Meet the newest member of our family.
His name is Septimus, and he’s a ten-or-so-week-old guinea pig. Of course, there’s a story. Let me tell you.
As I shared earlier this week, Charlotte’s last guinea pig passed away on Wednesday. On Friday morning, we had our home school co-op, and then I needed to do a little bit of grocery shopping. My plan was to shop quickly so that we could get home by 1:00 or so for lunch. (Jeremy usually eats before we leave co-op.) As luck would have it, Walmart is right next to a Pet Smart, and Charlotte begged to go inside, just to “look” at what they had by way of guinea pigs.
I agreed, since we were right there, although I really didn’t plan on buying one on this particular day. As we stood looking at the two guinea pigs on display, an employee named Cindy came up and asked if she could help. We explained about poor Humphrey and how Charlotte wanted a younger guinea pig this time who would perhaps eat more healthfully.
Cindy proceeded to tell us that she had not only had the guinea pigs we could see, but she also had several in the back, including one that was available for adoption rather than purchase, due to the fact he had a heart murmur. Who knew that guinea pigs could have heart murmurs?
Cindy first brought up the adoptable-only guinea pig for Charlotte to hold. Then, Cindy took us to the back to let Charlotte look at and hold every single guinea pig on the premises. Charlotte knew that she wanted an Abyssinian, which has longer hair and rosette patterns in its fur. Pet Smart had three: one on display, one that tried to jump out of Charlotte’s arms, and the one with the heart murmur.
After a bit of deliberation, Charlotte decided that she like the one with the heart murmur the best. He has the coloring of Spotty, who was a calico, and the long fur of Humphrey, a perfect combination of her first two guinea pigs. I told her that she could get a healthy guinea pig if she wanted, but she had her heart set on the adoptable one.
So, an hour or so after entering the store, we finally finished filling out the adoption paperwork and checking out with our newest pet. Each employee with whom we came into contact while adopting the guinea pig had something new to tell us about him. Evidently, because he was not available for sale, the employees had spent a lot of time handling him to make him more suitable for adoption.
“He’s a cute one, and he loves apples,” the cashier told us.
“He’s a really good little guy,” the manager who signed our adoption paper told us. “He’s really active and never acts like there’s a thing wrong with him.”
“He really like oranges and green peppers” Cindy told us. “I’d adopt him myself if I didn’t already have four other guinea pigs at home!”
Alrighty, then.
The only kind of sad thing about the whole transaction was that the cashier had to ring the guinea pig up as “damaged” in order for us to get him free.
Anyway, Charlotte had settled on the name “Septimus” (a character from a series of books she likes) by the time we got home, and we spent about 30 minutes cleaning out the cage and settling in our new pet. So, it was nearly 3:00 when we finally ate lunch!
But so far, so good. Septimus has happily settled into his new cage; he has eaten every fresh fruit or vegetable we’ve given him except for lettuce; and he likes to be held. Here’s hoping that he has a long and happy guinea pig life.
On a more somber note, we finally buried Humphrey today. This funeral was much less traumatic than the first one, especially since Elijah informed us that he wasn’t participating!
And now we are awaiting the arrival of a neighbor of our from France, who is in Peoria on a business trip this week! It should be a fun evening.
Hope that your weekend has been good!
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