Conejillos de Indias

Today, we bought two young guinea pigs for the Lone Star Baby. She has named them, in keeping with our pet-names-from-mythology tradition, Persephone and Pandora (I was scared they'd end up being Cinderella and Ariel, but we dodged that one). I have been doing rodent research for awhile in preparation of getting her two small pets, and it is clear to me from this research that the best choice would be rats. They are the smartest and the nicest and they love people the most when handled. Domesticated rats do not trouble me and I had fully planned to buy a pair; the Lone Star Baby has been talking about this upcoming event for months. Today, at the pet store, though...there were these baby guinea pigs. They were just so damned cute.

I went home and got the Lone Star Baby so she could come see them and she was on the fence a bit, not as easily swayed as I, but she decided that she, too, wanted the guinea pigs. I called a friend of mine who used to have a guinea pig while I was at the pet store to be sure I wasn't making a big mistake and she said they were nice pets and she would give us her cage! We went to visit and she gave us their cage and a bunch of bedding and a dish and a water bottle and chewing sticks and an outdoor pen and a book on guinea pig care...quite amazing. So we got some guinea pig food and hay and set everything up and then got Persephone and Pandora and brought them home. It was a big day for the little critters and they were pretty scared, but they are more brave than I thought they would be and are venturing all over the cage and playing and eating.

They are so cute.