Sammi and Dusty (9 page)

Bubble and Squeak are our guinea pigs. They’re very friendly and love being held and petted every day.

Guinea pigs originally come from South America and usually live until they are five or six years old.

Guinea pigs are very social creatures and Bubble and Squeak would get very lonely if they didn’t have each other. They like having lots of hay and straw to burrow in, and toilet-roll tubes to use as tunnels.

Guinea pigs are active up to 20 hours per day and sleep only for short periods.

Guinea pigs make lots of different noises which mean different things. When they’re excited they make lots of squeaking ‘wheek’ sounds and they purr when they’re being stroked.

City Farm is lucky enough to have a pony called Stanley an ex-racehorse called Swift and a donkey called Dusty. Horses and donkeys take a lot of looking after.

Our horses and donkeys need to be mucked out every morning, and given a pile of fresh straw for their beds.

They have small feeds at breakfast and lunchtime each have a net full of hay in the evening. During the day they are ‘turned out’ into the field for at least six hours so that they can graze on the grass.

We always check that there are no holes in the fencing, or no broken glass or poisonous plants before they are turned out into the paddock.

In the winter, Dusty, Stanley and Swift have stable rugs on their backs so they don’t get cold.

Cynthia is City Farm’s Tamworth pig. She loves playing football!

Pigs are actually very clean. When Cynthia rolls in the mud it’s because she’s hot. Pigs can’t sweat, so they cover themselves in cool mud, which cools them down and protects their skin from the sun.

Pigs are also very smart, and they learn tricks faster than dogs. They like to have toys like a football to keep them entertained.

Tamworth pigs are a gingery-orange colour, and they originally come from the UK.

Pigs have such a good sense of smell that they can find things buried underground.

It is actually illegal to give pigs scraps from the kitchen.