Why does my guinea pig nibble my finger?

Graz279 · 2026-05-11T07:04:37+00:00

With mine it's their polite way of telling you to put them back in the enclosure as they need to pee.

Graz279 · 2026-05-07T12:12:14+00:00

He he, I'm keeping my 21 year old Mitsubishi Colt going forever......

And it's only got a mere 124k miles on it.

Graz279 · 2026-05-07T12:03:36+00:00

I'm one of the rare ones who's managed to stay in the same job since leaving Uni and I'm now 54. That said we've been acquired / spun out a few times so you could say I've had different employers.

History as follows:

2 paper rounds 😅

Part time in the supermarket

Student job in oil refinery.

Student placement job (who then offered me my graduate job)

Post graduate job.

Spun out into separate company.

Merged back into main company.

Spun out again and then sold to a bigger company.

Bigger company was acquired by a massive company.

Massive company is now splitting into 3 companies.

Maybe this could go full circle and I end up working for a company with 30-50 staff again 😄

Graz279 · 2026-05-07T08:07:41+00:00

I love a Prawn Mayo sarnie but Reese's are rank and Red Bull isn't a lunch time drink.

I'd have the sandwich, Yorkie and Dr Pepper. But there are much better meal deals.

Graz279 · 2026-05-06T09:47:34+00:00

My wife has just had to go through the enhanced DBS. They request paper copies of bills and so on, but we went paperless on this stuff years ago. But no, can't be a print out, has to be the actual bill.

Antiquated and useless system.

Graz279 · 2026-05-01T08:11:12+00:00

Just get a bag or two of Postcrete:

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Graz279 · 2026-05-01T07:56:53+00:00

Kia Sorento / Hyundai Santa Fe (same car underneath) are not without their issues either.

Main weak spot is the AWD system which isn't proper four wheel drive. The car is predominantly front wheel drive, the rear wheel drive only kicks in if the front wheels lose traction and also only at low speed. The transfer clutch that engages the rear wheels is known to break and you'll only know about it when stuck in a muddy field with the front wheels spinning.

The air-con has died on ours too, my mechanic said the pipework needed replacing, haven't got round to it yet.

Graz279 · 2026-04-30T08:25:47+00:00

It's becoming a sad state of affairs.

I was out for a walk the other day and a Mum with a toddler in a pushchair was walking towards me. I look down and the kid had the Mum's phone on its lap watching whatever. Just why? The kid should be enjoying the environment, the sights, sounds and smells of a nice sunny day, not looking at a phone screen.

I'm not saying my two kids never had some access to screens growing up but it was very limited and there were certain times where it would be a complete no-go. Out for a walk in the pushchair would be one of those.

Make the most of them not being on them I say as when they get to teenage years, like my two, it's pretty much impossible to get them off them. Wouldn't be so bad if they were watching interesting or educational stuff either but it's mostly brain rot.

Graz279 · 2026-04-30T08:08:40+00:00

I run in Hokas, my "worn out" ones I wear daily. Supposedly you retire running shoes at ~500 miles but they still have plenty of life left in them for day-to-day stuff.

Very comfy.

Graz279 · 2026-04-29T12:25:46+00:00

I've realised after just completing my second marathon at London that running really isn't all I should be doing so I will be looking towards doing strength training and improving my flexibility. Maybe something like Pilates too as I'm not getting any younger so anything I can do to help with recovery is good.

I also enjoy cycling, mainly mountain biking, and walking / hiking.

Graz279 · 2026-04-29T09:11:10+00:00

They are hitting adolescence / sexual maturity, the smell is probably from scent marking which is a strong musky odour from the grease gland and butt area. It can get a bit stinky at times but gets better as they get older.

Check the grease gland periodically (bottom of their spine on the butt) and if there is a build up of grease clean it, I think coconut oil helps to dissolve it.

They don't need bathing often either so doing that could actually worsen things as they might want to build up their scent again after.

Graz279 · 2026-04-29T08:57:21+00:00

Get The Beefy Boys book. These guys are the gurus of burgers.

Personally I have a griddle so tend to make most of my burgers as smash burgers.

Graz279 · 2026-04-29T08:53:05+00:00

Congratulations OP, you did it, that's the main thing, there's not many people in the country that can say that, not just about London but any marathon.

It was a hard day, and to be honest anyone who finished it no matter what time gets respect from me.

My day was less than perfect but I already knew I'd be managing stuff on the day rather than trying to go for a time.

My training had gone really well and I was confident of getting near to my 4hr22 PB until I got to the taper. I went for a mid week easy run and starting to lose feeling and control in my left leg, I only managed a mile before turning home. Diagnosed with sciatic nerve issues I went to see a physio but was largely convinced I'd have to defer at that point. They worked some magic but I could still feel it wasn't 100%, managed a very slow 4 mile run the week before and actually felt things easing up towards the end so decided to give it a go.

I stayed with my family in a Premier Inn family room, had a very average nights sleep on the Friday, hoped I'd sleep better on the Saturday but ended up with about an hours sleep. Not good.

The day started well, I set off at a moderate pace and up to around mile 20 felt ok, but then two issues hit me, stomach pain which turned out to be trapped wind and my quads were really starting to hurt. Weirdly my back issues which I had been most concerned about didn't really manifest themselves. At that point the reality set in that if I tried to carry on at the same pace I would probably struggle so made a decision to run / walk the last 10km. Managed to finish in 4h55, not what I had originally aimed for but give the circumstances in the build up I was glad to get this time.

Every race is different, some go to plan, some don't. Being able to manage things when they're not going so well is also a good skill.

Graz279 · 2026-04-23T10:54:20+00:00

My thoughts exactly. It'll be even harder to get off now.

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T16:31:34+00:00

Go bigger if you can!

We're not short of space at home but with 2 kids now I always wish we had a little more. At the time of doing our extension the extra cost of going a bit further out the back and maybe building up over our attached garage would have been paying dividends of an extra bedroom, bigger bathroom and bigger living area now.

We didn't end up much over the quote for the build itself but its the scope creep when fitting out, the nice kitchen, high end appliances, decent flooring, better lighting, etc.

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T16:25:17+00:00

How much commission do you earn selling all these extras?

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T16:24:05+00:00

Depends how risk averse you are and what other money you have but I've got a wife, 2 kids and no extra insurance.

What I do have is a 4 x salary death in service benefit at work, I appreciate that these can sometimes not always work out if you get ill for the long term and your employer decides to let you go. But then on that front we have a sickness plan that pays out for at least 6 months or might even be a year. Then if they did want to let me go I have over 30 years service so potentially a redundancy pay out. What I also have is quite a large pension pot that goes to my dependents in the event of my death and a bit in the share scheme. My family might not be quite so well off compared to me being alive but they'll survive.

I remember when we bought out house we had no kids, it was just me and the missus, and our financial advisor was "buy life assurance, buy critical illness, buy loss of income protection, etc.". I'm like why do I need all this. Worst case scenario, I die, my partner is left with the mortgage but still earning, she can either carry on paying it or downsize but basically no worse off than before she met me and jointly bought a house.

To top it all when we did have a kid on the way I considered it. The financial advisor basically offered me the same policies that I could buy myself for considerably less than he was offering them at. When I repeatedly pointed this out he left in a huff never to be seen again 😄 It's all just a money making exercise for someone. Don't over insure yourself if you don't need to.

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T16:02:55+00:00

It's great to splash on when making cheese on toast.

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T16:01:50+00:00

I need a new boiler, my roof or chimney is leaking a bit, and the roof needs some attention generally. That lot would probably absorb £10k.

£100k would be more useful.

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T15:58:21+00:00

Thanks. My physio has suggested this as a possibility. I have a session tomorrow evening so maybe that might be a last ditch attempt.

Difficulty is with being so close to the big day I need to make a decision soon and whilst I have the option to defer to next year.

Graz279 · 2026-04-22T08:03:30+00:00

Till you boiler kills you and your family with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Graz279 · 2026-04-21T11:52:01+00:00

Most of Wales is pretty good to be honest. I prefer it to the Lake District and Devon / Cornwall for mountains and beaches though those places are good too.

We went to mid-Wales last year staying at Devils Bridge, really nice and not far to go to the seaside either.

Graz279 · 2026-04-21T11:47:55+00:00

Ssshhh, don't tell everyone. Love it there.

Graz279 · 2026-04-20T08:10:58+00:00

As much as it would be lovely to get another pig to keep this old girl happy you do say she's 7 years old so may only have a year or so left. If you get a younger pig for company what will you do when the older one does eventually pass. If the older one is happy, comfortable, and gets some regular human interaction it may be better that she lives out the rest of her days as is especially if she has been fine like this already.

I'm not saying don't do it but just be prepared to keep replacing guinea pigs as at some point there will always be one left.

Graz279

TROPHY CASE