Here's one of them. He's got a tiny knob of Guinea pig shit on his head.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
I've got babies!
4 of them, all well. I'm told they are three days old already so I've been a bit negligent in not noticing. Never mind, I'll make it up to them. I provided treats for the parents as soon as I discovered the bairns - freshly picked plantain, kale and the sweetest grass I could find. They munched away contentedly on that while I examined the newborns. I'm told that if I handle them at this stage, they'll become quite tame but I'm not sure that's what I want.
Here's one of them. He's got a tiny knob of Guinea pig shit on his head.
Here's one of them. He's got a tiny knob of Guinea pig shit on his head.
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8 comments:
Congratulations & all the best to your (taxonomically speaking) spineless porcupines. I have fond memories of garden guineas.
From James Morgan's Theodore Roosevelt The Boy And The Man. 1907:
There were guinea-pigs who bore names in compliment to Bishop Doane of Albany, Father O'Grady, a neighboring priest. Dr. Johnson, Fighting Bob Evans, and Admiral
Dewey. A distinguished man, who was calling on the President, did not understand this custom, and therefore was bewildered to hear one of the children rush in and breathlessly report, "Oh, oh, Father O'Grady has had some children!"
Ha!
I had no idea they shared taxonomy with your favoured beasts! That's kinda special.
The guineas look quite capybara-like and are very likable. I'm liking 'Fighting Bob Evans' as a handle but know that any name I give them won't stick and I'll never use it anyway. I address them all, "Hey, piggy!"
Rodents taxa are split 3 ways - murids (rats, mice, voles, gerbils, hamsters, etc), sciurids (squirrels, marmots, beavers, etc), and hystricomorphids ("porcupine shaped"). The hystricomorphs are distinct in that they give birth to "precocial", i.e. highly developed young after a comparatively long gestation, so a lot of the mother love takes place in the womb. I believe that's why guinea pigs are so noisy compared to, say, rabbits - as they're born highly mobile they need to communicate.
Also a bit of background on Fighting Bob Evans.
rodent geekery, how excellent!
Robert, are they pets, or do they serve functions in the garden? (or both)
Thanks, Joe - great information. "Precocial, eh! They are too. I expected to see bald, mewling milky things, like hedgehog babies, but no, there they were, all miniature of their parent. I have been told that in just three weeks they become sexually active...little rascals!
Wildcrafty - pets? Hmm...I wouldn't say so, I don't fawn over them or give them names, but their usefulness in the garden is yet to be tested. I know they produce top-grade manure, so I'm assured that they will be improving the spot they are occupying now, but soon, that'll be crowded and I'll have to begin moving their 'tractor' about the place in order that they can browse. I had ideas, originally, of running them over the garlic patch, thinking they'd leave the garlic leaves alone and clean up everything else. That may still happen. My garlic's up now and in need of releasing.
When I had a bigger backyard garden than I currently enjoy guinea pigs earned their keep as compost accelerators. Three animals went through a bale of hay every three months, plus vege scraps, grass and weeds. They'd even demolish spikey thistles. The litter from their dwelling went straight to the compost heap.
The Yealands winery in Marlborough attempted to establish them on a huge scale as ecologically sound weedeaters, but I believe the local birds of prey put an end to that.
BTW I don't believe that there's ever been a case of guinea pigs successfully becoming established in the wild through human introduction. Some predator or other always seems to show up and put an end to their frolics.
In their native Andean homeland they're a very ancient domesticate. There's a theory that they moved in to human dwellings of their own volition, and were encouraged to stay because they provided the occasional meal, and possibly a primitive version of the cartoon channel.
I hear they have established in woodpiles for some periods of time. I'll begin construction of one soon. A series of tunnels, clay field-tiles might do it, would help, as would chicken-wire, forming protection from vultures and such-like. Mind you, i have heard one screaming from between the jaws of a dog.
"No no no by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin..."
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