PiggyPoems: On world domination

Hard at work

Coppy took a brief interlude from her daily piggy world domination plans to compose these lovely haikus:

Wheek out loud you may,
But world takeover's a must
For all cavykind!

Whee plot every day
But thinking makes us hungry
Must pause to have lunch

Chut chut squeak squeak wheeEEEK!
Crinkle crinkle, nom nom munch
Peegs hungry no more.

One small step for peeg,
One big leap for cavykind!
Starting with the moon.

O carrot, carrot!
Wherefore art thou, my carrot?
New goal, veggie bin.

Dear Vexatious Fridge,
Oh why must you thwart me so?
You hide what whee seek.

Ah ha, solution!
Summon humans - wheek wheek wheek
Who's the real boss here?

The author emerges from her secluded gnaw-able hideaway

...because even world leaders have to eat!

PiggyPoems: World Domination

Now presenting the Cali Cavy Collective's Piggy Poems, here is our very first Piggy Haiku!

Whee look innocent
But do not be fooled humans
Pigs shall rule the world!

Yes, I am plotting to take over the world on behalf of all cavykind. It is an ongoing endeavor, but whee SHALL prevail!

Signed, Coppy

Piggy Pics of the Day: Piggies Rule

Like Murphy's law, its just another indisputable fact of life that piggies rule! Here whee are posing with the decorative wooden block our humans brought back from the Pignic. As you can see, whee don't always wish to cooperate with the photographer... well, piggy modeling is hard work you know!

Poof somehow managed to get her nose dirty - even though everything around her is clean

Peaches decides to rebel

"Okay we're done for today, I hear a fridge full of veggies calling my name!"

OCCH Pignic!

Last weekend, our humans went to Orange County Cavy Haven's Pignic! What's a pignic? Well, its like a picnic, except with guinea pigs - except in this case, with many pigs, so it was essentially one big piggy party! Sadly, whee did not get to attend because our humans didn't want to put us through the long drive, but here are some of the pigtures they showed us.


Even though they were gone for less than 24 hours, our humans told us they really missed us. Many people brought their piggies and had them out in pens on the grass. In addition to showing several adoptable pigs, there were free piggy health checks, nail trimmings, and boar cleansing. They were also selling guinea pig toys and supplies.

This sounded like the most delicious part - a veggie eating contest! All the piggies and their humans sat in a circle to see who could eat their lettuce the fastest. If whee had a veggie eating contest, we would place our bet on Peaches to be the fastest eater.

Ready, set...

...MUNCH!

Nom nom nom

First place veggie eating winner

OCCH also held a raffle, where all proceeds go to help their rescue pigs (like Revy). Our humans favorites were the piggy products, which included things from cloth huts to a large basket of Oxbow treats.

Cute shirt, the piggy on the front sort of looks like Peaches!

Picking raffle tickets from the pigloo

Very cute drawing 

Our humans also got to listen to some very informative talks. Nikki from OCCH talked about piggy diet and nutrition. Dr. Tom Greek gave an overview of basic cavy health and described some common illnesses.

In between all these activities, our humans walked around visiting with the other piggies. It was pretty warm out, so many of the pigs were resting in the shade, hiding under pigloos or blankets, and sitting next to cold water bottles. Our humans told us they found Morry's lookalike!

"Being cute is so tiring, it makes me sleepy!"

Morry's cousin!

A very Morry-like expression

"Do you have a treat for me?"

Napping in the stroller

To our displeasure, there was also a cavy costume contest. Whee sort of wish they hadn't seen that, because now our girl wants to dress us up in costumes and outfits! The horror! *scampers away to hide in pigloo

Our favorite, Gin Gin the diva queen

Ballerina peeg looks a lot like our Sharky

Trojan Bunny hides treats instead of Trojans 

Abyssinian Bumblebee

King of Peegs

So many costumes for us to hide from

Whee may not have gotten to go to Pignic, but at least our humans brought us back some presents. They got us a GuineaLynx Cavy Health Record Book, two veggie shaped food bowls, a cushioned cozy, a guinea pig decal, a "Piggies Rule" wooden block, a small bottle of Health Force Nutritional's Green Mush probiotic, and a handmade piggy wallet purse - although whee think the last one was more for the girl than for us! Our favorite is the Gin Gin's Comfy Cozy. Apparently, you can even get them customized with your pigture and name on it!

Gin Gin's Comfy Cozies and her decorated diva cage

Hmm, maybe our slaves will get us some!

Well that was quite a long post. Whee are hungry, and will be going off to eat. Bye for now!

Piggy Pics of the Day: Guarding the food

Guarding my food

Revy demonstrates one way to keep your food secure from other poaching piggies. Here is her three step process:


Step 1 - Select VIV (sort of like VIP, except it stands for Very Important Veggie) to protect. Try to limit yourself to one, because sleeping on more than one food item becomes lumpy and uncomfortable. Also, it becomes difficult to defend more than one VIV.

Step 2 - Stretch out and arrange self over VIV, making sure to cover as much as possible

Step 3 - Proceed to sleep.* Enjoy warm snack upon awakening!

*Optional: sleep with eyes open to ward off potential poachers.

"This is MY snack!"

Post-snack nap retreat in my pigloo.
Observe how I have dangled my cute paws outside as bait for treat-wielding humans.

Piggy Pics of the Day: Piggies Gone Platinum!

Coppy and Morry have gone platinum! Our humans had these made a while ago. The bottom two don't do our cute faces justice, but oh well, what can you do (except try to eat it, but whee aren't allowed to munch plastic). Now they can see our faces whenever they pull them out, hopefully when they are at the local market and a plethora of vegetables are in the vicinity hehehe.

To Our Followers and Friends: Please Accept and Enjoy With Our Appreciation

How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it! ~ George Elliston

On of the things that we never get tired of hearing is how much fun our guests have had at the zoo. Providing you, our guests, with experiences and encounters with our animal residents that will last a lifetime with every visit is important to us. Adding social media to our educational repertoire has allowed us to expand your zoo experience beyond the borders of the park.


Now it's our turn to say thank you to our loyal fans and friends for following us on our blog, Facebook and on Twitter.


We hope you will enjoy the collection of coupons being offered only to our social media followers. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you soon - at the zoo!


Click on the image below; when the new window opens, select print and redeem before the expiration date as noted on each coupon. You MUST print out the coupons for redemption. 

African Wild Ass

True Wild Life | African Wild Ass | The African Wild Ass is a wild member of the horse family, Equidae. This species is believed to be the ancestor of the domestic donkey which is usually placed within the same species. They live in the deserts and other arid areas of northeastern Africa, in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia; it formerly had a wider range north and west into Sudan, Egypt and Libya. About 570 individuals exist in the wild. The African Wild Ass is suited for life in the desert, capable of going on for up to three days without drinking water.

African wild asses are well suited to life in a desert or semidesert environment. They have tough digestive systems, which can break down desert vegetation and extract moisture from food efficiently. They can also go without water for a fairly long time. Their large ears give them an excellent sense of hearing and help in cooling. Because of the sparse vegetation in their environment wild asses live somewhat separated from each other (except for mothers and young), unlike the tightly grouped herds of wild horses. They have very loud voices, which can be heard for over 3 km, which helps them to keep in contact with other asses over the wide spaces of the desert.

The African Wild asses can run swiftly, almost as fast as a horse. However, unlike most hoofed mammals, their tendency is to not flee right away from a potentially dangerous situation, but to investigate first before deciding what to do. When they need to, they can defend themselves with kicks from both their front and hind legs. The African Wild Ass eats plant material, often eating thorn bushes and tougher plants that other animals ignore. They need to have water at least every three days, but they are able to survive on water that is dirty and brackish and can get a lot of their moisture from the plant material that they eat.

Sexual maturity of the female ass usually happens by the time she reaches two. Males can also reproduce at two, but it is so competitive that they usually are forced to wait until they are around four. Males are very territorial and will often hold a huge territory that is about 23 km, and they mark the edges of their territories with dung. Other males are allowed in, but they are kept away from the females as much as possible. Male donkeys will bray when the females are in season, and a dominant male of a territory has first right to breed with any female that comes around. The gestational period usually lasts 11-12 months, and the females in the wild usually give birth only once every two years. The young are weaned at about six months of age, and the animals can live approximately 40 years.

In addition to their struggle with domesticated livestock to secure food and water, the African Wild Ass also became a hunted animal for consumption and medicine. Many dangerous weapons found their way into the homeland of the African Wild Ass due to the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. There is a concern that these weapons will be used more often from now on to hunt more of the African Wild Ass. Currently, there is a protection program in progress to move the African Wild Ass into a protected area of Israel.

Quokka

True Wild Life | Quokka | The Quokka is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. Like other marsupials in the macropod family , the Quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal. It can be found on some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia, in particular on Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany. Quokkas resemble a small wallaby, with small rounded ears, and brown or greyish fur.

In the wild, its roaming is restricted to a very small range in the South-West of Western Australia, with a number of small scattered populations on the mainland, one large population on Rottnest Island and a smaller population on Bald Island near Albany. The islands are free of foxes and cats. On Rottnest, it is common and occupies a variety of habitats ranging from semi-arid scrub to cultivated gardens.

Quokka weighs 2.5 to 5 kg and is 40 to 90 cm long with a 25 to 30 cm tail  which is rather short for a macropod. It has a stocky build, rounded ears, and a short, broad head. Although looking rather like a very small, dumpy kangaroo, it can climb small trees and shrubs. Its coarse fur is a grizzled brown colour, fading to buff underneath.

Quokka feeds at night on native grasses and the leaves of shrubs. They need drinking water, but can survive long periods without it. This is helped by the remarkable ability of the Quokka to reuse a portion of their bodies waste products. These animals breed year round, and have a gestation period of 4 months before a new joey is born. The joey lives in its mother's pouch for the first 25 weeks of its life. After leaving the pouch, the joey continues to suckle at its mother's teets for a further 10 weeks.

There were once a lot of Quokkas, but they are now in danger of extinction. They are under threat from development that has destroyed the wetlands where they live and are also threatened by other animals that have been introduced by humans. Quokkas are preyed on by cats and foxes, who are non-native animals in Australia. Their wetland habitat is also disturbed by feral pigs. While efforts are being made to protect them, it is thought that the numbers of Quokka still have not recovered.

Guinea Pig Care & Health Tip: A bigger cage means a healthier pig!

The bigger your piggy's cage is, the healthier and happier he or she will be! As a general rule, pet store cages are far too small for guinea pigs. Cubes and coroplast cages, more commonly known in the guinea pig community as C&C cages, are a great and inexpensive alternative to the constrictive cages sold at pet stores. As CavyCages says, a larger cage will provide your pigs with more exercise area, stimulation, play space, and room to explore, resulting in a happier, healthier and fitter pig.

Here is a quick look at our current cage setup. Currently our entire setup is just over 31 square feet of space total. Whee have two floors, including a loft on the upper floor. Instead of traditional wood shavings or hay bedding, we have anti-pill fleece (separate post on this topic to come). Our ground floor is composed of 2x5 grids and our top floor is 2x3 grids. Since Revy is still new and isn't used to being in close quarters to the rest of us piggies yet, she has her own 2x3 grid enclosure that is connected to ours but sectioned off, so she can still see, hear and smell us. Our humans are hoping that with time, she will get more used to us so they can change our cage configuration to be one large enclosure. Whee also spend a lot of time outside in our playpen, which is a 5x7 foot area.

For more detailed information on C&C cages, visit the CavyCages website. They have a very helpful How To page, along with a guide of different options and add-ons and cage styles. Our humans found their gallery quite useful for inspiration and ideas.

So what do you think fellow piggies? How big is your cage?