Pet lovers go crazy for guinea pigs

Trudian Johnson, an engineer and farmer who has been rearing guinea pigs for more than eight years, is expressing surprise at a recent surge in demand for the animals, particularly as pets.

"It's new to me but the popularity is growing. But I just don't understand why guinea pigs, and I have been raising guinea pigs longer than I have been in farming," she said.

Johnson said she noted a noticeable shift in demand compared to when she first started rearing the animals.

"I can tell you that when I started some eight years ago, I only had two guinea pigs and I needed to get rid of the babies, so I had the idea to sell the babies. So back then, anywhere from two to five guinea pigs were easy to get rid of per month. Now I have about 25 mothers," she told THE STAR. "I had an order for 60 this month, that I am not able to fulfil."

As a farmer who also rears cattle, pigs, goats, and rabbits, Johnson said she does not always probe customers about their reasons for purchasing guinea pigs. However, based on trends, she believes most are buying them as pets.

"You have a few persons wanting to breed [them], so they will get like a pair. But I am not going to rule out consumption because I tend not go much in detail, especially if the customer is not willing to share. But I am sure I can find at least one person in Jamaica that is eating them," she explained.

Johnson reasoned that with the number of apartments going up, persons may be shifting more towards having guinea pigs as pets due to their small size.

"You can't always have a big dog. You find persons in that space are looking [for] something that won't make a lot of noise to disturb the neighbours and they don't create a big mess. So guinea pigs are working their way into people's hearts," she said.

She added that the concept of "fur babies", once largely synonymous with dogs and cats, is now evolving to include rabbits and guinea pigs.

"It is just that rabbits are not as popular because they are more destructive. But the guinea pigs now are just perfectly small, don't take up a lot of space."

Despite the growing demand, Johnson cautioned that guinea pig breeding requires careful management, noting that the animals are delicate.

"If you are going to jump in and say mi need a 100 guinea pigs to have babies, it's not going to work like that. That's why the breeders don't have the quantity. It's a lot of science and engineering," she said, explaining that prices depend on the breed.

"We have several different breeds, so if like a short ear, that's for $3,000 per one, and if you are looking for something fancier with long ear, that's $5,000 per one. I encourage them (customers) to buy two because they are social creatures. Two is the best number to have because they don't do well alone," she said.

Johnson further warned against attempts at mass production.

"Once persons start to think of mass producing them and say 'Hey, I have demand for 60, so let me just fling everybody in here so with a male', it doesn't work like that. I have almost 30 mothers and it takes a lot of care and cleaning, feeding and medication because they are breeding mothers. You don't find a lot of persons jumping in to it," she said.

"I am a guinea pig lover first before a breeder. I had to go through many trials before I could comfortably breed as much guinea pigs and even now, I don't keep the male in them or breed them right round."

Still, Johnson noted that she supplies mostly pet stores rather than individual buyers.

"Individually, easily [I supply] maybe five persons per week minimum, and for the pet store they will order 30 to 40 guinea pigs. Well one pet store in the Corporate Area sold 30 in two weeks."