Guinea Pig....

So, most of you might remember our hamster, Puck, passing away on Emily's birthday in December.  We went out and bought Sammy the Guinea Pig that night and have been enjoying him ever since.

I was recently in PetSmart to buy some supplies for Sammy and ended up cracking the cashier up with some of the stories I had. 

Sammy was always very scared of us and would try to nip us everytime we would put our fingers near the cage.  I was an exception for the most part, he didn't ALWAYS try to bite me.
The other night he was trying to flip his food bowl over and I was laughing a bit.  Then he went a bit too far and flipped it so that the pellets ended up on my carpet.  That was it!  I said no and gently hit the cage with the tv remote (my back was bad and I could only reach the cage with the remote).  He scattered off the shelf and to his bed under the shelf.  After a few minutes he came back out and started to flip it all over again.  I hit the cage again and said "no!".  This went on for about an hour.  I finally took the bowl out of the cage and put it on top of it, so he could see it.  (Yes, I realize he is a guinea pig and not a child but I thought it might work).  It worked!  When I put it back in the cage he never tried to flip it again.  When he did go near it, he would drop his head and look at me to see if I was watching. I started to crack up.  I think he finally got it.  To those who say guinea pigs can't be trained, I say phooey on you!  Ever since then he has never tried to bite me.  It's like we reached an understanding. 

The thing that had the cashier absolutely cracking up was the fact that I was buying Sammy his second wooden "tunnel".  It is a tunnel made out of sticks that he can climb on, crawl through, or chew on.  I bought it knowing he would chew it, since I can't put hay in there now.  Well, the first one lasted about a month.  He completely chewed it so that it is gone.  Completely gone!  I didn't realize this wasn't normal until I told the cashier that I was buying his second one.  She couldn't believe it.  Crazy guinea pig! 

He is pretty cute and funny.  He keeps up laughing and makes the dog jealous.  Now if only I could get him to poop in once place I'd be a happy camper!! :)