Oh, No! I think I'm going to have to add a new forum here to accommodate our new guinea pigs in there own place.

I don't want it to get unmanagable with too many forums and I'm not quite sure which way would be best.

Options:

1. Stick to every new animal type having its own forum i.e. add guinea pig (and any other new animals to come) forum.

Or

2. Start grouping them together e.g. "rodent forum", or "smaller animals" even.

Opinions would be appreciated, but for now here are the guinea pigs, no names yet?





Video and more pics to come later tonight.

Here are some more pics of our new guinea pigs. We are still working on the names.













We can't wait till the guinea pigs get more confidant with us as it breaks your heart seenig them so timid at the moment.

Here is our first video of the guinea pigs. They are in the hamsters play pen and don't have much to hide behind, so the black and white guinea pig one tries to hide under the grey one. It does seem a bit more dominant generally. The poor grey guinea pig is still mostly frozen to the spot.

The new guinea pigs are so cute. I love their colors. Can some of the topics be amalgamated. Hamster bedding, wheels and snacks etc could be grouped into hamster care. Can that be done? Would it help? I suppose putting all the rodents together would compress things a little. When you want to tidy things up you put like with like. It's a thought.

After considering a whole range of exotic names including possibly with a hint of the ancient aztec empire or beautiful russian goddesses, we have decided on our new guinea pigs names....






.......

......

and they are...


......


Penny & Snuggles       

Sounds good to me. Go with what feels right. I like comfy names.

they're so beautiful

The guinea pigs are doing really well, we are still handling the several times per day although I really feel for Snuggles who trembles really badly most of the time. Penny is becoming much more adventurous and wandering around a lot on our laps and is very vocal.
I'm sure Snuggles will come around eventually.
I'm currently working on some guinea pig pages for the website and will announce here when they are up so that those with experience of guinea pigs can critique them for me if you don't mind.

Does Pigbert experience count, he is hardly normal. He does eat like a regular guinea pig.

Quoted from catherine

Does Pigbert experience count, he is hardly normal. He does eat like a regular guinea pig.

It most certainly does!
He can act as experienced mentor from a distance to our young guinea pigs  
Hey, I've just thought of a new use for teleconferencing! Does he have an MSN account?

Yeah, I wonder what little pigbert would say on MSN if he had an acount! "Soooooooo, you see the other day my owner came and gave me this carrot, and now this really funny thing happened....."
Yesterday snuggles was good in the evening, she  put both of her front paws up on my hands, had a good sniff then had a little stroll on my lap - progress  
I'll  need to stop here, Going to help Diane muck the sheep out - I may be a while!!!

the potential for the forums being subcategoried is good , but not absolutely necessary.
There aren't *that* many threads here, and the addition of another one for guinea pigs wouldn't cause a massive amount of problems in my opinion.
It really depends what direction you want things to go in ... i mean ... if you want there to be spaces for animals that aren't on the farm to be talked about too, then perhaps subcategories would be better..
for example
Small animals
-hamsters
-rats
-rabbits
-chinchillas
-guinea pigs
House Pets
-Dogs
-Cats
-Budgies/parrots etc
Larger Pets
-Pigs
-Sheep
-Cows
-Horses etc
Excotic Pets
-Lizards
-Snakes
-Land snails
-anything thats exotic ...
and maybe a general bit for unusual pets too... thats if you want to extend it outside of the animals that live on the farm, if you don't then i think just another one for the gpigs is fine.
As for subforums within the different catergories.... its an option , and could be helpful as the forums grow, but they can also leave people being unsure of where to post , and thus the need for more posts to be moved if they're in the wrong places etc.... just my experience

Thanks for that Beccie that is really helpful.
I'll think about it for a bit but if the status quo is ok I'll probably stick with that for now.

if it ain't broke- why fix it  

Reminds me of a quote I picked up on a computer techy forum which strikes a cord with me re. computers.

If it ain't broke, keep fixing it until it is  

too right !

That fits with the advise I got when I had glitches and called tech support. The first suggestion was always to reformate the hard drive. Fortionately I am not tottaly trusting of a voice on a phone and have never done it. Once I just had to reset it back before a piece of software that was a problem, the other time I needed to install an alternate piece of software to run instead of the faulty one.
  Pigbert on MSN:Okay, first you tip your head back til your little pink mouth shows. They can't resist that.

  Pigbert:That's it, now give an expectant look. Open your eyes big and maybe thump your foot a little.

  Pigbert:If that doesn't get a treat then give a wreittt or two.

  Pigbert: That's it, now don't forget this last bit. Be sure to trill when the treat comes. That ensures that
             the next treat will come quicker. People are easy to train, I had Caterine trained before we got
             home.


It is a scary thought, Pigbert training other guinea pigs. He is a pro. I don't remember needing to tame him. He was 6weeks old and very trusting right from the start. Maybe he just knew that his life was in the balance. The pet store was told to put him down, but he was so sweet that they couldn't do it. I will look after him as long as he is comfortable, even if his symptoms become worse. He has the cute routine down pat, he just has to look up and the world is his.

Thanks Pigbert we will pass on your instructions to your two english girls  

"If it aint broke, keep fizing it until it is" - explains you and your computer perfectly! Where is the fun in having a computer if you can't spend days and days fixing it?

"Tip your head till your little pink mouth shows they cant resist that" - Too true! I could just watch their little mouths all day. Penny lifted her head right up to sniff my face today and I just burst out laughing because of her cute little mouth. The G pigs dont seem to bothered about treats, maybe when they relax a little more they will. The girls would like me to tell you to tell pigbert thanks for the tips,  they said they will try it later on. As I said before, maybe she is already trying it! If taming the pigs means cuddles 24/7 then I'm all for taming them! They are getting tamer each day already, you can see them do a little more each day, if its sniffing and exploring you more, walking around on your knees or just having a good old chat to you. Penny is really chatty, snuggles is just starting to have a little talk to us - guinea pig-alion (if thats what you call their language of squeeks and purrs, he he) sounds really nice =-)

Hmmmmmm. I don't suppose all their shyness and needing to be tamed is just another guinea pig way. After all it has you working round the clock to please them and make them happy. Not that I would be suspicious of a guinea pig. Check out guinea pig web sites and you will see that they hold incredible power over their owners. People would do anything for their guinea pigs.
     MuseArts Guinea Pig Theater..........Google this site
     *BING*I'm a Guinea Pig........Google this site.......This is the home site of the guinea pig way
     Guinea Pig Links.......another Google location
     What guinea pigs do when you are not home.......You Tube
Had a sad guinea pig encounter on fri. Pet store was boarding a G pig and she proved to be very thin and weak. The food she came in with was NOT food a piggy could eat and her nails were overgrown. They tried to reach the people, but got no response back. I have looked at pictures on the internet and I am thinking advanced scurvey. When I dropped in they had me look at her. I did get her to take some water, but when I snuggled her she seemed to relax and just let go of life. I would have brought her home and nursed her, but she was so far gone when the owners dropped her off. If you run out G pig food how hard is it to give carrots. At least she would have been getting something. The pet store managed to get her to take a little food, but it was too late. When people don't authorize a vet visit, the pet store would likely be stuck for the bills. They can't do it. Small stores don't have a big enough profit margine to handle a loss like that. We all felt really bad. I wonder if the owners will cry like we did. I gave her a little goodby kiss and wrapped her in a towel so they could freeze the body to show the owners. I noticed Pam, when she thought no-one could see, give the piggy a goodby kiss as well. She was so sweet, what kind of owners don't feed their pet...sure we all get busy, but the pet store they boarded her at has tons of food for sale.     
      

Lol they are great! The sound of music guinea pig theatre is so good!
http://members.aol.com/bingtheguineapig/bing.html - the first ever guinea pig song, by the makers of the guinea pig way - bing the guinea pig!!!

Omg this is NEARLY as good and the guinea pig way! http://members.aol.com/bingguineabing/bingcavy.html

I knew you would like *BING*. He is a piggy, big and chubby!

He sleeps he poops he doesn't wear pants no shoes on his feet!


aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA
aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"I have my people trained to feed me all day."    Isn't that so true. Pigbert has trained me so well. How about you and your two. Are you well trained yet. Can you do tricks like "fetch the carrot" and "give me some hay". Remember practice makes perfect. With work you can learn to give your guinea pig a treat the moment she thinks about it.