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| Name: |
Snowball
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Age: |
Ten months old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Guinea Pig
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| Home: |
San Diego, California, USA
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I
bought two female guinea pigs, Snowball and Chocolate, at a garage
sale on June 27, 1998. The Guinea Pigs were pets of a four-year-old
boy. He is the one who named them Snowball and Chocolate, which I
think are great names. His sister told me that they were moving from
the house to an apartment where pets are not allowed, so they had to
sell the pets. It did not take me too long to make the decision
because I fell in love with them at the first sight. I was amazed by
their interesting sounds, too. The little boy came out with his Mom to
say good-bye to the guinea pigs before I put them into my car; it was
kind of a heartbreaking scene.
They are both very cute. They like to eat fruit, alfalfa and
newspapers (used at the bottom of bedding).
Snowball is the kind of girl that always thinks other's stuff is
better. Originally, they shared a small and lightweight plastic food
bowl. But Snowball would use her front feet to bend the bowl toward
her and occupied the whole bowl with her head. Then we bought a big
heavyweight dog dish that has two parts so both of them can eat
together. But then, she will force Chocolate to exchange positions
after eating a while because she thinks the food is better in
Chocolate's side. Usually Chocolate doesn't mind, but sometimes if
she doesn't want to exchange, Snowball will nip her to force her to
leave. Because of this, my husband Kevin is always stands by
Chocolate's side.
While going outside their cage freely, Snowball is the one to explore
and Chocolate follows after her. We gave them a short plumbing pipe
as toy. They like to run through or hide inside. I also made a
playground for them out of cardboard boxes. When transporting them
from cage to the playground, it's easier to handle Chocolate. But for
Snowball, there's only one way - the pipe, because she refuses to be
handled. I have trained her to get in pipe, which I call the bus,
then I can move her safely from one place to another.
After almost five months of effort, they are finally getting used to
me and my Chinese. I talk to them mostly in Chinese. The only trick I
have successfully taught them is "Kiss." Whenever giving
them the treats, I say "Kiss" and kiss them, then I give
them the treats. Now, they are no longer afraid of me. When it's time
for the treats, they will rush to the cage door and ready to give me
kisses in order to get the food. The other thing that makes me very
happy is their sound. Usually they only say "wee, wee,
wee..." when they are hungry. I am the only one who feeds them
and amazingly, they could tell me from my husband after few months. My
husband usually wakes up earlier and the guinea pigs do not make
sounds. But as soon as I wake up and open the bedroom door, they
start calling me loudly. It is a very satisfying thing to me! They
are very sweet now, and I love both of them very much!
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