Party Pigs

Turtle Fitzgerald and Clapton arrived at their forever home last Monday.  The boys needed to adjust to a new place with new smells and new sounds.  I even went through an adjustment period.  The noise, the sound, the smells, and raves at 2 am were all familiar and new at the same time…

Yes, 2 am is when it started on Friday morning.  The zoomies, the popcorning, the grunting, the rumble strutting, the pellet dish digging, the hay spreading, and yes, the wheeking.  It was a full-on guinea pig rave at 2 am.  “Oh,” I said as I turned over in bed hearing the commotion across the room that woke me up, “You two are party pigs.”

The sound of my voice set off the emergency guinea pig alert system.  “Wheeekkkk, whhheeeekk,” yelled Turtle Fitzgerald and Clapton at the top of their lungs.  They were singing me the song of their people… at 2 am!

“No, no, no, no snacks at 2 am… I’m not going to bribe you to be quiet.  I’m not rewarding this behavior,” I moaned from under the pillow I had moved to hold it over my head and stifle the noise. 

Apparently, the boys took muffled responses as a, ‘I’ll be there a minute…’ and let out loud in unison, “Whheeeeeeeeeeeeek!”

“Fine! You win!” I yelled into the pillow and threw it off of my head.  “I’m up now!” I added when my head was extricated pillow.  Turtle Fitzgerald and Clapton went quiet.  “Oh, no,” I scolded them from across the room as I sat up in bed, “If I’m up, you’re up too.  You’re getting treats and you’re going to like it!”  Have I mentioned before that I’m a bit grumpy when I’m woken up in the middle of the night?  Yeah, you could say I was a bit grumpy that night…just a bit. 

As my feet hit the floor and I stood up, the bed creaked a bit.  I heard both boys bolt for cover…  I felt like I was the police busting an illegal underground rave.  I switched on the light, walked over the cage, and saw both boys were laying in their huts sprawled out as if I had awoken them from their peaceful slumber.  “Uh, huh,” I said bending over to grab the treats, “like I don’t know what you two were just up to in the middle of the night.  That’s not fooling anyone…”  I pulled two treats out from the bag and laid them at the noses of the boys.  There was no reaction.  “Fine,” I yawned, “I’ll be getting back to bed.”  As I left the room to use the lady’s, I heard furious munching behind me in the cage.  “Sleeping?” I asked over my shoulder, “you two aren’t fooling anyone.”

When I walked back into the room, both boys were laying on their sides in their huts.  They looked like two sweet, perfect, and innocent beans.  I got back into bed and turned off the light.  I snuggled back into the covers and pillow.  A bit later, as I was starting to fall asleep, I heard the zoomies start up again.  I began to giggle to myself as I drifted off.  As I faded into sleep, the racket of the 2 am guinea pig rave sang me a lullaby that only a guinea pig owner will recognize as sweet music to the ears… Much love.  – KA

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