Guinea Pig Poopa-Loopa

This is Lilly.  Lilly is a 3 year old pet store guinea pig.  Reed (the 13 year old) bought her with his own money that he got for birthdays and Christmas.  We have had her since she was about 6 weeks old - maybe a few weeks older.  Yes - she is very cute - if you aren't the person who is home with her most of the time!  She is very healthy and she likes people.  She knows what the sound of a grocery and Ziplock bags sound like and she knows the sound of the front door opening and the fridge door opening! She squeals with delight when someone comes in thinking they will be bringing her a treat of some kind.  Usually we do.  She likes weeds - dandelion and chickweed are favorites, but she likes lettuce, spinach, and celery leaf really well also.  She is a great pet for the kid, but..... for me she is pretty much a plant eating poop machine!

 

I have told you about our lemon trees - Lilly loves them - she just recently ate one that we grew this year from seed.  She ate roots and all.

She has eaten all of the basil, oregano, a banana tree, an avocado tree, aluminum plant, and anything else she can get her teeth on, including the CAT-5 printer cable.  Yes - we have picked up all the plants off the floor - they are on plant stands - she learned how to climb up the pots and stands to get to the tasty plants.  She has wedged her way up between the wall and a pot to get into one of them.

 

She is very smart and although I would like for her to stay in her cage all the time - that is sad.  It is the biggest cage we could find but it doesn't allow for her to get enough exercise and she starts to get chubby.  So we let her out at least once a week.  She poops and pees on the floor as well as plant eating.  She does have some redeeming factors however!

 

Lilly lives in shavings in her cage.  We use cedar or pine, and sometimes straw if thats all we can find.  She will also eat some of the produce that isn't so pretty and wont work in salad or fresh eats.  And we can use the by-products that she creates in her house for our gardening.

 

 The bottom of the cage gets lined with newspaper for easier cleaning, and then the "fluff"" goes on top of that.  So when her cage needs cleaned, we take it right out the door to the compost pile or the hugelkulture bed that we are building.  Below is the used fluff on the compost pile.

The above photo is the Lilly fluff and cage leavings on one of the newly started hugelkulture beds.  It makes great compost in a rolling composter as well as on the beds or an open compost pile.  The shavings add a mulch factor and the poop add some organic nutrients.  If you have to have a pet that is low care and you dont mind the occasional eaten house plant then this is the way to go. 

 

The boys here all laugh when she eats my plants, not so much when she pees on something of theirs, but over all she is a good little pet and a good starter for any kid.  They are low maintenance and teach responsibility - the squealing reminds the kids what needs done so the mom doesn't have to do the nagging and they provide a little help for the garden as a bonus!