Piggy Veggie Beards - A Gallery of Messy Eaters

On cavies, veggie beards are not actual beards, but rather a figurative beard composed of dripping vegetable or fruit juices that the pig has managed to accumulate on his lips, chin or neck fur. This grubby yet adorable phenomenon can be observed after a spirited meal.

No treats here

Little Abby-Roo was begging for a treat during cage changing, but received nose scritches instead.

Two pigs, one pigloo

In the past, Revy had always been steadfastly adamant about not sharing her pigloo. It mattered not how roomy the pigloo was or what startling noise was occurring nearby, if there was a pigloo and she was parked in it no visitors were allowed. No "safety in numbers" huddling for this obstinate pig.

Rascally rodents

We pigs are usually given floor time during cage changing to maximize cleaning efficiency. As it happens, free range time is a prime opportunity to cause mischief.

Baby Belka & Peaches popcorning

In this short clip you can see baby Peaches and Belka's reactions to their first ever C&C cage. They were about three months old and absolutely thrilled to be given a larger space to live in. So much room for piggy shenanigans! Incidentally, this was also our humans first foray into using fleece bedding and building a C&C cage. In those days Belka, Peaches and Truffle shared a 2x3 with a 2x2 loft upstairs.

Piggy camping

Have an extra piece of fleece lying around? Drape it over your guinea pigs cage. Instant piggy camping! Pigs also appreciate the canopy effect during out of cage time. Add in tunnels, boxes and paper bags filled with hay for a quick and easy obstacle course.

Video: Abby-Roo and Revy standing to beg for food

It didn't take long for little Abby-Roo to pick up everybody else's trick of standing on their hind legs to beg for snacks. Tomato is her favorite food so she was particularly motivated to learn. In the video above she can be seen carrying off a hefty slice while Revy lumbers after her in pursuit.

Guinea pig DIY: Acrylic backed C&C grid cage

Truffle and Poof gaze at each other from opposite sides of the acrylic

Many guinea pig owners are undoubtedly familiar with finding all sorts of things outside the confines of their cavies cage. Hay, poop, bedding and pellets are the most common culprits. Occasionally stray bits of fruit or vegetables make their way across the room, no doubt launched by a pig in an energetic moment.

Blueberry shaped food bowl

Our humans stopped by Sur La Table this past weekend and stumbled across this blueberry bowl marked down to $7. Being the good piggy slaves that they are, they thought it would make a cute food bowl for us.

A piggy tug-of-war

Can you tell where one pig ends and the other begins?

Much to Revy's annoyance, Abby-Roo has a habit of snatching food straight from her mouth, usually mid-chew. This applies to anything that Abby-Roo can sink her little piggy teeth into, including blades of grass, pieces of tomato, slices of cucumber and entire wads of corn husks.

Poof's piggy yawn, on video

In this brief clip, Poof stretches out and yawns before snatching a strand of hay from Belka's mouth. After finishing her nibble she proceeds to scratch herself, then lays down for a nap in her pigloo while Belka looks about for more.

Happy 4th of July

Belka ringing the piggy sized Liberty Bell. PASS AND STOW

We patriotic piggies would like to say Happy Independence Day! Not that we don't love our fellow pigs across the pond (where else would we get fantastic cavy literature from?).

Guinea pig nicknames

Our humans don't always call us guinea pigs by our given names. More often than not they refer to us by one of several ridiculous nicknames, which vary in expressing affection or consternation. This has led to bewildered vets, mixed up records and in Belka's case, a minor case of identity crisis as she is officially known as Nutmeg.

Each of us has our own embarrassing set of monikers.