Jane Goodall, the famed biologist known for her work with primates, had guinea pigs as a child. I only know that because my animal crazy older daughter claims to have read it in one of Goodall’s books. I am taking her word for it because anything Jane has done is good enough for my daughter. And now we have two guinea pigs.

Being a traditionalist when it comes to pets, adopting guinea pigs was a stretch. But the kid had done her research, asked a lot of questions and wanted to know about the “Pavlovian response” in guinea pigs. Cripes.

We (she) decided on a bonded father/son pair of GPs, the father is a brindle-colored, long-haired Abyssinian. The son is a long-haired lilac agouti. I just like saying “I have a lilac agouti” and see if people can figure out what I am talking about. (They are slightly blue in color or light purple.)

As with anything in the pet world, the adoption fee for the pet is the least expensive thing. The rabbit cage, bigger than a normal guinea pig cage because there are two of them, was $80.00 and the little hidee-houses they like were another $20.00…etc. Our $10 guinea pigs ended up being well over $100. I found that to skimp on their habitat is not okay, which makes sense.

The initial outlay was nothing compared to what some people do with their guinea pig “habitat.” Check out some set ups at Cavy Spirit.

Woody and Arlo have been in the house since before Christmas and learning to show us that cilantro is yummy, spinach is okay and coming to the front of the cage for hello time, is really cool.

Our next challenge is convincing the resident terrier, hands off.