Oscar and Midge – then and now – George's Guinea Pig World

Last weekend was the anniversary of Oscar and Midge coming to live with us. Then they were small, polite little boys. Now they are huge, bossy, nose-into-everything troublemakers! Well, they’re improving, really. Oscar now shows me proper respect when I’m roaming the floor in the morning, and keeps his distance until I’ve decided to go into my tent to go back to my cage.

Aren’t they cute there? Sharing their food bowl like brothers should. I share mine with Dougall. That looks like birthday cake in there – maybe it was Dougall’s and mine – our birthday is at the end of next month.

Anyway, they fell out and Mummy had to move them into separate cages.

Midge went upstairs until last March, then he swapped with Hector, and now Colman’s gone he’s gone upstairs again, to have a larger cage to run around in and to keep Kevin company. He’s a nice chap, really, cheeky, but quite relaxed with it, and he likes it when Mummy scratches his back. Oscar’s just cheeky, but at least he’s more or less stopped biting the bars between our cages all day long. It drove me mad. Mummy put a white sheet of plastic stuff up between us to give me some peace. He’s getting better with Mummy stroking him, too. He goes all gooey when she scratches his head, and sometimes he’ll give her a nose-boop, too. Some people just don’t know when they’re well off.

Apparently they weighed 660 grams when they first arrived, when they were three months old, and now Oscar is 1280 grams, which is nearly as much as me, and Midge is 1440 grams. That’s nearly as much as Dougall. I’ve trimmed down recently, to make myself lean and fit. I think they should do that too. Oscar doesn’t eat as much hay as he should, and they both clear their bowls before the afternoon’s over. That’s silly, they won’t get any more till breakfast.