Chester 's Begging

Now that Chester has become more accustomed to being around my family and me, he has gained some confidence when it comes to food.Having constant access to food is vital for the well being of any guinea pig. Just like pigs, they spend a lot of their time eating and sleeping. Chester is no different. For about a month after we got him, he would not complain about having no food and would only make squealing noises when the food was close to being put in his cage. This little quirk has now changed.

Taken by me, 11/16

Now, whenever Chester hears the garage door open or the fridge door open, he will begin to run around his cage and announce his need for food. He squeaks in a high pitch and his running causes a bunch of bedding to get all over the floor. This change in behavior made me wonder if all guinea pigs squeaked and went haywire when the sound or smell of food hit them. After some research, I learned that once guinea pigs find the confidence they need, they become much more vocal ("Guinea Pig Behavior"). Although that seems obvious to me, it was still reassuring to know that it really was normal. Knowing that it took confidence and trust for them to be able to open up like that made me happy. It's good to know that Chester trusts my family and me enough to express his feelings and let us know what he needs.

Even though it's great to know that we have gained Chester's trust, I still wish that he wouldn't look at me with big eyes, begging for food even when his last meal wasn't even ten minutes ago. Obesity is still a problem, even for guinea pigs.

Chester the Doctor

Over the weekend I began to feel sick and I

Taken by me, 11/1

would get really tired for no reason. On Saturday, my sister took Chester out of his cage and let him roam around a bit. He went up to me and started squeaking, not his hungry squeak but a different kind of squeak. He sounded upset to me, kind of like he wanted attention and wasn't getting it. He went in a circle around me but then ended up cuddling next to my leg and taking a nap. This reminded me of something I learned last year in my Spanish class.

I learned that guinea pigs or cuys, are used in indigenous practices in South America near the Andes. They are mainly used to help find and cure illnesses. After some research on the uses of guinea pigs in South America, I found that according to Edmundo Morales,

          ...Andean immigrants barbecue guinea pig meat in
          public parks the way Americans would hamburgers or
          hot dogs. While the guinea pig in its native
          environment has traditionally been raised for
          consumption, it also has had important ceremonial
          in folk medicine and in native religious practices.
          (Morales xvii)

It's really interesting to know all the things guinea pigs are important in. It is also interesting that guinea pigs can play the role of a doctor and help diagnose someone. For this though, they have to be cut open and examined after being rubbed all over the sick person's body ("The History of Guinea Pigs"). Though this does not exactly benefit guinea pigs, they still hold great importance in medicine in South America.

This made me think that maybe Chester whined when he went near me because he sensed that I was sick and wanted to warn me about it. It's good to know that my pet cares for me and is willing to help me in his own way.

Chester's Long-lost Relative

Top Picture: by me 8/13
Bottom Picture: http://cookieclicker.wikia.com/wiki/File:Capybara-02.jpg

Chester was in his playpen minding his own business when he had one of the most frightening experiences of his whole life. Meeting my little cousin. Her name is Vanessa and she is three years old. Seeing Chester sparked her curiosity and she began to chase him all around his cage while Chester tried to run away from her on his chubby little legs as best he could. Once Chester began to squeak for help, I took her away and calmed Chester down with some kale. This made me think though. Who are Chester's relatives?

After some research, I learned that guinea pigs are closely related to the Capybara. Guinea pigs and capybaras both are native to South America and live in groups called herds ("Guinea Pig Fun Facts"; "Rainforest Capybara"). Capybaras live in herds made up of predominantly submissive males and females with are led by a male leader ("Rainforest Capybara"). This was interesting because I began to realize that even though guinea pigs and capybaras have a huge size difference—A 4.3 foot capybara ("Rainforest Capybara")  vs. a 10 inch guinea pig ("Guinea Pig Profile...")—they are a lot alike. As I continued my research on capybaras, I noticed that a lot of their characteristics reminded me of Chester's. For example, they both have teeth that grew continuously, they both eat a lot, and they both eat their own poop for needed nutrients ("Guinea Pig Profile..."; "Rainforest Capybara").

I wonder what Chester would do if he ever met a capybara? Would he like it or possibly try to fight it for dominance? Though these questions may never be answered, it's not hard to imagine Chester trying to hide from a capybara like he tried to hide from my cousin.

Chester's Superiority Complex

For a while now Chester has been a bit fussy when it's time to put him back in his cage for the night. He used to let us pick him up or simply climb into his cage without much struggle, but now, this has become a problem. Whenever my sister or I try to pick him up he will make a "durr" sound and shake his bum. Since this had been going on for a bit, yesterday I decided to look up why this happens. On a wedsite called HappyCavy I learned that the purring sound a guinea pig makes is caused by them feeling that their role as dominant guinea pig is being threatened ("The Guinea Pig..."). I understand that male guinea pigs tend to make dominance over each other a big deal, but I have no other guinea pigs and I don't think anyone has tried to take his guinea pig dominance over anything away as long as he's been here. 

Taken by me, 10/19

Even though Chester may have some kind of superiority complex, he is still being the lovable little (not really little) guinea pig I had when we first brought him home.

Work Cited

"The Guinea Pig Sound: Purring [AUDIO]." HappyCavyBlog. N.p., 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.

Playing Tag with Chester

Taken by me, 9/30

Ever since Chester ran away, he has been much nicer to my family and I. He lets us pet him and poke him without putting up much of a fuss like he used to. He has also become friendlier and more playful now that he's back. Recently I have discovered that Chester likes to play tag, his own version though. He likes to chase things and people around his playpen. He seems to enjoy being able to catch up with something that has caught his interest and has run away from him.

Just a couple of days ago, my sister had been walking around his playpen for fun when he began to follow her around. This then led to my sister encouraging him to run and running and jumping in circles trying to get him to keep up with her. “He would make sharp turns to avoid his bowl and jump over his bear's paw” (filed notes, 10/6). He seems to like being chased around for a while then changing to being the chaser whenever he seems to get tired. Although he does seem to understand the term "you're it" once in a while, he chases my sister around on his own terms for the most part. 

Even though Chester likes chasing other objects around as well, he seems to enjoy chasing after my sister or me more. It's cute really. The downside to this is that Chester wants to play when he wants to and no one can change that. If he wants to be left alone, he will turn his back to whoever is trying to play and go to the other side of his cage or playpen. When he wants to play though, he'll jump around and let whoever is with him know that it's time to play. I hope he can find a way to work around this so that he learns that it's not all about him when it comes to playtime.

Freedom Sucks for Guinea Pigs

Most people have heard of dogs running away, cats too. Yet, not many people have heard of a guinea pig running away. Well that's what happened last Monday. On my way home from school, I get a text from my sister saying she can't find Chester outside. Like any other person, I began to panic. I ask my dad where he put Chester hoping he tells me that he is hidden somewhere as some kind of joke, only for him to tell me that he put him outside in his playpen. Once I convinced my dad that my sister was not joking around and Chester was really gone, we rush home and begin searching the backyard.

So the search for my missing guinea pig began. My dad, sister, and I searched the background for about ten minutes until I tell my dad that my sister and I will walk around the neighborhood and look for him. My sister and I split up and walked around for a good 40 minutes until my dad calls me to tell me Chester had been hiding in my neighbors bushes. By that time, my sister and I had met up and began to run home. Once we got there my eyes immediately tried to find him. It turns out he had been in the very back of the bushes that grew right in front of my neighbor's front yard (they are against the wall of the house). When I saw Chester laying in the dirt calmly I felt a wave of relief wash over my, calming my nerves.

The next part of this eventful day was getting Chester back in his playpen. This turned out to be much harder that I thought it would be. See, Chester does not like being picked up so picking him up and expecting an easy submission was out of the question. Then my dad got the idea of putting him a box so that he couldn't run away. Since I honestly thought this was a good idea, I went with it and helped my dad get him in the box. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be; this took us a good 15 minutes. In the end he was in and that's all that mattered to me.

9/29  Photo taken by me.
Taken right before he made the jump.

Once Chester was safely in the backyard, I was finally able to relax and feel happy about him being back, that is until he tried to make a jump for it. The box was up to my knees, yet he was able to almost make it out of the box. He would have made it out except he tried to jump between my knees which ended up with him being squished between my knees and my sister pushing him back into the cage from behind me. After he was back in the box, my dad put a blanket over the box to keep him in there. After that was done, and his playpen was put somewhere where there were no holes for him to escape from, he was put back in there.

Since then, Chester has been much more tame and calm. I like to think he has learned that life is not easy, especially when you're a guinea pig. I mean, being a prey animal must not be easy and not everyone is going to feed him kibble and kale whenever he's hungry. I hope Chester has learned that freedom isn't easy to handle.

9/29  Video taken by me.

Meeting Chester

In June of this year, I got an American Guinea Pig that I decided to name Chester. Although I've only had him for a couple of months, he has quickly become a part of the family and has gotten used to living with us pretty easily. When we got Chester he was still young and since then he has grown quite a bit As he has grown, he has picked up some weird habits and has started to create his own personality. Even though I think I know a lot about him, whenever I pay close attention to him, he manages to surprise me.

Chester 8/30

Recently, I've noticed that he likes to listen to older songs more so than newer ones. Whenever my sister or I play older jazz, reggae or soul music, Chester will run around his cage and squeak happily. This is new since I've only ever played classic music for him since I read that classic is a favorite among guinea pigs. When older more calming music plays, he seems to be happier and popcorns around his cage as if performing an intricate dance only he can understand and master (I think it was The Temptations's "My Girl" playing when this thought came to mind).

As Chester continues to grown and develop his own attitude, I will observe how he changes and compare them to things that remain the same over time. I am excited to find new habits of his that I have not noticed before. Who knows, he may be smarter than people give guinea pigs credit for?