Tag Archives: Guinea Pigs

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Waiting…

We are waiting for the tropical storm Nate to pass over so we are trying to stay out of trouble by having a quiet day.  Right now, looking outside, you wouldn’t think that there was a weather alert…there’s a little gusty wind and no rain at all.  So what have we been up to?  We went through a dry spell and managed to clear a chunk of bush behind the house; we even managed to burn a few wood piles because it was so hot and sunny.  This clearing up is in preparation for rotational goosie pastures which we should hopefully have ready by laying season early next year.  The last week has been very, very wet with overnight downpours; the whole place has turned to mud so we had to stop the clearing this week.

Yes, that’s why we wear wellies all the time!

Anyway, I would like to show pictures of the new vegetable garden.  If you have been following our Blog, you’ll know that we have been rotating our guinea pig houses and planting vegetables in the unoccupied houses which are  full of lovely piggy mulch.  I am very pleased with results!  We have okra, endives, rocket and aubergine.

Piggie Houses:

Piggie Rotational Homes.

The Vegetable Garden:

Red Okra.
Aubergines.

Not For Eating…tobacco…

Tobacco.
Endives and Rocket.

Keep safe everyone!!

Belize, Farming, Food

Where Does The Time Go?

We are soooo busy we haven’t had time to write.  I am either doing something (so can’t be at the computer) or doing nothing (so can’t be bothered because I’m too tired).  It’s either 1 or 0 at the moment!  Gnome is getting better from his shoulder injury so I’ve got him on “light duties” right now.  This still entails moving wheel-barrows of dirt and filling up new vegetable beds.  We are dismantling the current piggie beds which are full of wonderful mulch and building new temporary homes for them.  It in other words, we have rotational concrete “pastures” for the piggies;  the piggies are fed grass and all things nice, they  poop and do their thing for 3 months, we then move them along to another home and grow vegetables in the old home.  So on and so forth….the piggies are doing their job on the farm!  Piggie  mulch is fantastic; the earth is black, black, black and there are fat worms wiggling about everywhere!

Piggie Rotational Homes.

My lovely Piggies:

So, I’ve got a whole load of seedlings ready including tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, kale, endives and fennel.

Tomato Seedlings.
Pepper Seedlings.

I’ll try and write more this week!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Plants

Munchkin & Gnome Update.

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Phew…it is sooooo hot!!  When the dry season comes, it comes with a vengeance.  Well what’s been happening?  Gnome’s tomatoes are getting to about 200 to 300g (1/2 lb) and they are slowly turning purple red.  The only problem is that the birdies have discovered these delicious choice fruit and they’ve been feasting on them.  Poor Gnome…he was devastated!

Green Tomatoes.

“No…not my lovely tomatoes!!  Why don’t they eat something else…there are plenty of other things!!”

We did an Internet search on “how to scare birds away” and the easiest thing was hanging up silver foil in a line.  So I cut out about 50 old pie containers and hung a whole lot, on string, like Christmas decorations.  That didn’t work at all!  The birds still came and bit chunks out of our tomatoes;  we were getting so frustrated since we hadn’t eaten a single intact tomato!

I said to Gnome with a wry smile,

“you can buy decoy owls from Amazon but I’m afraid we can’t  get 24 hour shipping to Belize…”

Anyway, I left Gnome to his own devices for a while and later he called me out to look at what he did.  He placed a cotton work glove on each and every tomato so that the plants looked like they were displaying a show of hands.

So far, it has worked.  Great…very simple and cheap way to fool the birdies away.  Those dastardly birds  are also getting my suriname cherry which is really quite upsetting.  These fruit don’t taste like “cherries” but have a very sweet and resinous taste.  They usually get to about an inch (2cm) in size.

Suriname Cherries.

The other day, I spotted an enormous one that was about 2 inches in size.  It was still green so I decided to leave it on the bush.  I thought that it would a really nice treat for Gnome and he would really appreciate it.  A while later, I went back to pick it and the whole thing was gone!  Those cheeky blighters!!  Those Montezuma oropendola…you know, those ones with yellow tails…the ones that bird watchers go on about all the time.  Well, they’re eating up all our fine epicurean delights…Wahhhh!!!

Yes birdie…I know you are looking at our lovely tomatoes…

Montezuma oropendola

On a happier note, we have four more kids on the block.  Say Hello to our lovely new baby cavies!  The sandy looking one is very nice…oooh and look at the third one with the black patch on its nose.  What cuties!!

New Baby Piggies.
Amusing, Belize, Farming, Pets

ZTOP Extension!

Cor Blimey…that Duckie-zilla is getting monstrously huge!!  Mayor Gnome had no choice but to calm down the general snorts of displeasure, whining and squealing coming from Zazen Temple of Piggies (ZTOP).

If you don’t know the story already, we have a 12 week duck living with our guinea pigs.  It was a single hatchling from our first incubator experiment.  It started off small and well, got bigger and bigger.  So, the running joke is that she is Duckie-zilla is invading the poor inhabitants of the guinea pig cage.  The problem is that she really does prefer the company of the guinea pigs and every-time we try to put her in with the other ducks, she gets all stressed out.

Mayor Gnome always has to come to the rescue and everything on the farm has to come to a standstill to sort out the animals.

Duckie-zilla!!

Mayor Gnome:

“Well, she’s actually really happy being with you lot…she refuses to quack and go off with her own lot.  My only choice at this point is a ZTOP extension…”

Well here it is; it’s kinda like a semi-d or extension of council flats (you know what we mean if you live in the UK).  Otherwise, it’s really just like little houses bunched together sharing the same walls.  Not luxurious but the piggies are exempt from council tax because they are a religious group.  All funded by Mayor Gnome…donations accepted of course… 🙂

“Oi What’s Happening?”

We also have the new duckies on the block with big duckie; our plan is that these two will latch on and eventually they will all go out foraging together.

New Duckies in ZTOP.

Mayor Gnome has extended the guinea pig cage so that there are now four “houses.”  The first two houses have guinea pigs (one male with a harem of 4 or 5 females).  Gnome has removed the wall from the last two houses to give the duckies more room; they are sharing with the baby guinea pigs.  The ceiling is a bit higher in this last house so big duckie doesn’t have to stoop so much.

Long View.

The Zazen Temple has pleasant surroundings with its  own swimming pool (sorry, a rock pool…not infinity pool…need more funding for something that special…ha-ha).

ZTOP Extension.

Mayor Gnome:

“Ok Piggies…that should keep you quiet for a while!”

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Pets

Duckie-zilla!!!

There’s been a lot of commotion and general prolonged weeeeeeeeeee-weeeeeeee-weeeeeeeee!!! coming from the Guinea Pig cage (formerly known as Paradise Pastures; now renamed Zazen Temple of Piggies…ZTOP for short).  If you want to know the Piggie Story, click here.

Shock!!  Horror!!  There’s a Gigantic Yellow Monster in ZTOP terrorizing the be-Jesus out of the innocent temple dwellers.

The Zazen piggies are quivering in terror:

Cowering Frightened Piggies!!

“Help!!  Mayor Gnome!!!”

On Guard!!

Mayor Gnome: “Did the Piggies call for help!!  I must save my Piggies!!  What…a yellow monster??  In the Temple of Doom??!!”

Duckie-zilla!!

Mayor Gnome: “Hey Piggies! That’s not a yellow monster!  That’s Duckie!!”

Zazen Piggies: “Poppycock!!  You mean that  fine little blighter that you used to play with us?  Can’t be….”

Duckie and Piggies.

Mayor Gnome: “My dear piggies, that huge lumbering Duckie-zilla is your friend, the Duckie.”

Duckie.

Zazen Piggies: “Mayor Gnome, we would like to formerly dispute the identity of this yellow creature in an emergency meeting today!!”

Amusing, Belize, Pets

Saturday & Sunday Child.

Yes indeed this concludes the Fortune Telling Guinea Pig Marathon!  What a lovely lot of piggies…plus duckie of course.  We’ve posted the last two together because Gnome said:

“They look so alike…everyone will think that you are posting the same picture again.  Why don’t we put them together instead…”

It was also because we couldn’t separate them…these two are as thick as thieves…they’re conspiring to overthrow Munchkin and Gnome!

Two Piggies.

Saturday’s Child works hard for a living (I was a Saturday Child, by the way) and the one that is born on the Sabbath Day is Bonnie and Blithe!  These two were a bit camera-shy.

Saturday and Sabbath Piggies
Belize, Farming, Pets

Thursday’s Child.

Thursday’s Child has Far to Go.  This is our little runty of the litter; below 3rd centile for head circumference, body weight and length.  For babies it is vital to get the first feed within the first 24 hours to get the colostrum.  Once they get this, they are usually bouncing around by 48 hours, eating grass, grains and anything it can get its mitts on.  Getting the first feed can actually be a problem with multiple pregnancies (which is common amongst the cavies) especially when female piggies only have one set of teats. The smaller, less aggressive babies can get ignored and fall by the wayside.  When we see this happening, we sometimes give them a boost by hand-feeding them with cow’s milk on the first day.  It is important to note that baby guinea pigs do not have a good swallow reflex so you can’t actually syringe feed them; rather, you have to hold a teaspoon in front of them so that they can lick up the milk.

This one has managed with a little bit of help from us.  She was one of four and wasn’t getting enough milk.  See…she’s fit and healthy now…looks like a little white rat with no tail!

Thursday Piggie!
Amusing, Belize, Medical Related, Pets

Wednesday’s Child.

Yes I know that you are all waiting with baited breath for the Wednesday Piggie!!  Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe.  I wanted to change this line to “Wednesday’s Child is Full of Soul” but then realised that I shouldn’t avoid the sad “Eeyore” archetype.  They are everywhere so it would only be natural to have a statistically equal representation of the general population.

Sad Piggie!

Gnome Comment:

“Keep 20 to 30 guinea pigs at a time and you will learn the secrets of human behaviour; a skill that is essential to every doctor out there.”

Amusing, Belize, Pets

Tuesday’s Child.

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Tuesday’s Child is Full of Grace.  I deliberately picked one out that looked like a little highland cow.  This one sat and posed like he knew that he had to give it his best.  They all have different personalities and some of them can’t stay still and get very jittery.  The mothers are all doing fine and doing what guinea pig mothers do.

Mother with Piggies.
Mother and Piggie.

Little Highland Cow:

Tuesday Piggie!