Here Piggy Piggy!

I just realized that I hardly ever talk about our guinea pigs on this blog. Most people probably don't know that I used to foster and help an official guinea pig rescue find homes for unwanted piggies. At one time I had 9 guinea pigs at home. It was lots of fun, and very noisy whenever we opened the fridge or rustled a plastic bag because the piggies would think it was time for a treat of carrots or a salad and would WHEEK! WHEEK! WHEEK! all at once until they were rewarded.

All those piggies kept us busy feeding, cleaning cages, brushing, bathing, clipping nails, holding and cuddling and setting them up for playtime on the floor.
I used to take some of them with me to the park each week, to not only showcase them to find them new homes, but also to educate the public on small animal and guinea pig care.

That was a few years ago and I'm not taking in anymore piggies, but we still have a few piggies that call Laughing Orca Ranch their home. So without further ado, let me introduce:


Jelly Bean, a sweet and curious little short hair American guinea pig male. He is probably a crested pig, as well, but it's hard to tell since the crest blends into the rest of his white back.Here's Jelly Bean again, begging for a treat, along with his very shy brother, Licorice, who is a white crested male American short haired guinea pig.And this is Truffle, our lone female piggy, an American short haired piggy. She is very sweet and loves to be held and carried around.Check out those piggy lips! Is there anything cuter?!Another cute set of lips on our white Abyssinian male guinea pig. Coconut a true lover and is our senior piggy. Sitting on someone's lap, or against my chest are his favorite places to be. He likes to hang out with me while I'm on the computer.Peek-a-Boo Licorice!"Go away lady! I'd like some privacy here!"
So there ya have it. Our piggies. And of course, I'm sure you noticed what colors they are, too. We do love us some orca colored critters around here!

Moon Pie's Adventures

I've been super busy the past week. Even though we had a little snow flurry one day and the winds are still blowing and gusting up to 40 mph, the temps are pretty nice during the day most of the time, so I'm spending most of my time outside with the animals and kids and doing chores around the ranch.

So, I thought I'd post a montage of one of our special ranch critters: Moon Pie, and how he spends his days here on the ranch.


Moon Pie still spends his nights here in the house in a large rabbit cage. First thing in the morning he calls out for his bottle of milk. After a vigorous breakfast, he does a few 'laps' on his Stairmaster. Up he goes!
And down he goes!
He doesn't just hop down the stairs either. He does hand (or is that hoof?) stands and adds in a few twists and flips, too. He is such a great start to our day.
Moon Pie is curious about everything and likes everyone. There isn't a critter around that he won't try to make friends with, including our cats and guinea pigs.
And then it's time for more jumping!
Boing! It's a Moon Jump!
Jackson is a serious animal lover and takes good care of the critters around here. This is Javalina our Manx cat and Coconut, our Abysinnian guinea pig.

Then were off to explore and play outside. Jones, our newest critter around here, is already quite fond of Moon Pie and immediately upon meeting him, just fell in love. Moon Pie enjoys Jones, too.
First thing they do is greet each other with a head rub.
And each time they see each other, they are back to those head rubs. Jones also likes to rub his body all over Moon Pie, which Moon doesn't mind at all.
Sometimes, Moon Pie gets really playful and does his little dance before he gives a head rub. Some may think that he is actually head butting, but he doesn't hit hard when he makes contact. He really is just rubbing heads. He does the same to my legs in the morning and evening while he impatiently waits for me to warm up his bottle. It feels really good, too, like a massage! hehe
Jenna is also a serious animal lover and is very fond of Moon Pie and Jones. A three way snuggle is a beautiful thing.

Piggy, piggy, piggy!

They both oink and 'wheek'. And they both munch hay.

But, no, not the curly-tailed, snorty-snouted, barn-style piggy.
But the itty-bitty, furry, lap buddies, of which we have 4 of: guinea piggies!!

We have 3 males and one female guinea pig. Three of them (two males~Licorice and Jelly Bean~and the lone female~Truffle) are siblings that we watched being born. All three are American smooth-coat black/white combinations (which shocked us all because both parents had no black on them at all and were mostly brown), and our third male is an Abbysinian/Peruvian mix~Coconut.

Here's Jenna cuddling with Coconut.
Coconut loves baby carrots
Awwww! So cute!!