Guinea pigs exit and enter the tube.

January 14, 2023 7:39 PM

A tintinnabulation of greeping. Guinea pigs living their best lives. Also, bonus chickens. (SL YouTube)
posted by holborne (34 comments total)

So, they are of course completely adorable. But how do they not all get taken by hawks?
posted by Dip Flash at 7:55 PM on January 14, 2023 [15 favorites]

No. I want pet possums.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 8:11 PM on January 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

“I wonder if any of the guinea pigs are fearful?” [feathered animal exits tube] “Apparently some of them are big chickens.”
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 9:12 PM on January 14, 2023 [10 favorites]

Sheesh, I thought my commute was congested.
posted by Hypatia at 9:25 PM on January 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

So, they are of course completely adorable. But how do they not all get taken by hawks?

Having watched several videos of these particular guinea pigs:
they like grazing close by to bushes/undergrowth, and when they see a bird that makes them feel scared, they dash underneath the bushes/undergrowth to hide.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:34 PM on January 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Having watched several videos of these particular guinea pigs:
they like grazing close by to bushes/undergrowth, and when they see a bird that makes them feel scared, they dash underneath the bushes/undergrowth to hide.

See this video for details, which shows them ducking for cover when a finch and a turkey sound the alarm.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:06 PM on January 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

I loved simply how many of them there were. The variety! And yet I immediately felt like I knew each and every one!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:17 PM on January 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

The little grey one didn't want to go back in the tube without his buddy.
posted by hypnogogue at 11:23 PM on January 14, 2023 [9 favorites]

Guinea pigs are great. They are smart enough to know who you are and cheep at you in the morning.
posted by kerf at 11:47 PM on January 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

adorable? ...or, legion?
i don't know. i just don't know.

but "greeping" is the best word EVER for that noise they make.
posted by lapolla at 11:47 PM on January 14, 2023 [6 favorites]

I thought they were giant hamsters.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:05 AM on January 15, 2023

I am sad- my husband doesn't think this is a good solution to our lawn maintenance problem.
posted by freethefeet at 3:32 AM on January 15, 2023 [7 favorites]

freethefeet: You should have led with goats, then allowed a compromise on guinea pigs. Now the only fallback position is encouraging wild bunnies.
posted by amtho at 4:40 AM on January 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

The way they stare at the camera and pause before the tube makes me think that they're using the front-facing camera and the piggies see themselves.

My favorite twitter account, @mcrouton, does such morning commute videos pretty regularly too.
posted by pjenks at 4:45 AM on January 15, 2023

From the pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs,
From the tintinnabulation of the pigs.
posted by JHarris at 5:07 AM on January 15, 2023 [6 favorites]

Guinea pigs live about five years. Given a population of 80 and an even distribution of ages I surmise that on average one of them would die of "natural causes" every couple weeks. But what is more relevant is that guinea pigs are extraordinarily fecund, able to become pregnant within a month of being born, and able to have 4-5 litters a year. If there are 80 guinea pigs now, in a year there could be a thousand guinea pigs. Either they are sterilizing most of them, or they are letting the hawks/foxes take them, or they are livestock.

I'm just ... I can't help think about this. Second and third order effects of a pack of 80 well-protected guinea pigs. What does it imply?
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:13 AM on January 15, 2023 [10 favorites]

Either they are sterilizing most of them, or they are letting the hawks/foxes take them, or they are livestock.

I'm just ... I can't help think about this. Second and third order effects of a pack of 80 well-protected guinea pigs. What does it imply?

They could all be female guinea pigs.

Or they could be selling some of their surplus guinea pigs to people who want guinea pigs as pets.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 6:26 AM on January 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Electric door inside the pipe lets in only 80 guinea pigs each night before locking shut.
posted by ryanrs at 8:38 AM on January 15, 2023 [9 favorites]

I figured this had to be somewhere not N. America and the accent in another video confirmed it. There's way more than foxes and hawks that would like 80 Guinea pigs in the Americas. My egg guy has free range pasture fed chickens on their fallow veggie fields (he raises produce and flowers and happens to do chickens and ducks as part of his practice) and said one spring they lost a quarter of their birds to raptors. They had to learn to hide from the predators all over again.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:46 AM on January 15, 2023

The video says “We don’t eat them!” but it’s the most compelling demonstrations I’ve seen of guinea pigs as herd animals being fattened up to become meat. That said, they are adorable and I won’t eat them.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:25 AM on January 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

The video says “We don’t eat them!”

I was also happy to see that, but then the next line started "during the day..." and I had a bad moment until they finished the sentence with "they accompany us in the garden." For a moment I feared they were being given their last meal and exercise...

Now, rather than being reincarnated as my own dog, I think I would like to come back as one of those guinea pigs.
posted by rpfields at 9:45 AM on January 15, 2023

They could all be female guinea pigs.

Now I’m imagining a remake of Jurassic Park but with guinea pigs.
posted by mbrubeck at 11:06 AM on January 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

They could all be female guinea pigs.

yep. that worked out well for the dinos, didn't it, mbrubeck?
posted by supermedusa at 11:45 AM on January 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Valerie and her Wheek Wheek Wheek of Wonders
posted by scruss at 12:41 PM on January 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Almost like daily commuting with large trucks included...
posted by jim in austin at 12:43 PM on January 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Very cute! Though, knowing chickens, I wouldn’t be surprised if a small guinea pig disappeared from time to time.
posted by bouvin at 2:48 PM on January 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Very cute! Though, knowing chickens, I wouldn’t be surprised if a small guinea pig disappeared from time to time.

This was my second thought because chickens will eat basically anything if it holds still long enough, but my very first thought was "There are WAY TOO MANY Guinea Pigs!" so on balance... well maybe that's the balance.

It's like the Trouble With Tribbles except these have legs and can run around.

Also watching them behave like herd animals is cracking me up. We need a very small teacup sized sheep dog to round them up.

I am also questioning how there are aren't a thousand... sorry ten thousand... wait, fifty thousand... will you guys knock it off already I can't count that fast!

Ahem. I am also questioning how there aren't two hundred and fifty thousand Guinea Pigs.
posted by loquacious at 9:30 PM on January 15, 2023

> They could all be female guinea pigs.

Jeff Goldblum: "Life, Uh, Finds a Way”

(June 6, 2014)

Staff at Hatton Country World in Warwickshire couldn't understand why they suddenly had 100 pregnant guinea pigs on their hands - until they realized one of the male rodents had managed to escape his enclosure and infiltrate the female-only enclosure.

They noticed that the exhausted father-to-be, now nicknamed Randy, had lost a little weight, but did not realise why until they discovered he was actually a male rodent being kept busy in the wrong pen.

The animal park, which already has 300 male and female guinea pigs, is now readying itself for a population boom in the next few weeks.

Manager Richard Craddock said: "One of our male guinea pigs managed to find his way into the female enclosure and had a very good time by the looks of it.

"We suspect a child may have placed him back in the wrong pen by accident after stroking him or Randy may have somehow broken out of his enclosure to get to the females. "

"We believe that the newly-named Randy could have impregnated up to 100 female guinea pigs, which have litters of about four, so if you do the maths we could be expecting quite a baby boom."

...

posted by sebastienbailard at 12:14 AM on January 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

I am sad- my husband doesn't think this is a good solution to our lawn maintenance problem.

You have my sympathy — my wife is also skeptical about this excellent plan, which I have pitched more than once.

Some people prefer problems that are familiar to solutions that are not.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:02 AM on January 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

The chickens were quite a surprise when they emerged. Reminded me of the Lord of the Rings "They have a cave troll" moment.
posted by tempestuoso at 12:26 PM on January 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

But where do they WANT to go?
posted by bendy at 12:29 PM on January 16, 2023

If they're at Point A, they'll want to go to Point B.
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:10 AM on January 17, 2023

The fever-dream version of “guinea pigs go places” is Pui Pui Molcar, which seems to be Japanese children’s television.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:57 PM on January 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

> So, they are of course completely adorable. But how do they not all get taken by hawks?

... magic
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:06 PM on January 22, 2023