We have the most adorable guinea pigs, Mousey and Tobey.
They eat all day long, chomp chomp chomp.
Lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, celery, cucumber, strawberries, parsley, lots and lots of timothy hay. Chomp chomp chomp.
Look - this is Mousey, isn't she funny?
I like watching them prod around in the shavings sniffing out pieces of food and hay.
***
When I woke up this morning, still groggy with sleep, I lazed on the edge of the bed peering into their cage, and watched Mousey in her hutch nudging around in the shavings for morsels of food. She looked so cute.
She sniffed at a pellet of poop.
and I said to her languidly, no Mousey that's poop.
She sniffed it a couple more times.
And promptly gobbled it up.
And looked immensely satisfied with herself for having found a yummy bite.
I was hoping she would spit it out, but she had eagerly munched it up and swallowed.
My face melted into a mixture of disgust and nausea - eeeeeeEEEWWWWw, mOUSEEyyyy!!!!!
Blaarrgghh.
That pretty much woke me up.
****
WHYYY is my guinea pig eating poop?! You would never think that a normal behavior unless you were some kind of dung beetle.
Research time:
As it turns out, piggies eat their own excrement sometimes. Guinea pigs produce 2 kinds of poop - one that is actual waste and another called cecotropes, which are nutrient-rich with proteins and essential vitamins.
The delightful thing about this peculiar behavior, is that these poopy treats, like all worthy foods, are best eaten fresh off the harvest; so when the piggies want a treat, all they have to do is dive in back and pluck a scooby snack right out of their piggy butt! :D yummy!
Disclaimer: This behavior is only acceptable with guinea pigs, rabbits, most other rodents and certain other mammals; not including dogs, cats and curious human babies known to have exhibited other charming displays of a sense of adventure.
They eat all day long, chomp chomp chomp.
Lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, celery, cucumber, strawberries, parsley, lots and lots of timothy hay. Chomp chomp chomp.
Look - this is Mousey, isn't she funny?
I like watching them prod around in the shavings sniffing out pieces of food and hay.
***
When I woke up this morning, still groggy with sleep, I lazed on the edge of the bed peering into their cage, and watched Mousey in her hutch nudging around in the shavings for morsels of food. She looked so cute.
She sniffed at a pellet of poop.
and I said to her languidly, no Mousey that's poop.
She sniffed it a couple more times.
And promptly gobbled it up.
And looked immensely satisfied with herself for having found a yummy bite.
I was hoping she would spit it out, but she had eagerly munched it up and swallowed.
My face melted into a mixture of disgust and nausea - eeeeeeEEEWWWWw, mOUSEEyyyy!!!!!
Blaarrgghh.
That pretty much woke me up.
****
WHYYY is my guinea pig eating poop?! You would never think that a normal behavior unless you were some kind of dung beetle.
Research time:
As it turns out, piggies eat their own excrement sometimes. Guinea pigs produce 2 kinds of poop - one that is actual waste and another called cecotropes, which are nutrient-rich with proteins and essential vitamins.
The delightful thing about this peculiar behavior, is that these poopy treats, like all worthy foods, are best eaten fresh off the harvest; so when the piggies want a treat, all they have to do is dive in back and pluck a scooby snack right out of their piggy butt! :D yummy!
Disclaimer: This behavior is only acceptable with guinea pigs, rabbits, most other rodents and certain other mammals; not including dogs, cats and curious human babies known to have exhibited other charming displays of a sense of adventure.
Here are the piggies chomping on more palatable (to us at least!) gourmet choices.
Poop-snacking aside, guinea piggies are lovely pets, all they do is eat, poop, grow fat and look cute (according to Nat). Here's how it's done:
Poop-snacking aside, guinea piggies are lovely pets, all they do is eat, poop, grow fat and look cute (according to Nat). Here's how it's done:
1 comment:
our guineas are so cute! what a nice post.. such lovely guineas we have...
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