do know that rabbits can hurt piggies, so a careful eye is needed, but the guinea pigs do have somewhere to hide in there and the rabbit was lonely. Keeping small animals has given me a lot more understanding about them, it’s inevitable that you learn about your pet. And the love I feel for them is satisfied when they show happy body language and interact with me.

Columbia, the oldest guinea pig (over 6) and least healthy (cancer) is showing happy ears as she attacks Tex’s food dish, picking out all the best bits. When I let the piggies into Tex’s run outside they shave all the grass down,  leaving none for him. Such good little trencher women…reflected in the fact that Carmina, my third piggie (one year old), needs to go on a diet. The difficulty there is that I’m trying to get Columbia to eat more. Because of the cancer and resulting problems she is just skin and bone, despite a genuine appetite for food. You can feel the bones in her spine when you cuddle and stroke her, and my fingers snag on her jutting out hip bones. So I worry dreadfully and make sure she has plenty of nice fresh veg, dried food, hay, dried grass…you get the picture! Carmina’s tummy was dragging on the floor at the start of the summer - now she’s a better shape, nicely piggie, but more exercise is the only answer. Hence the run inside - with wire fences - on tiling unfortunately but you can’t have everything. My husband calls it the deathtrap conservatory now!

Carmina has heaved her tubby little shape into Tex’s cage and got stuck! Having investigated thoroughly she wants out again and is weebling - excuse me.

Carmina likes to lick Tex’s ears, Columbine and Tex encourage each other to run around and Tex likes to lie with his nose in Columbia’s side, just behind her elbow, in exactly the same way as little Columbine does. Carmina has become Columbine’s mother, bossing her about, guarding her and watching for trouble when they’re outside, shooing her indoors if needed and making sure she does the right thing despite Columbine’s pathetic high pitched weebles. This means that Columbine sticks close to Caarmina, nose to her bottom following her when outside sometimes.  Columbia was Carmina’s mother, just the same when Carmina was new here, and Columbia likes to follow Tex. So, occasionally, they all make a brilliant train - Tex, Columbia, Carmina and Columbine, nose to bottom moving together. This did confuse Tex terribly at first, but I think he’s simply accepted it now. Interesting how one species will get used to the behaviour patterns of another and accomodate it.

I’m a secondary science teacher, taking a break from teaching due to recovering from an op. So I do like to observe and remember detail - sorry if I seem a bit pedantic or fussy sometimes. We can’t have children so I dote on my animals and try very hard to understand their body language and ‘happy’ times. I’m certain hamsters and mice make noises we can’t hear, I’m fairly certain the larger small animals do too. I just have to go by whatever I can personally observe.

Tex has found the open door to the piggies cage and gone in, curiosity in every line of his body. My next job this morning is to clean that out, then the hamster cages. This could be interesting - cleaning out the piggies while Tex wanders around….. Silly little Columbine is trying to eat through the bars right next to the open door…there is no satisfying some piggies! She doesn’t look distressed however, her ears are up and her manner is determined. Maybe she’s enjoying the twanging noises she’s making.

Ho hum. Now to do cleaning. Ahab the hamster thinks the disinfectant bottle is another hamster because it makes a hissing noise. So he’ll get annoyed, hissy himself, and then all masculine, excited and quivery. It’s a good job he likes people and doesn’t bite! He always thinks he’s won because the hissing noises do go away…..so it’s probably good for him!

Sarah