Meet Ru and Mi! Pinned

If you’ve been following GuineaDad for a while, then you know I had three guinea pigs that I would post often, whether it was on our Instagram, YouTube, and elsewhere. While all three have unfortunately passed away, it’s comforting to me knowing that the girls are all together, and I even see a little bit of their personalities in my two girls that I’ve got now, Siru and Julmi, who you know as Ru and Mi.

Peanut was the first to passaway, followed by Dumpling. After they both passed, Tofu didn’t seem too different, but I was concerned about her being lonely. I began looking around at a rescue center in Burbank for some friends for Tofu.

When I brought Ru and Mi home, I kept them in a separate cage at first. I made the original cage two levels, and kept Tofu on one, while the other two were on the other level. When I thought that they seemed ready to meet each other, I put the three girls together just briefly to see how it would go, but it really seemed like Tofu was stressed by their presence and she ran away from the other two. After that, I kept them separated to make sure Tofu was at ease and comfortable. 

Some time after, Tofu passed, and after a period of time after that happened, I gave access to the rest of the cage to Ru and Mi, which was when I created the ramp that you may have seen in our social media posts! 

It was so fun getting to know Ru and Mi, and it was even funnier to see how similar the girls are to the other three. In particular, there are elements of the dynamic between Ru and Mi that remind me of how Dumpling and Peanut were with each other.

For example, Mi loves to provoke Ru and annoy her, and once Ru has expressed that she’s had enough, Mi will run off and popcorn—Mi gets pure satisfaction just from annoying her sister! It was like this between Peanut and Dumpling as well. 

As time goes on, Ru and Mi’s personalities have become more pronounced and distinct, and it’s so interesting to see how opposite they are from each other, and how their personalities mesh and work together so well.

Even though Ru is definitely heavier and larger looking than Mi, she’s actually the younger one, and it shows in her personality too. Ru is very curious, and I’d even say she’s a little naive. She’s super friendly and will be the first to approach new people, before she runs away. But then she always forgets her fear and comes back! I’ve had some people tell me that Ru looks luxurious and sophisticated looking, like she has some pedigree to her.

On the other hand, Mi is older, as well as smaller and lighter than Ru. Mi is quite sensitive and is more cautious, often being more easily scared. Despite being older, she has a bit more stamina than Ru and loves to run around the cage. Sometimes she’ll run around, back and forth in a circuit for 10 minutes straight! Ru sometimes tries to run around with Mi because she loves to follow her around, but she gives up pretty quickly because her stamina isn’t as high. In regards to her appearance, more people tend to talk about how cute she is, and I think that’s in part because of her fur coloring. Half of her butt is a lighter brown color, which makes her look pretty distinct! She’s also got tufts of hair sticking out from the top of her ears that make it look like she’s got some colored extensions. 

What I’ve noticed about Ru and Mi is that they don’t love fresh vegetables as much as Peanut, Tofu, and Dumpling did. In fact, above anything else, Ru and Mi will pick their hay. Mi tends to be more picky than Ru, and even if she likes eating something, she takes her time and will leave and come back to finish her food, as if she’s drawing out the experience and “saving the best for last.” Ru, on the other hand, will eat everything in front of her and finish it in one sitting.

What I find interesting isthat both Ru and Mi don’t mind walking around on the hardwood when I give them free reign of the house. Despite this, they will also never poop or pee on the hardwood, and exclusively do their business on our GuineaDad Liners. On the other hand, Peanut Tofu, and Dumpling didn’t really enjoy walking around on the hardwood floor and avoided getting off of the liner.

Aside from me describing Ru and Mi here, I’m sure you’ve been able to get a sense of some of their personality traits from our social media posts! 

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Ru and Mi, and every day something funny and new happens to show me even more parts of their personalities. This was my story introducing you all to my girls, and I can’t wait to read all of yours—create your own post in the “Guinea Pig Chat” topic!

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Ru and Mi, and every day something funny and new happens to show me even more parts of their personalities. This was my story introducing you all to my girls, and I can’t wait to read all of yours!