It has been forty-eight hours since the piggies took up residence in their new home and it doesn’t seem like any of them have figured out how to get to the delicious food that is growing just under their feet! I had promised myself that I would give them a week before doing anything more but I just was not able to resist…
So, this morning, I started by making the hole to the ramp bigger…like so…
Ramp With Enlarged Hole.
Next, I tried to tempt the piggies with a bit of juicy produce to give them some incentive…
Tempting Piggies to Go Down the Ramp.
And here is one of them almost getting the idea…
Almost there…you can do it!
That particular piggie managed to get all the way down and is now chomping away in paradise. Unfortunately, none of the others managed to figure it out. Both Munchkin and I have decided that I will have to make more ramps, say like five more…
I’m playing catch-up today…the Internet connection failed for twenty-four hours (this is not that unusual where we are) but it is back again this morning (aaaah, couldn’t check Stats for a whole day…this is way too addictive!!!).
Managed to finish the Guinea Pig Cage after five days of work. The finished cage picture is going to go under this paragraph but I couldn’t get a good picture this morning since the sun is in the way right now, so I’m going to plug it in later when I can get a better one. It shows all the welded wire in place, the piggies themselves and the two sheets of roofing; one metal for shade and one out of plastic to let some sunlight in (so they don’t become Vitamin D deficient!).
The Famous Turtle-Blancanoux-Bel-Campo-Wild-Orchid-Eco-Agro-Tourist-Rainforest-Canopy Hotel/Spa/Resort for the Discerning Piggie in its full glory ($2000 per night!).
The piggies seem happy but they haven’t figured out how to use the “stairway/ramp” yet, so they are staying on the second floor, and consequently eating the huge amount of grass we have to keep on collecting. I’m going to see how long it is going to take them to figure out that they have forty square feet of delicious, high-protein perennial peanut (Arachis pintoi) twelve inches under them.
Satisfied Customers at our New Resort, enjoying the organic, farm fresh produce for dinner.
It has been the third day of work to try and get the Piggie Cage done. Wasn’t as productive this time as it started to rain and there wasn’t quite enough cut lumber; I ended up trying to attach welded wire on to the front…I don’t really have the right tools to work with it (except tin-snips), which made it a painful and prolonged process of fitting. I was grateful when it started to rain so that I had an excuse to stop. But we must soldier on for the Piggies!!
Here is the photo for the third day of construction…
Bad Weather and Union Trouble Has Delayed Construction of the Piggie Four Seasons Hotel ($1100 per night); Riots Are Breaking Out in Piggie-opolis and the Mayor Has Been Threatened!
The saw is going to have to come out again for the fourth day and hopefully the weather will allow further work to be done. The cage is starting to get heavier each day and it will be interesting to see if it is as “movable” as I would like, especially once the Piggies are in it.
It has started getting cold today; I suppose it is about 20C (from the usual 35-40) but it feels like it is below zero. My feet are cold, I’ve got to wear a wooly hat and the only way to keep warm is to move around. I can’t believe I actually am living in the Tropics.
With that aim in mind, I finally started on the new and improved, movable, self-feeding Guinea Pig Cage. The frame is made with 1″ Nargusta reduced from a 2″ by 4″ with a table saw. It is four feet by 10 feet and will be two floors. I haven’t decided wether I’m going to call it the MGM Grand, or the Bellagio, or Bel Campo, or maybe the Wild Orchid…
Side View of Future Piggie Five Star Accommodation, $900 per night!
About 5 years ago, we decided to embark on a project to raise guinea pigs for food. We had read up on it and found that it was a delicacy in Peru; our reason for choosing guinea pigs was because they are docile (after having goats, the keeping of guinea pigs sounded very nice) and they also eat lots of grass and greenery without the need for bought food. Besides, we saw varoius tasty Peruvian recipes which looked very appetising; most of them looked like variations of deep-fried guinea pig with the head left on!
We started off with three guinea pigs in our breeding program which consisted of one male and two females. The male was a long-haired, dark brown type; he was very boisterous and friendly and he liked to wiggle his bottom at the other two girls whilst making ddddrrrrr overtures. We called him “The Boy”. Both girls had a patch-work of different colours and they were also long-haired. Penelope had blonde and white patches and was very friendly and liked to petted. The other girl had red and white patches and her personality was the complete opposite of the other girl. She was very shy and liked to hide in the corners of the cage; she was deadly quiet except for when I approached the cage with freshly cut sweet grass; she would call out with a shrill weeeeeee! And, as soon as I was in view, she would stop as though she had never been making any noise. I never heard a peep out of her whenever she saw that I was looking at her. Her name was Stumpy and she is the only one that remains alive out of all three.
GrandMa Stumpy.
She was aptly named Stumpy as her left rear leg unfortunately broke on the first day, when we were transporting her back home. By the time we got home, we ended up having to do an above-knee amputation (there was no choice) and then we dipped her stump in copal oil and dressed it. Her recovery was remarkable and to this very day, she is my testimony for the wonderful healing benefits of Copal Oil.
Through out the years, Stumpy bred like a champion and mothered many guinea pigs (at a guess, it has probably been about 20). The leg has never been an impediment and has continued to be a piggy with a winning personality. We call her GrandMa Stumpy now and she has her own cage because she can be a bit irritated by the other noisy guinea pigs.
Other Noisy Piggies.
She is retired now and every day we give her fresh sweet grass (Mombassa is her favourite) and even some small doggy food pellets as a treat. Because of her age, she does get a bit smelly and unkempt so every three months, we take her out of the cage to give her a haircut, trim her toe-nails and clean out her hairy ears.
I wanted to write a special article on Stumpy because she is the Grandma of our farm and she deserves a mention because she is such a sweet little creature. Hooray for Stumpy!
It has been forty-eight hours since the piggies took up residence in their new home and it doesn’t seem like any of them have figured out how to get to the delicious food that is growing just under their feet! I had promised myself that I would give them a week before doing anything more but I just was not able to resist…
