Meet Nibbles, Nutty, Buddy & Basil from Hutch a Good Life

Please introduce yourselves:

Nibbles the eldest

Nibbles – As the eldest I think I should make the introduction. *ahem* I am Nibbles, I am a six year old tri-colour guinea pig. Mummy says that I am grumpy but I prefer ‘distinguished’!

My cagemate is three year old Nutty. He is the colour wild guinea pigs are which is quite cool but Mummy says it makes him very difficult to spot when whee are in the garden. It is sort of brown with flecks of black called agouti.Nutty is super spoiled and famously ran up Mummy’s dressing gown sleeve the morning after he arrived home. He has been a clingy Mummy’s boy ever since!
Buddy is a nine months old tri-colour piggy like myself. He is currently recovering from the loss of his brother which hit him quite hard. Usually he is a cuddle monster who loves the smell of lady guinea pigs! Hence his Buddy’s Babes fanclub on the blog!
Our newest addition it Basil. He was only six wheeks old when he arrived and it a pretty grey agouti and white. He is very small but Mummy says his
biggest focus in life is definitely his stomach! He just doesn’t stop eating! I don’t know where it all goes!

How did you come into your mum’s life?

Nutty

Nutty – Well I came into Mummy’s life when Nibbles lost his first friend, Nugget. Nibbles is a ancient grumpy old man who must have arrived with Mummy a bazillion years ago! I was only five wheeks old which was of course to young to go to a new home but Mummy soon became very protective of me.

Early this year Bingo and Buddy joined the family to be pets for Mummy’s younger brothers. Unfortunately Bingo was almost immediately unwell. When whee lost him Buddy was so upset Mummy had to get him a friend same as she did for Nibbles getting me. And so Basil came into our lives. He is already nice and cheeky!

Do you all live together in the same cage?

Nibbles – Nope. Nutty is certainly enough for me! Whee live in pairs because it is actually nearly impossible to make three boy piggies get along. Most trios will end up having a big fight when they hit the hormonal phase and then you would end up with three single, possibly injured, piggies.

Mummy says some hoomans have made trios work but they had lots of experience in pigsonalities and lots of space! Space is a big thing with us boy piggies. The miniumum cage requirement is 120cm for a pair of piggies, because the more space you have, the less likely whee will argue about getting under each others paws!

Unlike us boars, ladypigs can live in herds of as many as you like. Obviously the cage has to be really big if you have lots though! Most shop bought cages aren’t big enough for more than a pair so it is usually best to look into DIY C&C grid cages (which Mummy doesn’t know all that much about!

Are there different types of piggies? If so what type of piggies are you?

Buddy

Buddy – There are lots of different types of piggies. Long haired, short haired, and even no haired (known as Skinny Pigs)! Me and Nibbles are tri-coloured short haired piggies. That just means that whee have three colours on our fur. Ours are black, white and tan/ginger. Nutty as described before is an agouti cutie short hair piggy. His fur is brown but the tips of each strand are black which makes him quite striking to look at and surprisingly good at blending into grass and plants in the garden. More than once Mummy has worried that he has escaped his run, only to get closer and realise he is sitting right there munching the grass!

Mummy says that Nutty is funny because he has a sandy coloured belly and ring around his eyes which look like he is wearing make-up! Basil is similar to Nutty in that he is agouti but the similarities end there. Basil is a mainly white piggy but has patches of grey agouti. Those patches of his fur are light grey with a darker grey tip. Mummy suspects that this darker grey will darken to black as he gets older. Like Nutty he has a ring of light (white) fur round his eyes making them stand out even more. Basil eyes are actually pretty special. They are actually purple! Mummy has been trying to get a pigture but none can capture it perfectly. Mummy says some other piggies can have blue eyes but the rest of ours are just a normal black.

What is a typical day like for you?

Nutty – Whee actually did a post about this! You can see a Saturday in the life of me, Nutty Nutkin, here:

[Taken with permission from: http://hutchagoodlife.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/saturday-nut-fever/]

A Saturday In The Life Of Nutty Nut Nutkin!
8:45 – I wake up to fresh food and water nomming a nice brekkie before settling down in fresh hay for a nap.
9:00 – I notice that no piggy has squeaked at Mummy for at least five minutes and begin demands for eleven o'clock veggies . . . To no avail.
10:00 – Glare at all hoomans and look half starved and pathetic. It is difficult with fluffy tummy fur like mine but I try all the same.
11:00 – Mummy FINALLY gives us veggies to loud squeaking and popcorning round the cage.
12:00 – After eating veggies, begging for more and having a cuddle I settle down for a lengthly nap.
3:00 – Mummy wakes me for cuddles and lets me run around the living room, if it is cool enough on a hot day, or warm enough on a cold day, I head into the garden for a run around a taste fresh green spaghetti straight from the lawn . . . Al fresco!
5:00 – Mummy checks food and water levels when cleaning out my lovely messy cage and makes it smell all girly. Does she not understand the work I put into smelling this boarly?!
7:00 – Brought inside from run and begin rearranging the horribly clean cage. Kicking out fresh bedding and restocking the poop piles is just the begining!!!
8:00 – Evening telly box time. Mummy lays a blanket on the sofa next to her and whee cuddle up to watch X Factor with her covering my ears when the hoomans begin to sing like strangled cats (apologies to our kitty friends but it is true!)
9:00 – Returned to cage where Mummy makes sure I drink and eat something (as she does with all the others!) and whee get evening munchie rations of hay. Nomnomnom!
9:30 – Loudly drink from the water bottle through the weather a news until Mummy gives up and says night night before heading up to bed.
9:38 – Proud of my accomplishments I wheek my good night to the others and go to bed, dreaming of all the havoc I can wreak tomorrow.
11:45 – Decide havoc cannot wait and proceed to destroy food bowl, throwing it around and tug on the water bottle till it falls off. Mummy not impressed, refixes the bottle and tidies food before rocking me to sleep in her arms.
11:59 – Back in cage I smile sleepily at Mummy. She knows I can’t wait to do it all again next Saturday!!!
What do you do on Saturday?
Nutty
 xxxx

Basil, the newest member

Do you get to go outside?

Buddy – Yep! Being British piggies whee have to put up with the always changing weather. Some wheeks it will rain and rain and whee will only get to run inside, on the lino in the hallway. Other wheeks it will be so hot Mummy will only put us out for half an hours with ice bottles to lie on and cover the run with a blanket or she will wait until it’s cooler in the evenings. When it gets really cold in Winter she picks our grass rations from the garden and brings them in where whee will cuddle up with head pads and central heating to stay cosy. But sometimes the weather is sunny, but with a cool breeze and she will put us out with our food, veggies and water and sit out enjoying it with us for most of the day! As whee piggies are quite prone to dehydration and heatstroke Mummy always sits out with us to make sure whee are ok and if whee look even vaguely off colour she takes us straight back inside.

Nibbles smiling

Do you have any advice for people who have never been around piggies?

Nibbles, Nutty, Buddy & Basil – Don’t be scared! Whee don’t bite! Well not unless seriously provoked. That is why it is said whee make such good childrens pets. Mummy says that it is important that an adult is always around when children handle piggies and that an adult takes responsibility for the piggies but otherwise kids can have great fun with them. Mummy has three younger brothers, ‘the little hoomans’ as whee like to call them and they love us all! The only time Mummy has ever been bitten was when she was clipping our claws and whee weren’t to impressed with her piggicuring skills. As long as you speak to us in a calm voice whee are quite happy to chat back to you! Our various squeaks, purs, pops, chatterings and singing make us very entertaining pets. Remember whee are prey animals so whee will run away when you try to pick us up. It’s instinct. Mummy has tamed us so that whee associate cuddles with good things and let her pick us up without fuss but Basil is only just begining his training so he is pretty nervous about leaving the cage!

Websites whee recommend

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/ (A great community of experts who can advise on pretty much anything and share pigtures and funny stories)

http://www.guinealynx.info/ (Mummy calls it the ‘Bibles of Piggy Health Care’ All whee know is it taught her about bathing us and clipping our claws *pouts*)

http://www.petergurney.com/ (Pretty much a guinea pig guru, Mummy loves his books which are definitely worth a read if you are interested in getting piggies or even if you just want to know more about caring for your own!)

http://www.hutchagoodlife.wordpress.com/ (What?! It is the best piggy blog if you want to know how the world looks from the point of view of four cheeky piggies and their Mummy!)

Dedication:

Buddy, rest in piece little one

This article is dedicated to the loving memory of Bingo who suffered much in his short life.

Here is a poem that the piggies mum wrote in loving memory of dear Bingo:

A Piggy Mummy’s Lament

Hush little piggy,
Yes I cry,
I’m very upset,
And I can’t say why.
Hush little piggy,
Cuddle close,
This is the one thing,
I will miss the most.
Hush little piggy,
Feel no fear,
There’s no need to be afraid,
When your Mummy’s here.
Sleep little piggy,
While I cry,
It was the hardest final kindness,
But now I say “Goodbye”.
My little furbaby,
Popcorn free,
But don’t you forget,
What you meant to me.
Your cage feels empty,
Your friend’s alone,
He doesn’t understand,
You won’t be coming home.
Hush my sweetheart,
While we cry,
I’m drowning in my tears,
Like my cheeks will never dry.

—

Author’s Notes:
 
I want to sent snuggles and thanks  to Nibbles, Nutty, Buddy and little Basil for agreeing to the interview and their mum for sending their answers. It was a pleasure. I don’t think I’ve giggled so much while editing a blog article. To my readers please take a moment to read their blog and become a follower, it’s a very cute blog written from the point of view of the piggies. =^.^=