Melanie Typaldos is a computer programmer and blogger of a very unique pet: a capybara.
Why did she get a pet capybara? Melanie shares that it was her daughter, Coral’s, idea. While on a trip to Venezuela, Coral encouraged her mom to hold a young, wild capybara, and Melanie fell in love. “After we got back, she pretty relentlessly pestered me about getting one for a pet. Since Coral lived in an apartment and was planning on spending a year in Asia, she couldn’t have a pet capybara herself so, she felt, it was up to me to fulfill her capybara vision,” Melanie says.
Regarding capybaras, Melanie reports that to know them is to love them but, sadly, to not know them is to not care about them. Rodents make up about 1/4 of all mammal species but despite capybaras being the largest of that vast group, almost no one in most of the world knows about them. They are also poorly studied in the wild.
She dedicates her page and blog to pet capybaras everywhere but especially to her two, Caplin Rous and Garibaldi Rous. She got Caplin Rous when he was just 11 days old and reports that never has an animal or person changed her life so completely. When he passed of liver failure at 3-1/2 years old, Melanie was devastated. With the help of Caplin’s online friends and fans and other capybara owners around the country, she started the ROUS Foundation for Capybara Veterinary Medicine. The goal of the Foundation is to extend and enhance the lives of captive capybaras through better understanding of their health needs.
For people who are contemplating a pet capybara, Melanie encourages you to read her blog closely, especially the FACute.” Capybaras are not the right pets for most people, or even for very many people. They require a tremendous amount of time and attention, they can be aggressive, their teeth are extremely sharp, they need a pool for swimming and fresh, non-toxic grass for grazing, their food is expensive as are any veterinary expenses, although the ROUS Foundation can help with some of the latter,” she shares.
Learn more and visit Melanie’s website and blog by visiting http://www.gianthamster.com