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Winter 2000


Unfortunately, this will be the last issue of The Guinea Mag! I've really enjoyed editing this magazine. However, over the past few months as it has gotten more popular, I have become the victim of many tricksters who think sending me fake submissions (basically, blank e-mails with a fake e-mail address) is something funny. Making my e-mail address public was a part of offering this magazine, but I never expected people would find it so funny to send me fake e-mails. This became especially disturbing to me recently as I have experienced physical problems and am scheduled for an MRI. Needless to say, I have had limited online time and sorting through fake e-mails is not something I want to spend time doing.
There are many people who sent me very nice e-mails and real submissions, and I want to thank you and let you know that it's not your fault that this is the last issue.
I'll keep the site and past issues up for as long as there is an interest. But I do feel the need to remove my e-mail address, and thus this is the last issue!
Thanks to everyone who has offered their help for this freebie magazine. Almost a year is a pretty good success rate considering that it was only one person with a little dream who started it all. I would like to thank everyone who helped, as well as my inspirations -- Violet, Lilac, and Chloe.
Melissa


Stacey's guinea pigs are:
Gaberielle, Teddy, Hopalot, and Xena


Elaine T.'s guinea pig
Piglet. Aw!

Penny Christopher and her daughter, Laurel, breed and show cavies in their caviary, the Briar Patch, in upstate New York. Penny was gracious enough to grant me an interview for the magazine about their responsible breeding practices, and how she first got interested in the hobby.

When did you first get interested in guinea pigs?

We became interested in guinea pigs while showing rabbits in 4H. This was 15 years ago. We liked them so well, we bought two. The following year we took over the 4H Cavy Club, Furballs in Action, and began breeding and showing. We learned as we went along and shared our information with the club.

How many guinea pigs do you have?

We presently have 36 guinea pigs.

Why do you think breeders get a bad "rap?" What would you want people who do not like breeders to know about you?

Most people think breeders breed to make money. This is very untrue, especially in our case. We breed to improve our line and show our animals. We normally have homes for our babies before they are born. We do not place our animals in pet stores. We screen our prospective buyers before we sell to them.

What breeds do you breed?

We specialize in the Teddy breed. We have several varieties: silver agouti, golden agouti, black, roan, brindle, tortoise shell and white, and broken colors.

What is the most amazing color combination you've come up with (example, getting a pure-black piggy from two pure-white parents)?

Very seldom is a litter unpredictable. If you stay within the color lines you will seldom be surprised; however, when you start to breed roans into them, sometimes strange colors pop out.

What are some tips you have for people who want to show their guinea pigs?

The best tip for showing is good grooming. The second would be promptness in getting your animals to the show table.

What is most endearing about guinea pig pups?

Everything!

Is breeding for everyone?

Breeding should not be for everyone. There are dangers involved to the animals if you are not knowledgeable about breeding before you start. Baby guinea pigs, commonly called pups, are adorable but if you don't have homes for them when they are born, what will you do with them?

Do you pedigree them? If so, it might be fun to share some cute names you've come up with for their pedigrees.

All of our animals are pedigreed. We started 15 years ago with pedigreed animals and we can trace our line back for many generations. Our original lines and varieties, the agouti's and blacks, are named for candy. We have: BarNone, OhHenry, BitOHoney, MaryJane, Semisweet, AlmondJoy, NonPareil, JawBreaker, SourPatchKid, SnoCap.......I think you get the idea. The roan and brindle line which we started recently, have been named for beers. We have: Genesee, Saranac, Yuengling, Corona, etc. We also have a pair of Texels which have been named for desserts: Strawberry Shortcake and Black Forest. Naming our animals is half the fun of breeding them!

Do your guinea pigs live separately?

All of our animals have their own cage and live separately. Only when they are breeding or raising their pups, do they have company. The cages are side by side and they can see one another all the time. They are not unhappy or lonely and like their own space.

Thank you, Penny!
I got Oreo a while ago from my future 8th grade science teacher. She had him for four yrs and found out she was allergic to them. We had move-up day and I went to her classroom. That is where she told me that she was giving away her guinea pigs. (She had three, I got one.) I went home asked my mom if I could have one and she said "yes." The next day I went to school and picked up my pig. Oreo was a male and very kind. He would "purr" when you picked him up. He loved to eat carrots and spinach. He was black and white with ruffled up fur. I loved letting him out of his cge because he would follow me everywhere but not out of my room because I wouldn't let him (I have three cats and two dogs). I miss how he would squeal at the sound of a door opening or the fridge opening.
I went on a month vacation with my dad. When I gotten back to my mom's house, the next day I found him dead. I buried him under my apple tree in my back yard. I still miss him a lot and I get very sad when I see a pig like him. But my mom felt bad for me and got me a new pig (I had no idea of this). He is a three month old Himalayan male guinea pig. I am happy I have him but I still miss Oreo a lot and wish he was here to see Popcorn (that's the new pig's name). I miss you Oreo. See you some time.
- Emery Walters

Acavydemy School Report

Written by Melissa Taylor
Illustrated by Jean Walker

Acavydemy was a "virtual" guinea pig school held in September.

Wed., September 1
Today was the first day of Acavydemy! I went around the school-room and asked the 50 students (18 boys and 32 girls -- the boys were quite thrilled at the high girl-to-boy ratio) to tell me their names. Thankfully there are only two piggies with the same name -- they are Chloe Lane and Chloe Taylor. My Chloe has agreed to going by Clover while she's in school, even though a few of the other students made fun of her real name.
Next the piggies were paired off and asked to hold each other's paws and to sit by one another as we boarded the bus for the zoo, so that no one would get lost. This was a good idea in theory, but it was probably rather unwise of me to pair up MoJo and Fatty. Their "people" had warned me that they might be a bit trouble-some. They spent a lot of time fighting, then got bold enough to try to get in the capybara exhibit at the zoo!
"Those look like our big cousins!" MoJo said.
"Wheeee-hoooo! Let's go in there and try to see if they'll talk to us!" Fatty replied.
For once they weren't fighting, but I didn't like their idea. Thankfully, Ginger, a bossy female piggy, bawled them out and told them that zoo exhibits are just exactly that -- exhibits. Lilith, a slightly injured piggy, begged for me to pick her up, so I held her and her partner Cadbury. Unfortunately, Cadury is a male and they kept flirting the whole time.
Tatortot (female) and Elvis (male) also tricked me into pairing them up together. I later found them sitting by one another under a tree on a bench holding hands, rather than looking at the animals at the zoo. After reading their parents' comments on their sign-ups in the class roster I learned they are sweet-hearts. Oops!
I think this is the first and last time I pair the guinea pigs off for our activities!

Thurs., September 2

We watched a Wishbone video about Romeo and Juliet, called "Rosie, Oh, Rosie, Oh!" The guinea pigs were fascinated by seeing a talking dog romancing a human (obviously I had to tell the pigs this only works in fairy-tales).
Then we did some science experiments. Lilly the guinea pig was my helper when we showed the others how to make a compost "machine" out of soda bottles. The students were irate.
"Why waste your leftover vegetables by putting them in THAT thing?!" Chester yelled at me. "I'll eat 'em!" Clarence agreed, and they both plotted on stealing the leftover romaine lettuce leaves and carrots I had brought along for beginning our compost piles. Before long there were two very stuffed guinea pigs. The rest were quite angry and a food fight was averted only because Lucy (voted, "Miss Congeniality") stepped in and asked them to get along or they wouldn't have their science projects to take home and brag about.

Fri., September 3

Today was animal joke day at Acavydemy. Zipper got a little antsy, and raised her hand.
"Yes, Zipper?" I asked.
"Teacher, I think that we should be learning in school, not having fun." Zipper's mom had told me that Zipper was very smart and might need to be in a gifted program.
"That's true, Zipper, but jokes can be educational. Here's one for the whole class," I began. "If you dug a hole 5 feet wide, squared, by four feet high, how much dirt would be in that hole?"
Many of the students got out their scratch pads and began chugging away at the problem. Lilac started crying a bit when her pencil nub broke. Suddenly Quetzl burst out -- "I know the answer!"
"Raise your paw," I reminded her. She did so, and then said, "Teacher, the hole would have no dirt in it...you dug the dirt out!"
A few of the cavies laughed, while others gave me dirty looks for being so tricky.

Mon., September 6

Today we learned about endangered animals. We read the story "Rainforest" by Betty Betke (The Guinea Mag, Fall '99 issue) and also read about endangered animals on the National Wildlife Federation's website. The students became very silent as they contemplated ways to help save endangered animals.
"We can send our leftovers to the needy pandas in China," Clarence said kindly.
"Pandas don't eat the same foods we do," MJ replied. "Do they, teacher?"
"You're right, MJ, but it was nice of Clarence to offer." Clarence gave a little pur to show that he felt better.
None of the other students could really think of ways to help endangered animals. They became somber to think that they are animals as well, but I assured them that as long as humans are around there will always be guinea pigs!

Tues., September 7

The students made a toy for cats. Some of the guinea pigs complained because their families don't own cats, but I said they would like the toys also. (To make one, crumble up papers and fill a cardboard box or wastebasket with paper. This idea is from Aunt Annie's craft website.)
"Cats are dumb enough to go in a trash bin?" Chandler asked.
"Oh yes, we have one and he gets in the trash all the time," Lilac replied.
"I think next time we make a craft we should make something a little more useful," Nebula suggested. "I would like to hold some sort of barber shop and chew interesting new haircuts into the other students' hair. Now that would make a nice craft."
"I will think about that, Nebula," I smiled. Wouldn't the Peruvians have a fit over that idea?! Tee hee.

Wed., September 8

Today was a special day -- we just colored! A couple of gifted piggies complained about how coloring didn't teach them much. Reeses, a smart female piggy, said, "I learned how to color a long, long time ago! Even Olga da Polga knows how to write her name. Coloring is for babies!"
But I replied that coloring teaches motor skills, and that since we have a "mixed class" of all ages, some of the littler piggies would appreciate the coloring. The baby pigs such as Patch and Sam, seemed to really enjoy the activity, although I hope their people will help them learn how to color within the lines.
School went very well today. There was very little bickering in such a large class. With 50 students I thought there would be some arguments. The only guinea pig that has been much of a bully so far is Scruffles (Today she threw crayons on the floor and tried to make Dude eat his orange crayon by telling him it was a carrot.). Maybe I can speak to Scruffles' mother at parent-teacher conferences, but that's not until the 23rd. I guess the other cavies will just have to put up with it. After all, they must learn to stick up for themselves! But if Scruffles doesn't stop she will have to sit in the corner.

Thurs., September 9

We read about the deep sea and learned about fish who have lights on top of their heads!
"Oh neat, I wish I had a light that grew on top of my head," Happy chuckled.
"They do that in cartoons sometimes," Lucius explained. "They put a little light-bulb over a person's head when they have a good idea."
I asked the guinea pigs to draw a picture of what they thought a deep sea monster, not yet discovered, might look like. Here is what one of them came up with (of course, it was your guinea pig who drew this picture):

Fri., September 10

We learned all about sounds today! The students had a lot of fun since guinea pigs are very vocal. Don't be surprised if your guinea pig says something new today when s/he comes home from school. They learned animal, weather, and instrument sounds. Next the students were allowed to form a band. I was limited in instruments available, so only a few guinea pigs were allowed to participate while the rest of us listened to their playing.
Mouse, a hyper guinea pig, took the drums (no big surprise). Patches chose the maracas (actually, Piglet chose the maracas, but Patches stole them from him). Sherman was interested in the clarinets when he saw they were put in one's mouth, but didn't like the taste, so he opted for the xylophone. Josie played the violin.
Clarence and Grendel danced to the tune -- or what was supposed to be a tune. Get me an aspirin!!!

Mon., September 13

Today we set out to color again. The guinea pigs were more accepting of it today. Jack had brought finger-paints to school because he preferred to use them. Or at least, I thought they were finger paints. The main color he kept using was orange, and he kept dipping his right front paw in and then sticking his paw in his mouth rather than on the paper! I wondered what was going on until I was able to see the jar up close.
A-ha! Mystery solved! He was finger-painting with strained carrot baby food!

Tues., September 14

We read an online book about a hamster, but the guinea pigs were upset that it didn't yet have an ending. I told them that it would be very interesting to hear how they would end the story.
For a half hour we listened to their ideas, and then I said, "Now we are going to do a story-go-round."
"What's that?" Wahkiakum asked.
"It's when one person starts a story, and then another person takes over, and then another, and another. We'll pass around this pencil, and whoever is holding the pencil is the one who gets to talk." I took the pencil from behind my ear and gave it to Streak. "Now, Streak, you can start the story -- however you want."
"Wow!" Streak said. "Once upon a time there was a guinea pig who liked to run around."
"The guinea pig was a she," Boo continued, "and she liked to eat a lot and a lot and a lot of food!"
"Yeah -- and, and -- and she liked to sleep a lot and purr and get cuddled," Cari said. "The end."
"Well, I think we all need to work on our story-writing skills a bit," I laughed.

Wed., September 15

Today I brought in my cat Onyx so we could have a class pet for a day.
"I think cats are dumb," Ceecee said authoritatively.
"Really, Ceecee?" I asked. "OK, class, let's ask the cat some questions and see if we can stump him."
"What is two plus two?" Chloe Lane asked.
"Five," Onyx replied.
The guinea pigs oohed and aahed in surprise.
"What's pi?" Cinnamon asked.
"Something humans eat," Onyx said smugly.
"Wow! He's awful smart!" Lyra said in amazement.

Thurs., September 16

Today the guinea pigs worked on learning shapes and colors. Since guinea pigs only see some colors I had a hard time getting them to differentiate between a few of them. A piece of advice: don't let your guinea pigs borrow your cars because they may not know the way a stop-light works.
Mowgli, who was a fencing coach at camp, brought out some lances at recess. I freaked! "You'll poke someone's eye out!" I screamed in panic. "Mowgli, we have a zero tolerance policy at this school, so you will need to go home for the day."
Mowgli started crying and explained that she was only trying to be educational, so I decided to let her stay as long as she leaves the lances at home from now on. The last thing I want at school is shishkebob guinea pigs!

Fri., September 17

When Pepper walked in to class today, she gave me a half-eaten "apple for the teacher." "My mom wanted me to give that to you, but I got hungry on the walk to school," she explained.
We played a Dr. Seuss game at school today, since Fridays are our fun days at Acavydemy.
After the students played this game, which secretly taught them something by the way, Peanut, who aspires to one day work with computers, asked if she could tell the class about computers in our remaining time at school.
"Of course," I said," "please do!"
Peanut got up out of her seat and waddled to the front of the class. "Well, there is this box thing called a monitor, and there are tiny guinea pigs living inside that like to run around and chew on things, and then when people's computers mess up people yell 'Oh, rats!' Well, they're wrong because it's really guinea pigs in there and not rats; people always think we're tailless rats. That's all!"

Mon., September 20

The guinea pigs worked on their counting today.

I hope the guinea pigs didn't get the wrong idea about counting and other guinea pig math. I promise that I told them nothing about guinea pig multiplication, which I think should only be taught at home.

Tues., September 21

The guinea pigs did dot-to-dot today. It helped them further their counting knowledge. Reggie had the good idea of coloring in pictures that after the dot-to-dot was finished, which gave the guinea pigs a chance to further develop their motor skills.

Wed., September 22

Today we went on a field trip to http://www.olywa.net/jandrews/beta.htm where there are guinea pigs on a TV, updated every two minutes.
The students were jealous because the guinea pigs on the screen were eating and didn't have to go to school. I think I even heard a guinea pig's tummy rumble! Shadow tried to jump into the computer monitor to get to the food, and ended up hurting her cute little nose.
I told them all that when their moms and dads are at work, they should bookmark the page and secretly look when their boss is not in the room, so they can see guinea pigs when they miss their guinea pigs back at home!
One of the guinea pigs reminded me of my late cavy Violet, who was very special to me.

Thurs., September 23

Day off for parent-student meeting.

Fri., September 24

Today the students worked on putting together puzzles. Some of the guinea pigs wanted to work on hard puzzles, such as 1000 piece or 3-D, while other piggies wanted to work on easy children's puzzles. Sissy had a hard time deciding what puzzle she wanted to do until she saw an enormous puzzle of a carrot. Unfortunately, she tried to eat it after it was put together!

Mon., September 27

During recess today I caught some of the students playing the Pokémon trading card game and gambling with it! They were gambling away their lunches. Sonic, who brought her lunch from home, lost it to Squeaky, who ended up with two lunches to eat. I couldn't understand why guinea pigs would like this game since it doesn't involve food (other than winning or losing it in gambling). Sonic explained to me, "Pikachu is just soooo dreamy!"

Tues., September 28

Today the guinea pigs had a fun time learning about pet care and about how they can care for their pets. Quite ironically, my four-year-old (real) goldfish died today. However, I explained that with proper care, they could make their virtual fishies live a lot longer than my fish did. If you didn't get a fish yet, click here.

Wed., September 29

Today I let the guinea pigs loose on the computers to look for guinea pig sites and to hook up with guinea pigs around the world. The Baby aka GP discovered she could order pet supplies online, and unfortunately I didn't notice until too late that she had stolen a credit card and brought it from home. She was busy placing orders for all sorts of things, from hay to a big cage. She teamed up with Viola, another young guinea pig, to try and hide what they were doing from me. Hopefully I called and cancelled the credit card orders in time.

Thurs., September 30

Today was the last day of school! Some of the guinea pigs cried, while others were ready to go back home for good. "No more homework, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!," a few of the boys sang out.
It was fun to teach school this year. Congratulations to all the graduates!
Also, remember when Mowgli tried to fence in school during recess? Well, after upsetting her I was corrected and shown it was safe for them to do, and Mowgli and friends decided to teach the other piggies how to do it. Here's what happened the last day, during recess:

(This section was written by Michelle Miller) Mowgli, along with sisters Pepper, Reeses and fried (Amanda's BIG cat) Murf, brought the fencing equipment to school today (with Teacher Melissa's approval!) for some special activities during the last recess!

Mowgli lined up the piggies who wanted to participate and had them stretch out their muscles. She then taught them how to advance and retreat and then to lunge, which means get very close to your opponent in a quick move. Some of the pigs who had been at camp (Chandler, Wacky, Dash, Boo, Tators, Piglet, Elvis, Chloe, Peanut, and Patches) helped the newer pigs, including Viola, Baby aka GP, Scruffles, Sonic, Lilith, Josee, MJ, Fatty, Jack,Sherman, and Zipper). After everypig had a good grasp of this, Mowgli explained that everyone MUST wear the protective equipment and if they refused then they would not be allowed to play. She showed them them the tips of the weapons had flat tips that worked like a button, and if the button was pushed in a point would be scored.
Everypig suited up and was given an epee (type of "sword") and put on their masks. They were told that they could hit anywhere on their opponents body with the flat tip and they would score a point! Wheeks of joy could be heard throughout the playground, and especially some giggles from Viola, Baby and Zipper! All of the piggies seemed to enjoy the sport immensely and were a little sad when recess ended.
They all helped Mowgli, Pepper and Reeses clean up and pack away the equipment, and were inquiring as to when and where they could learn more in their hometown! Patches suggested that they have it as an event in the Pigglyimpics, and other piggies wheeked their approval of that idea! Murf said he would report the interest to his mommy Amanda. All of the pigs went into class for the last day, and some were overheard hoping there would be a party with a carrot cake
by Emery Walters
I just wanted to tell you of a cool toy I made for my two guinea pigs. Its really easy to make and easy to add on. Here are the supplies you need:
Boxes of any size
Masking tape
Large oatmeal containers
Scissors
Take a couple of boxes around the same size, and cut a hole into them the size of the opening in your oatmeal container. Place the end of your oatmeal container in the hole. Tape it to stay (I don’t recommend using glue because it takes to long to dry and can be deadly to guinea pigs -- also I checked with my vet and masking tape it OK to use). With the other box(es) do the same thing; tape the end of the oatmeal containers to the hole.
Do this with different boxes. After you are done you’ve created a little tunnel system that your guinea pig will love.
The best part is that you can rearrange them any time with no hassle. Oh yeah -- you might want to replace the supplies after a couple of months because your guinea pig will chew them down.
The final word for this magazine comes from Emery Walters:

Squeek

Guinea Pigs romp and roam all day
Wondering what to play?
But when the night comes
They all settle down
Not making a sound.
But before they go to sleep they
always whisper a little peep!

Goodnight, and farewell to you and your guinea pigs. Thanks for reading the magazine and for your support!