Concern

Reese has caused me to worry a little today.  Not enough to call my best friend in a panic, but enough to keep me from completely relaxing.  From time to time, he's made some noises that I haven't heard him make.  Noises like he has something in his nose that he's trying to get out.  But I haven't seen any discharge from his nostrils.   And he's eating, drinking, and moving around just fine.

Both of them are rather quiet today.  Not sure if they're just tired, or if they're picking up on my worrying and are worried themselves.  I'm trying not to worry, but it's hard when your pig is making odd sounds.

water bottle

Had to change Baile's water bottle.  It leaks horribly!  I'm sure there's more water under than is in my little girl.  Unfortunately, I can't find the holder that came with the bottle.  So for now, it's being held in place with twist-ties.  That'll do till I can get to the store to get a holder(unless I can find the other holder before then).

And I think I can put their shelves and ramps into place and not have to worry about them seeing each other.  I just simply need to put a bigger block between their cages.  The point was brought up to move on of the cages, but I don't have anyplace to move them.  Well, not any place that'd be convenient, or prevent me from re-tearing my shoulder.  But a taller barrier will still keep them from seeing each other, even if they're on their shelves.

What a difference a day makes

An old saying, but very fitting!  Two of my closest friends came over to install a new shower-head they got me for my birthday.  I was holding Baile and telling them about the scared noises she makes when I pet her(I was countering their claims at how she was hand-trained so quickly).  They told me that the sounds she made were actually happy sounds.  I had been mistaking the sound all this time!

And then tonight, I got a pleasant surprise.  I heard the sound of running, and thought it was Reese doing his exercises.  Then, I realized the sound was coming from Baile's cage.  I looked up to see her pop up into the air.  Then she did it again!  More running around and more popcorning!  I was so happy to see that!!  Proof that my little girl is happy and starting to feel at home! 

And she's not so shy anymore!  She starting to get rather noisy herself, but that's just fine by me.  Now I know these two will talk to each other and keep each other company when I'm not here!  ^_^

taking time

Reese is coming along nicely.  He likes to be petted and cuddle.  He likes to run around and jump.  He's a very happy pig and is pretty much at home.  I think I pretty much have him hand trained now. 

Baile is a whole different story.  She'll on the rare occasion come and sniff my fingers.  She doesn't run around, unless it's from me.  There's no popcorning.  She'll cuddle into my neck, but she stays hunched up and chitters while I pet her.   She has by no means relaxed.  She'll let me pet her, but she stayed hunched up.  She never stretches out and just lies there.  She doesn't seem to enjoy the petting.  I'm thinking that she doesn't like being here.

Looks like it's going to take me much longer to get her hand-trained.  I'm patient enough to get through this.  But I'm saddened to think that she's not happy and hasn't come to think of this place as her home. 

Baby steps

I got one step further with Baile.  I've been able to pet her a little.  Granted, some of the times she's frozen in place, but it's a start.  Reese was like that, and now he flattens himself out for optimal petting!  ^_^  Baile will get there.  I think she's starting to like cuddles.  She snuggles up next to my neck when I hold her.  Reese simply loves cuddles!  He snuggles right in.  This is the second night that I've seen him yawn as he lies next to my neck.  I'm happy to see that he's getting comfortable with me.  He still comes up to the bars to sniff my fingers and seems very happy when he recognizes my scent.  Baile has sniffed my fingers a couple of times, which is another good sign that she's getting used to me.

Discovery

Baile has discovered her voice.  She's been quiet the last couple of days, but tonight, I think she discovered that the noisy Reese was another pig.  She's become more vocal tonight.  It was non-stop squealing at each other for about 5 minutes straight!  Her voice is quieter than Reese, though I don't think it's possible for her to be louder!  I would really like to put them together so that they can play, but I'd have to get Reese fixed first.  I can't risk him getting Baile pregnant. 

While I held Baile tonight, she snuggled up near my neck.  That's a good sign.  That might mean that she's getting more comfortable with me.  I might even be able to reach into her cage and pet her in a few more days.  Reese still snuggles up to my neck, which makes me happy.  I was thinking that once he learned that there's another pig to talk to, that he'd lose interest in me.  But he still likes to cuddle!  ^_^  Granted, he's more focus on girl-pig, but he still likes to be petted and cuddled by me!

Baile seems to be settling down.  She still runs and hides in her tube, when I come near.  But she still gets out and roams around.  I might have to take the tube out, so that she gets used to lying around outside of it.  Reese does fine without his tube during the day.  I'm sure Baile will be find too.

Oh!  Here's an updated pic of Reese.  He's gotten quite a bit bigger!  Though you might not be able to tell from the pic.

Welcome Baile.

She's my new little pig.  I picked her up today, and I'm guessing that she's a week or two younger than Reese.  She's a mixture of dark grayish-brownish, light brown, and white.  When I saw her, she made me think of dunes(don't ask my why, that's simply what I thought).  So when I got home, I looked up the names of famous dunes world-wide.  I saw two dunes in Scotland that had names I felt drawn to.  The first was Fervie, which I still think is a cute name, and the second was Baile.  I teetered back and forth with the names.  Then I stood and looked at her(and she at me) and I said to her, "you look like a Baile, so I'll name you that."  ^_^

This is the best pic of her that I took today.  I didn't want to take too many pics, because I didn't want to frighten her.  I need to get a good pic of her other side.  She has a white patch over her back left leg.  I've held her a few times so far.  She's very rambunctious, and if I don't keep careful hold of her, she'll run right off my shoulder!  If she sits on my arm and I pet her, she'll stay still, but I can't rest for a moment.  Not like Reese, who'll plant himself against my neck and stay there.

She's still very shy and frightened, so I'm trying to not bother her too much.  The same can't be said for Reese.  He's VERY noisy!  He kept chewing on the bars of his cage in an attempt to get at her(not a good thing when the bars are vertical)!  I had to put up a barrier between their cages, so that he can't see inside her cage.  She needs to be left alone, not screamed at by a little horndog.  ;P

Even so, I made a VERY bad choice earlier.  I decided to let them meet.  I hoped that they'd(okay, Reese) would calm down afterwards(boy was I wrong!!).  Yes, they are boy and girl, so I kept a very close eye on them.  They stayed away from each other for a minute but she finally came over to him.  They sniffed at each other a little, then I make a fast grab for him just as he started to mount her.  I can only hope I grabbed him in time.  I guess I'll find out in 10 weeks.  *face palm*  *sigh*  I'm too worn out to make decisions.  I just hope she isn't the one to pay for my mistake.

shelf

The shelf and ramp I ordered for Reese's cage arrived today.  It's a little smaller that the cage, but I'll see what I can do to fix that.  I'm not putting it in today.  I need to wash it first, and then I'll put it in when I clean his cage on Sunday.  I hope he'll like it.

Reese is learning his name.  I've had him come up to me when I call him.  It's only been a couple of times, but he seems to realize that's what his name is.  He's also getting more used to me.  He'll come up to the bars to sniff my fingers.  He still runs sometimes when I try to pet him, but more often he stays still and lets me pet him. 

He really loves being held.  I'll sit down, plop him on my chest, and he'll instantly snuggled himself into my neck.  I don't seem to have as much of a reaction now.  The area will still get a little red, but that might be from his claws digging into my neck.  When I put him back in the cage, he jumps, runs around, and makes happy noises. 

And I'm pretty sure he's twice the size he was when I got him last week!  But he's only a couple months old, so I guess he'll be growing fast over the next few months.

Celebrating one week

It was one week ago that I brought Reese home.  He's settling in nicely.  I held him some more today and now he runs right up to my neck and snuggles in.  Ironically, I think he's trying to escape me, by hiding there.  ^_^  But after I put him back in the cage, he was running and jumping all over the place!  He was so happy!  I also got him a popcorn stick, which he's been nibbling on.  At one point it moved, which caused him to run off.  But he went back and nibbled on it some more.

Right now a thunderstorm in coming in, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it.  It's good that the loud noise doesn't scare him.  Apparently only moving popcorn sticks and Mama scares him.  ^_^

You mean I can chew this??

Reese discovered that he can chew on his tube.   This makes him happy.  Tonight, just after I put the tube in, he ran into it, sniffed at it and started nibbling on it.  Then he ran around, nibbled on the tube.  Ran around, sniffed at my fingers.  Ran around, nibbled on the tube.  Ran around, ate some pellets from his bowl.  Ran around, sniffed my fingers.  Ran around, got a drink.  Ran around, nibbled on his tube.

He got his exercise in for tonight, and I'm worn out from watching him!  He's eating right now.  Soon, he'll crawl into the tube and probably spend the night in there.  Then come morning, he'll be unhappy when I shake him out and remove the tube.

cuddling

A couple of times tonight, while I was holding Reese, he pressed himself into my neck.  My best friend told me once that they do that as babies.  They'll tuck themselves under there mother's chin.  I think it's a security thing.  They feel safe there.

Well, as I said, I picked him up and settled him on my chest.  After a while, he moved toward my neck, and then snuggled himself in, while I petted him.  I held him like that for quite a while, and he seems very happy.  After I put him back, he was running around his cage making happy noises.  He also was hopping, called "popcorn".  It's where a pig jumps straight up in the air and it how they express that they are happy.  They only go up a couple of inches, so you don't have to worry about them harming themselves.

He's also been coming closer to me a few times.  His cage sits right next to where I sit at my computer.  He's come up to the bars and, when I put my fingers slowly inside the bars, he stretched his neck out and cautiously sniffed my fingers.  He's also nibbled on my fingers a few times, which is a good sign that he's losing his fear of me.

The only down thing, is that I have a slight allergic reaction to guinea pigs.  my skin turns red and I can get little bumps.  But it's so very slight and well worth it to have a happy pigs and to feel his tiny warm body against me.

Had to change his water bottle.  The one I had in there is fine for a bigger pig, but the spring-ball is just too hard for a tiny pig to push to get water.  I put a smaller one in there and that seems to be working.  He doesn't have to work so hard to get water.