About two years ago Lydia made it known that she really really wanted a pet. Shantel told her that if she saved $60 (enough to buy the pet and the cage), she could buy a pet. It took Lydia over 2 years of saving, but she finally made it. She had been at about $35-$40 for a while and then suddenly decided she was going to do it and within a month she had enough money for a pet. We were very specific about the type of pet she could get it which included: Hamster, Rat, Bird, Turtle, or Guinea Pig. We did a lot of research with her to try and figure out what pet would be best. Lydia got really set on getting each one at one point or another and finally seemed to be settling on a rat because of ones she saw at the store. However, the cages are pretty expensive and we were not so sure.
Then Shantel found Guinea Pigs online that we could get for only $20. It was two guinea pigs, the cage and food. Lydia and Shantel went to look at them and Lydia decided they would be great. Here is Lydia with her money. In truth, I am really really proud of her. It is hard to save money and she worked hard to earn the money to be able to do this.
Lydia fell in love with the guinea pigs right away. She was so happy. We got them set up in the sewing room. The cage was huge, so we thought that was the best place. The two guinea pigs were females named Peppy and Rocco.
Here is Lydia after giving Rocco a bath.
Lydia loved Peppy and Rocco and they were pretty good for snuggling. They did not particularly like getting picked up out of the cage and would run away each time, but once you were holding them, they were pretty happy to sit and be held. Lydia did a good job taking care of them. She also liked that she could take them out of the cage and set up their pen on the grass and play with them there.
Unfortunately, right from day one we found there were two problems. The first is that both Shantel and I are allergic to the hay that is the main food that they eat. Immediately we had scratchy eyes, runny noses and I would sometimes have shortness of breath after being around the hay. It was so sad. We tried it for a few days and realized that there was no way it would work. The second things that we found is that it just smelled so strong and so bad. With the sewing room right next to the laundry room it was a problem because it would make the clothes smell. We were so sad because they really were so good for Lydia and she was doing a great job.
We moved them to the garage knowing that would a temporary move for a couple weeks until we could sell the guinea pigs. However, the second night they were there I went out and found a mouse in the garage. They could smell the food and were attracted to it and were sneaking under the garage door. So then we moved them inside. At first by the kitchen island and then into the mud room.
Lydia knew early on that we were having trouble with allergies, and that we might need to sell the guinea pigs, but it was still devastating to her. She was so so sad. We felt really bad for her too. She was really brave and really strong considering how sad she was.
We found a really nice family to sell them too and the money went to Lydia so she can do something fun. She really wants another pet, but Shantel and I are really not ready for that right now. We'll have to see about doing a pet later, but most of the other pets are not great either.
I am still proud of Lydia and what a good job she did and that she earned that money for something she wanted.
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