Documentation (and Guinea Pigs)

This was my Photo blog but then Benji & Barrn claimed it as their own. (Also I lost the ability to go exploring and take photos, but whateves).

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A post shared by Shepard The Dark Prince (@shepardthedarkprince) on Sep 19, 2020 at 9:24am PDT

I know I haven't been posting much due to health and anxiety, but my partner, Billy Billiam Billocelot, made this insta account (purely for fun) for our newest guinea Pig, Shepard. (Sheppity Shep-Shep McSheppers).

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My guinea pig Baron passed away recently- which if course, lead to grieving, trying to figure out what to do and not being able to do it well because of the greiving, realizing that Benji needed a new cage mate.

Cut to me and my boyfriend in a town a but more than an hour from home because that's where the only male guinea pig within a 2 hour radius is. literally running in and adopting this guinea pig almost aggressively quiet and rushed, because it feels like if we talk we will end up having to tell them one of our Guinea pigs just passed away and we are a zillion times too emotionally unprepared for that.

We. Will. Start. Sobbing. Like. Daenerys. Losing. A. Dragon.

So anyway, we bring Shepard Shep-Shep Sheppy home. Benji's gotta cages, he's gotta cage, eventually they're both in a gretting cage, and I build the new offical cage.

And then my grief is channeled into making cardboard/paper/apple stick toys, because the only* tasks I'm emotionally equipped to handle are poking holes, cutting paper, and tying knots.

And then I plant so many plants I'm not even bothering to know how many there are. I have not counted. I do not know. Do not ask me. All I know is it's more than 10. I just keep planting. It doesn't matter. The only question of measurement that matters is Are There Many Plants? If so, Good. That's all that matters. Many.

Plants = many = good.

There are 3 different patterns of blizzard fleece on their way in the mail including one that has panda-unicorns flying on rainbows in space. I usually do not like busy patterns in my environment, sensory overload and such, but this masterpiece on fleece is the exception. The subject matter was too good to not stare are everyday for a week or 2 each month.

I stopped playing Animal Crossing New Hroizons when Baron passed and I swear, refiguring a guinea pig environment and terraforming share the same energy.

Shep is so happy. So much popcorning. Already tolerant of couch time. Super interactive, and adores Benji. Follows him everywhere, naps against him, and mimics his behavior. It is adorable.

This all helped.

Emotional distress or sadness = 6/10 Random crying occuring, yet infrequent.

Cage = 8/10. (9/10 is having plants in the cage and 10/10 they have a personal garden).

Handling of emotional distress (greif) to maintain some level of functioning = 10/10.

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I realized there were no recent photos of what the boys' cage looked like on here, so, ya know, boom.

This is just the main section, there is a smaller cage that's ment for food, water, cardboard tunnels, paperbags, newspaper, apple wood sticks, the fun stuff.

What this does is create a preffered bathroom area, so rather than constantly cleaning this large area, I can frequently clean the smaller areas instead.

(Along with the blue box and the loft, what can one say? They poop where they sleep).

All the fake plants in the top photo were created from plastic water bottles, spring mix containers, and old tang tops/rags. They are out of reach from the guineas, and a plethora of things to chew on is provided so that they don't. (Weirdly they barely pay them any attention at all, so it works very well).

The grayish/pale green stuff in front of the poster is cardboard strips coated in green food coloring mixed with cornstarch. (Safe to be chewed on! It's a safe paint option for things that might be chewed. Cornstarch is safe for guinea pigs, but that said, don't make it so available that it's could be considered part of their diet. Remove if necessary, Cavy diabetes is real, yo. Distract them with bell peppers!).

(Below: I made the smaller cage look nicer the day I took this photo since I had company. Also added a roof to the loft).

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Carrot pillow!!! 🥕🥕🥕💤

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Suggles

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We is snug

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I just realized I have Crowly and Aziraphale for pets.

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Welcome to The Haybox. Present an offering of snacks to enter. Snacks? Snacks? Well then, I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave.

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Pro tip: give your guineas a paper bag. They will absolutely flip over it, try to fit inside at the same time, fight for it, and the winner gets to sleep inside at the end.

I mean, it gets flattened and gross by day two, sure.

But that doesn't make it any less awesome.

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Baron, the snuggiest snowball

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Benji's new thing is sleeping with his head on the top of the ramp

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Cozy in the pen dedicated to newspaper and cardboard adventuring

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He sleeps