Guinea Pigs: 50 Years of Love, Little Noses & Big Personalities

I have had guinea pigs for about fifty years. When did I get my first guinea pig? I honestly have no idea. I cannot remember when it happened, who gave it to me, or even how old I was. But I do remember his name.

Knokkie. Knokkie was a brown guinea pig. Just brown. No special colour, no fancy breed, no long hair and no unusual markings. Just a lovely, classic guinea pig. And that was enough.

Then came Boebelientje (pronounce as Bubby-Lee)

At some point, another guinea pig joined us. I think she was meant to be company for Knokkie.

There was just one small problem.

Knokkie did not really like Boebelientje.

So, of course, we thought Boebelientje needed a friend too.

And then things became a little… complicated.

Boebelientje had babies.

Suddenly there were Annemarietje, Boebelientje 2, Boebelientje 3, Boebelientje 4, Marietje, Blackie and many others.

Blackie (Blacky) was completly black. We could have named her Void.

I think we got her from a neighbour's daughter. My sister and I had looked after Blackie during the holidays, and apparently we gave her so much love that when the holidays were over, we did not really want to give her back. And somehow, the number of guinea pigs kept growing.

So did the love for them.

Every guinea pig had a name

Looking back, that is probably what I remember most.

They were not simply guinea pigs. They all had names. They all had their own little personalities.

Some were quiet. Some were cheeky. Some were friendly from the very first moment. Others needed more time. And, of course, they all had their own little faces.

That is something you learn when you live with guinea pigs for many years: you start to see the differences that other people might not notice.

One little nose is not the same as another. One pair of eyes is not the same as another. And after a while, you know exactly who is looking at you.

Guinea pigs came and went through my life

When I left home, moved into student accommodation and later started living together with my husband, guinea pigs were sometimes part of my life and sometimes not.

Other animals and other parts of life took their place for a while. But the love for guinea pigs never really disappeared.

Many years later, after moving to the countryside, guinea pigs came back into my life.

And later still, my daughter and I had what you could almost call a real guinea pig breeding business.

We bred guinea pigs for colour and type. Smooth-haired guinea pigs, rough-haired guinea pigs, Teddy guinea pigs, Rex guinea pigs and many different colours. But there was one thing that mattered even more to us:

Character.

The guinea pigs that did not follow the rules

We did look at colours and types, but we quickly discovered something funny.

The guinea pigs that were not perfect according to the rules were often the first ones to find a home.

A guinea pig that was completely white with one brown ear.

A guinea pig with unusual eyes.

A guinea pig with a strange half-rough coat.

The ones that were a little different often had something special. And people noticed it. Because when you choose a guinea pig as a pet, you are not buying a colour chart.

You are choosing a little personality.

We also sold some guinea pigs to pet shops. It never made us rich. Usually, getting a bag of guinea pig food in return was about as good as it got! But the shops liked our guinea pigs.

They had friendly little faces and were easy to handle.

That was not an accident.

From a very young age, our guinea pigs were picked up, cuddled and talked to.

They knew people. And people could feel that.

The parents who came to buy a guinea pig

The most enjoyable customers were the ones who came to our home.

Sometimes we had big, tough-looking men standing at the door. But very often, it was mothers. And quite often, the children seemed completely uninterested in the guinea pigs.

The mother, however, would pick one up.

She would hold it.

Stroke its little head. And suddenly her whole face changed.

There was something in that expression that I recognised immediately: nostalgia.

It was tenderness. It was remembering.

I am quite sure that many of those guinea pigs were actually bought for the parents. But we all played along.

"Yes, of course. It is a birthday present for your daughter."

Sure, of course it was.

Fifty years of guinea pigs

I am now sixty years old.

That means I have probably had guinea pigs for around fifty years of my life.

Recently, my partner and I bought a guinea pig from a shop. We have not bred them for many years now.

The young woman in the shop was very kind and professional.

"Would you like some information about how to care for your guinea pig?"

I asked her how old she was.

She looked a little surprised and said, "Twenty."

I smiled and told her:

"I have had guinea pigs for about as long as you and your colleague have been alive together."

So yes.

I think I know how to look after a guinea pig.

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What is your guinea pig story?

This brings me to something I really love.

Every guinea pig has a story.

Perhaps you had one as a child.

Perhaps your first guinea pig was a gift.

Perhaps there was one special guinea pig that you still remember years later.

Perhaps you have a guinea pig right now who is part of your family. And perhaps, like me, you can still remember the name of a guinea pig from many years ago.

For me, that name is Knokkie. Brown-Agouti. Completely ordinary. And totally unforgettable.