 Buying
Carmy at the Pet Store
 Claire as a Baby  Children saying hi to Carmy and Claire at a parish picnic (their small travel cage) |
Q: How old are
Carmy and Claire, and what gender?
Carmy and Claire are girls. I got them in January 2009, when they were a few months old. I got Carmy first, and then got Claire a week later when I saw how depressed Carmy was looking without a friend to play with. From the moment I put them together, they were best friends! Q: How big are they? Now they are pretty much full grown: about a foot long and 1000 grams each. When I got them, Carmy weighed about 500 grams and Claire about 250 grams. The picture at the top of this page was taken then. Claire was so small that she was able to slip easily through the 1.5-inch squares in the cage wall! (I took the picture on the left after being astonished that she could still fit herself through such a small space!) Q: Why did you choose guinea pigs as pets? When I was in second grade, our teacher Mrs. Pritchard had a few guinea pigs as class pets. I loved them and begged my parents for one. I ended up having several guinea pigs all through my childhood and have always had a fond place in my heart for them. When I moved to my current assignment, I found that our youth minister and her husband had a little baby guinea pig, and seeing him whenever I visited made me want to get one again! Q: Are priests allowed to have pets? Yep! Many priests have more typical pets like dogs or cats. Our bishop, Bishop Guglielmone, even has a dog, which he often brings along with him to different youth events! Guinea pigs are a good fit for me because they are easy to take care of and can go anywhere. Q: When did you build the Lego car for them? As a child I loved building stuff with Legos, and I still have some of my favorite sets as souvenirs of my childhood. I will sometimes bring them into our Catholic school when I go to teach the children religion class, as something fun to get their attention. Different families ended up giving me different sets as Christmas and Easter presents (works for me!), and I ended up seeing that I could combine the sets to make a little car for the pigs. The children always love to see Carmy and Claire, and so I built the car in my down time as something to do for fun. The "Guineamobile" was revealed on the last day of school that year after getting the guinea pigs. It always makes the students laugh and smile to see the guinea pigs drive it around and shoot missiles at a bad guy! LINKS: - How to build big, cheap cages for Guineas! - Guinea Pig Care @ Guinea Lynx |
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