Pig sitting

Tops and I are looking after Meg's guinea pigs for 2 weeks and we haven't managed to kill them yet. Mind you, we still have a few days.

I'm not sure that I can say that there has been much bonding happening, but they do have their appeal. It's sort of like watching brownian motion - watching pigs flee in random directions... or maybe it's a bit like the Heisenburg uncertainty principle - except you can't know where the brain cell is or what it's going to do.

The pigs now recognise us as a source of food. There are many excited squeaks when I get home from work. There are even paws up on the side of the cage to beg for food. Of course, when you actually approach with the food, all pigs scurry away to the far end of the cage in fear.

Mama is the bravest and usually comes out to inspect the food first. Mr Chef is a big wussbag and will always come out last for food. This is probably why he is the smallest. But he makes up for this by grabbing the largest piece of food he can find and then runs back under cover to eat. Lily and Mia have their moments but I haven't seen any noteworthy behaviour from them. The crunching sound as they eat is amazing. They eat with a great dedication to chomping as muhc as they can as fast as they can.

It is most amusing watching guinea pig football. This is a game where there is one piece of vegetable that is highly prized for some reason and you get to see one pig grab the food and dash, only to have it stolen by another pig who runs it to another corner of the cage, etc, etc.

The foods of choice in order appear to be lettuce, carrot, capsicum, tomato and apple. Eggplant and cauliflour were also edible, but there just wasn't the same level of pig frenzy. And grass is always popular.

The pigs have been entertaining in their own way, but I don't think I could bond with an animal I can't pat. Well, you can pat the pigs, but they run and squeal when you try to catch them, struggle lots and then finally go rigid in fear. This makes me feel really guilty.

Amusing to watch, but they only love me when I bring food...