Aragon's Legacy
Whenever someone realizes I raise and show guinea pigs, one
of the first questions they ask is how I got involved in such an odd
hobby. As one can imagine, the answer is
rather long and takes quite a lot of explaining.
The first spark of future guinea pig showing can be
attributed to Tooele County’s annual Christmas coloring contest. When I was young, in elementary school, I
loved the community’s Christmas coloring contest. The local newspaper business would print
small booklets full of coloring pages, each page sponsored by a different
business or organization. Anyone younger
than twelve could color the pages and turn their artwork into the affiliated
company. The young artists’ work would
be displayed in the company’s building until the contest ended and a winner was
chosen. The prize was whatever the business offered, and the reward often
changed annually.
One year, the local pet store offered a free hamster and
cage to the coloring victor. I was
determined to win. I colored, glittered,
and glued to the best of my seven-year-old capabilities and put the finished
masterpiece in my room, waiting for the opportunity to go to the pet store and
present my artwork. Unfortunately, I
waited too long. By the time my mother agreed to going to the pet store, the
entry deadline had past. I was devastated, and quickly resolved into a crying
mess that refused to go to school.
Thankfully, Santa felt the need to end my plight. On Christmas Day I was thrilled to discover a
hamster sitting in a brightly colored cage, just waiting to greet me.
A couple years and three hamsters later, my sister, Emma,
approached my parents with a new proposition.
Thanks to her sixth grade teacher who had two guinea pigs as classroom
pets, Emma had been educated in the ways of guinea pigs. After thinking it over for a while, Emma
decided she needed a guinea pig of her own.
However, my parent’s promptly disagreed.
My dad especially, having raised rabbits during his teenage years,
believed guinea pigs to be dirty, messy, and particularly smelly. My sister, though, being rather good at
getting what she wants, brought up the fact that “Ann had a hamster”. My parents, realizing how unfair their veto
now seemed, caved. My dad reluctantly
agreed my sister could have a guinea pig, but only if she paid for it
completely by herself. Strangely enough, the next day my mother was approached
by a friend who was moving to another state.
They had a guinea pig, but didn’t want to find a way a means of transportation.
As a result, -and with no prior knowledge of the previously made guinea pig
agreement- the friend asked if my mom would be interested in giving the guinea
pig a new home. It appeared luck was on
my sister’s side.
A few days after the previous conversation between my mother
and her friend, we arrived at the friend’s house to pick up Red, the family’s
guinea pig. My sister, who has always
been a fan of fantasy books –and still sometimes names her guinea pigs after
fictional characters- gave Red the new name of Aragon. From that day forward,
our whole family slowly fell in love with guinea pigs. Even my dad, more reluctant then my mom and
I, eventually fell for the adorable creatures.
It wasn’t a surprise after a few months of loving Aragon, we went to
Petsmart to pick out some new guinea pigs to keep Aragon company. It was also the beginning of our horrible
experience with pet stores. One of the
first companions we bought from the store, who we named Veronica, had been
exposed to pneumonia at the store and died at the veterinarian office a few
days after we bought her. Our next pet
store pig, named Nasuada, came with a bad case of mites, contagious parasites
that slowly destroy a guinea pig’s nervous system. Although she lived a full guinea pig life,
the treatment was expensive and she never fully recovered. Our last attempt of buying a guinea pig from
Petsmart ended up being the wrong gender, and was quickly returned to the store
by my parents. We finally ended up with
three pet pigs, namely Aragon, Nasuada, and a runt my mother referred to as
“Little Bit”. They happily lived
together in my sister’s bedroom for years, with no thought at all to the
prospect of breeding.
When Aragon passed away from extreme malocclusion, my entire
family was devastated. We wanted another
guinea pig to fill the empty space, but knew we weren’t going to deal with
another commercial pet store. My sister
did some online searching and discovered a guinea pig show in West Valley. My sister, mom, dad, and I went to the show,
intent on picking up one guinea pig to bring home.
Although our intentions were good, we ended up taking two
guinea pigs home with us that day. A
breeding pair, who my sister named Kylara and Jaxom. A few months later, Kylara delivered our
first litter of guinea pigs, and from that point on we knew we interested in
continuing breeding.
My mother was never too keen on the idea of breeding and
showing the guinea pigs. But it didn’t
take long for my Dad and I to pick up our own breeds to start working
with. My sister works with the long hair
breeds, primarily Peruvians, Silkies, and their satin counter parts. After my last hamster passed away, I also
picked up a pair of short haired Teddy guinea pigs. My dad was the last to pick up a breed of his
own, but eventually settled on a curly long hair breed named Texels. Since Kylara’s initial breeding 7 years ago,
Legacy Caviary, -the name of our caviary, or place were guinea pigs are bred-
has become the largest caviary in Utah. At our program’s largest point, we had
over two hundred guinea pigs in our basement.
A lot has happened in the 7 years we began breeding guinea
pigs. My parent’s got a divorced, my dad
lost his job, and both my sister and I moved out to start college. My dad, sister, and I certainly have our
quarrels and often don’t get along, but Aragon’s Legacy and all the experiences
it has created has remained a constant in our often hectic lives. Now you know the true reason behind the all
the guinea pig’s cute faces and adorable temperaments. And despite the rather lengthy story, there
is one aspect of the explanation that is rather simple. No matter the reason, I wouldn’t trade my
strange, unique guinea pig pastime and the memories created for anything.
