WILLOW GETS HER GUINEA PIGS...

 She has been wanting Guinea Pigs for a couple of years now, but Sarah and Colin have been putting her off, Sarah fearing that she would be the one let to look after them.  They told her that when she was responsible for saving up and buying them, and all they need and their food and looking after them herself, she would be old enough to get some...

She has not wavered from her goal of getting some Guinea Pigs.  She kind of became a little obsessed by it when she was staying down here on the coat with us and would often ask us if we could go visit a pet shop so that she could check out the Guinea Pigs.  She has also been saving and when she came across someone on Market Place with a Guinea Pig cage like the one below, and they were offering it for free to a good home.

She got her Mum to check it out and send a message to the lady that owned it, and then we were given the task of driving to the Gold Coast to collect it for her.  This was done a few weeks ago.  

She had been costing it all out, and had written in a notebook the amounts that she would need for each thing,  1.. Cage ( secured for Free),  2. Bowls, Feeder, Food, Toys and blankets for Guinea Pigs.  She estimated that she would need around $80 for these.  3.  Guinea Pigs.  She has been looking in Pet shops and found that they averaged out at around $30 a guinea Pig and since she would need 2, that would be another $60.  She had been saving all her birthday and Christmas money and had not quite $80..

 

 With the pen now secured, she was even more keen to start getting the rest of the supplies needed before he could actually get the guinea pigs.  She has been reading up on them and how to look after them and also about their habits and what she would need to do to keep them happy.

We  had secured the pen whilst the kids were still on school holidays.  Her first week back at school, she was obviously talking to her friends about wanting to get some guinea pigs and how she now had a cage for them, when one of her friends told her that they had 15 guinea pigs.  

The next day her friend Ruby came to school with a note for Willow to give to Sarah.  Ruby's mum apparently breeds guinea pigs and offered to give Willow two babies.  Willow of course was beside her self.  Now all she had to do was come up with the $80 needed to get the things that she would need to feed the guinea pigs and make them comfortable..

We had also given  Sarah so old wire mesh that we had found in our shed down here, to help dog proof the cage..

The spent the weekend setting up the Guinea Pig hutch, all ready to bring the guinea pigs home on the Monday after school.

Willow was so darn excited.  Up with the crows on the Monday morning all ready for school early.

That afternoon they collected them and bought them home.  They were so darn small, cute and fluffy but they soon realized that they were pretty small and could easily get out of their hutch without the wire.  

Sarah was also keen to put a little penned area around the hutch, so that the kids could play with the guinea pigs in this enclosed area and they couldn't escape.

That means more expense.  In the end,  we went halves with Sarah to buy a pen to secure them, as now they had them, they certainly didn't want them getting out or their dog Penny getting to them.

Their hutch all set up in the back yard...

 

It was a lovely sunny day when they arrived.

We got an urgent call from Sarah on the Tuesday to come down and fix a leaking tap that she had, so thought we would surprise the children and check out Willow's Guinea Pigs whilst we were at it...

She ended up with two female Guinea Pigs, which she called Mila and Ivy..

This one is called Ivy...

Mila and Ivy...

Mila

Ivy

She is still getting used to picking them up and nursing them but she is still a little nervous about them squirming out of her hands and she is afraid of dropping them.  She was very happy to take us out and show us  her new pets...

Willow cuddling Mila...

On Monday when they got the Guinea Pigs, the weather was lovely,  odd shower, but beautiful blue skies, even Tuesday there were blue skies but since then we have had over 30 inches of rain and these poor little guinea pigs will wonder what has happened to them as they have been out in the weather.  They can't even get down and run around on the grass.  They are becoming stir crazy and fighting each other a bit which has been upsetting for both Sarah and Willow...

Willow bought Mila inside to watch a movie..

This weather really hasn't given the kids a lot of time to really bond with these little Guinea Pigs much yet, so hopefully the weather will ease off in the next day or two so that the kids can enjoy them...