The Herd
Meet the members of The Herd
Current Members
Adrastea
Adrastea (Tea, for short) was the first of the new Herd. She's a mostly-white Abyssinian (her left ear is cream colored). She's also bosy and very athletic. If there is something she wants, she'll generally use brute force to get it. And she usually succeeds. On the other hand, she is generally quite docile about being picked up or petted. She also likes to indicate that she's had enough floor time by sitting by the grating to the living room and staring up at her human.
Adrastea is named jointly for the innermost moon of Jupiter and for one of the nursemaids of Zeus. No particular reason, it was just a pretty name.
Metis
Metis is a grey and white mostly-English coated guinea sow. (She has two whorls about 2/3 of the way down her back and she has some ridgeback tendecies, too.) Metis joined Tea about a month and a half after the latter moved in. Metis is about a month younger than Tea and a lot less agressive and physical. In fact, she's downright shy and tends to spend a lot of her time hiding. But she's also a clever little piggy who knows how to outsmart Tea in quite a few ways. Additionally, she is the mother of Pallas due to a pet store goof involving her, no fewer than three boars, and the same cage. However, she proved to be an excellent mother, so it all turned out well.
Metis is named for the next moon out from Adrastea as well as Zeus's first wife, the Titan goddess of wisdom. (The latter is also the mother of Pallas Athena.) Given the grey eye, this seemed appropriate.
Pallas
Pallas is Metis's son. He has an English coat, with white and brown markings. While his markings aren't show-quality, I think that he has the best coat in the herd. He is a frisky little fellow who loves to run and jump around the floor. He was born a large pup, and he continues to stay ahead of the usual growth curves. (As an adult, he's larger than normal. Then again, so are the girls, so it doesn't mean much.) He's got some of his mother's ingenuity, but he's a lot more assertive and brave. After his little operation in April of 2004, he has been allowed to move in with Tea and Metis, where he is very happy. He particularly loves sleeping in the hammock.
Pallas suffered an accident when a clumsy oaf stepped on his head when he was a week old. Little trooper that he is, he got through it despite the obvious pain and suffering. The only long-term effect seems to be that his nasal passage seems a bit constricted. (The nasal bone was broken in the accident.) However, this does not stop him from leading a full life of wheaking, eating, sleeping, and trying to score with the girls.
Pallas is named for several things: asteroid number 2, a (male) Titan, and Pallas Athena, daughter of Metis. (At the time of his naming, I didn't know his sex. So a gender-neutral name seemed best, particularly this one.)
Mneme
Mneme was adopted from the Boulder Humane Society in June 2005. She's pretty timid of people and quick, making her difficult to pick up. Once in your hands, you have to be ready for her to squirm, because she will. But she's sweet and very pretty, so we forgive her.
Puck
Puck was about a year old when I got him. He has an English coat with grey and white coloration. His eyes are very red and not a little demonic. That, combined with the fact that he's fairly mischevious, earned him his name. I suspect that Puck may be blind since he rarely shows any kind of reaction to visual stimuli. (When he does, it's not clear that he isn't reacting to sound, smell, or a sense of touch somehow.) Still, he's a very active little pig, dashing around the floor or his cage willy-nilly and exploring everything he encounters.
Puck is the only pig I know who will walk right over my feet when he's having floortime. (Tea will walk UP to me and put her forepaws on my feet, but she never walks over them.) Puck also likes to put his forepaws up on my lower-leg and ask for a treat. And he's quite a squirmer, even more so than Mneme. He'll try to get of your hands no matter how high up he is. If he's on your lap, he'll try to climb off; he often starts typing on my keyboard when I'm holding him in his attempts to escape.
Galatea
I couldn't resist this one. Galatea (there's a pun there... look it up) is a jet-black pig with an English coat. She was so calm and sweet when I visted her at the Humane Society that I couldn't help but to adopt her. She can be a bit timid at first, but she'll generally wander up to a person after her initial fright. And she's probably the calmest lap-pig I have.
Caliban
Caliban was adopted to provide a companion for Puck after Nestor passed away. With Caliban came little Hyperion and there were some bumps on the way: Hyperion attacked Caliban and scratched him up. Caliban also lost most of his top front two teeth in the fight. After Hyperion tried it again, he was returned to the Humane Society as unsociable. Caliban recovered nicely, thanks to an impomptu visit to the vets (who didn't even charge us, nice people that they are). His teeth are back and his a happy pig, learning the ways of the herd. (Such as: clover is tasty and the big person brings us treats.)
Caliban's temperment is fairly mellow. He and Puck chase each other around a bit, but they've settled in. Caliban tolerates being picked up fiarly well and will approach humans if he think there are treats. He's a reasonably good match for Puck in terms of personality, which is a makes for a good situation.
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| Tea lounging in the hammock | Metis, shortly after her arrival, eating |
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| Pallas, exploring with his nose | Mneme, just after meeting the others. (Yes, she's wet. They all had a bath.) |
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| Puck, shortly after arriving | Galatea |
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| Caliban | |
Past Members
Tribble
I got Tribble as a birthday gift from Mom and Dad for my 12th birthday. He was a solid black boar of the ridgeback persuasion. (Ridgebacks are not a recognized breed, but he was one. He had an American/English coat except the hair on his back, which ran forward and tended to stick up. Hence the name of the breed.) He was a sweet and patient little guinea pig who learned to play dead on his back. He also used to enjoy playing in the pig pen in the yard. He is still missed.
Tribble was named for the little fuzzy critters from an Original Series Star Trek episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles". A quick look at Tribble and his namesakes reveals why.
Nestor
Nestor and Puck were adopted together. "The Boys" lived together and got along wonderfully. They'd occasionally posture at each other and sometimes even chase each other around the cage, but overall they got along much better than the girls do. (Which I find odd.) I initially had troubles getting them to eat their pellets, but putting Pallas in with them for a few days fixed that. (He showed them that the pellets were good eating. They don't forget once they learn it, apparently.)
Anyway, Nester: Nestor arrive about five years old, so he was the old man of the herd. He was a Marcino pig with white, cream, and black hair. He was fairly laid back and easy to hold and he has a very cute face. He liked to come over the side of the cage whenever a person walks by. Sadly, he died (apparently of old age) a year after his arrival. I like to think think that his last year was comfortable and happy. His friendly, sweet personality sorely missed
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| Tribble being held by me, taken from a family photo. | Nestor |
Weiss John