The live together in a large dog crate on the front porch. This works well because the plastic liner slides right out through a little slot and we can put them on the grass to graze without having to pick them up and carry them around, which is something they find horrifying.
All summer, they lounge on their bellies in the cedar shavings (yes, we use cedar, no, I have not seen a single adverse reaction in the past three years) and in the winter, they get covered at night and have a heat lamp. The high sides of the crate ensure the lamp is well above their tiny heads. When it gets under freezing, the move inside and generally tweet, kick shavings all over and make the house a wreck and make me feel guilty for running the vacuum too close to their cage. They generally get to stay outside, thanks to our milder winters.
We have referred to them as a 'herd' which is what a group of guinea pigs is unfortunately called. Today, the kids decided that was just not cool enough. A group of turtles is a bale, crows a murder and rats are a mischief. (Hence CastleMischief, our geocaching and letterboxing name)
We talked it over and decided that from now on, a group of guinea pigs shall be referred to as a 'poke'. A poke of pigs. We have submitted it to a guy who is writing a book about collective nouns. And we submitted it to Merriam-Webster.
Look:
Thank you for your submission! It will be reviewed by our staff and entered into the Open Dictionary within 3 business days if it meets the criteria for entry.
poke
(noun) : a group of guinea pigs
Submitted by: Anonymous on Nov. 12, 2010 00:00
Our names will go after it if they add it! hehehe!
Our names will go after it if they add it! hehehe!
