Michaela the sweetheart

This week's spotlight is our sweetheart, Michaela. We adopted Michaela from This Little Piggy & Me on Valentine's Day in 2010 in a huge snowstorm.  Mumble had been with us for about 6 months and we thought it was time for her to have a friend. Mumble had been alone at her last house and she certainly never played with Pumpkin and Spice (we're not interested in breeding for many reasons). We thought she might be happier with a friend. As we thought this through, we encountered a few problems. First, the rescue we adopted the boars from was no longer adopting out and the Toledo Humane Society rarely gets guinea pigs.  We started looking farther with the understanding that Mr. Cobb was only willing to drive *so* far for a guinea pig. He's a very patient man, but does have his limits and they should be respected.

We had a trip planned to visit family in Cincinnati and thought it would be convenient to adopt on that trip. We contacted TLP&M and started planning. I will go into greater details about the introdution/adoption process on a later post, but we did find out quickly that Mumble was not the sweetie we thought she was and ONLY Michaela would be tolerated. Michaela is a retired lab pig and has number 13 tatooed on her ears. She is a Pink Eyed White and while some may think her scary looking, we think she is beautiful! I wouldn't say it was BFF's on sight, but today they get along very well. Sometime these things take time (and a large cage).

Today Michaela is a happy, loving pet. She is the one who my daughters seem to seek out for snuggles first. She is a good 1000-1100grams. She really likes cuddle cups, tunnels and burrow bags, but by far her favorite place to be is a warm lap!

Diva Mumble

Meet Mumble our 4 year old Diva in the sows' cage. Mumble was one guinea pig we didn't go looking for, but fell in love with her after pigsitting her for a week. Her previous owner had become too busy with high school to give Mumble much time anymore and so we took her in. At that time we had Pumpkin and Spice who were still young and really active. Mumble was a welcome change as she was content to be held and cuddled.

Once at our house it was decided she needed a bigger cage and we started looking for C&C cage materials and Mumble's old cage was put in storage. She had several new experiences that first month with us: Timothy hay, KleenMama's pellets, daily fresh veggies, fleece bedding and room to run. The worst for her was nail trimmings. I admit she still isn't a big fan of them!

Mumble is our smallest guinea pig weighing in at a trim 900 grams or almost 2 lbs. She may be small, but she is mighty! She lives with two other sows and if the other two try to step out of line, she lets them know! Mumble's favorite accessories are cuddle cups, tunnels and burrow bags, all in my regular sizes.

Meet our Offensive Lineman, Spice

This Thursday is all about Spice. Spice is the other half of our boar bachelor pad. This two year old lives with his brother Pumpkin in a spacious homemade cage. In this first picture, they are roughly 5 months old. While they are bonded, they do not cuddle. They act just like most brothers do, picking on each other, but upset when one of them is away.

Currently Spice's weight hovers around 1500 grams or 3lbs 5oz. This is at the top of acceptable and has caused us to ration their pellets (and limit treats). You can see that he loves cuddle cups, but the regular size he squeezed into just doesn't work well for him. He's the reason I make oval cuddle cups! Spice's favorites include oval cuddle cups, tents and lairs. He really does not seem to care for burrow bags or tunnels and I think he just prefers to have room to stretch out.

Oval cuddle cup are much better for me!

Meet & Greet

One of the questions many potential customers have is what size cuddle cup/tunnel/burrow bag/etc. should I buy? In order to help answer that question, I thought I'd spend the next few Thursdays describing my herd and what size Cobb Cabin Crafts accessories I make for them.

Meet Pumpkin, one of our two year old brothers. He lives in a "home made" cage built by my daughter and my father. What fun bonding must have happened in Grandpa's workshop with this project! Pumpkin was adopted from a rescue (we are a rescue loving family) in August of 2009. He and his brother were just 4 months old when we brought them home and WOW has he grown up!

Pumpkin's weight is generally around 1300gr or 2lbs 13oz. While he will fit into my regular burrow bags and tunnels, I make him the XL size. He (and his brother) just have more room to stretch out in the XL's. He also cannot easily fit into a round cuddle cup, although it is funny to see him try! So, he has the oval size as it gives him a bit more "leg room" which is so important on those sleepy Sunday afternoons while watching sports. Right?