カピバラとの暮らし

飼い主のブログ

うちでは朝が早い。週日も週末も、Caplin Rousというカピバラが朝ご飯のヨーグルトが欲しいといってくるからだ。いろんな方法で知らせてくる。最初はそっと、床に座るか寝ころがってときどきクーンクーンといってる。何かがほしいときの、小さな高い声だ。ギニアピッグはwheekというらしいが、なんだか鳥の鳴き声みたい。静かに鳴いて、３０秒かそこら待って、今度はもっと大きく鳴いて、起こそうとする。ほっとくといつまでもやっている。

そのうち顔の上をトントンたたいてくる。これはぜんぜんそっとじゃない。カバーのしたから抜け出し、私の枕にのって、自分の顔を私の顔にのっけて、鼻やほほや目を大きな前足でトントンするのだ。私は枕に隠れようとするけれど、体重５０キロの重みには勝てない。

そろそろおきなきゃ。

ヨーグルト、まだかな

水をいれてよ！

マイペースで私の後を追って台所へ入る。つるつるした床がきらいなので、タイル張りのファミリールームを避けて絨毯敷きのリビングをとおってね。そこで私が朝食を整えるのを辛抱強く待つ。床には彼のためにバスマットがいくつも敷いてある。だけどまだおあずけね。ヨーグルトをもらうためにはいろいろと芸をみせなくては。ぐるぐると円を書いて回ったり、後ろ足で立ってボウルに口を寄せたり。最近は、バスマットを道にして、ボウルを動かして「歩いて」それを追っかけたり。

食事が終わると、朝のお風呂の時間。たまたまうちには大きなカピバラにちょうどいいくらいのバスタブがある（よかったのかわからないけど）。私が歯を磨いていると彼は風呂のまわりのタイルに乗っかって、洗面台の上にかがみこむ。カピバラの歯は常に成長していていつもナイフのようにとがっているので歯磨きは必要ないけど、歯磨き粉は好きみたい。私は洗面台の縁に歯磨き粉を３絞り、出してやる。ミント味が好きなようだ。

Climbing into the bath, he tests the water for the desired warmth. Finding it suitable, he rolls on his side, bites his toes, pushes his ball under his chin, takes a long drink, soaks and soaks some more. During this time, I prepare for my day also. It is enough for him to know I am there with him, I don’t actually have to do anything.

Eventually I am ready for whatever the day has in store. But Caplin may not be. If it is a weekend I will sometimes sit next to the tub and read until he is ready to get out. If it’s a work day, I leave the bathroom. I return in 30 seconds to find him perched with his front feet on the ledge in the tub and his back feet in the water. This is his pooping position. I stand and watch him, scoop the poop up as it appears and put it into the toilet. Luckily no humans ever use that tub.

Eating hay with Kapibara-san

Next we move to the computer room where I check his morning email, catch up on his FaceBook page, tweet for him and see if there are any comments on his blog or YouTube channel that need responses. Caplin usually jumps on the window seat and chows down on some hay. But he may be impatient and head for the front porch with the claim that it is popsicle time. Eventually I get a popsicle and sit on the steps to feed him. He taps me when he finishes each bite to ask for another. It’s cute behavior but that is how he picked up the idea of taping me on the face in the morning.

Horse feeding time is very traumatic for Caplin. He follows me outside and races me to the gate that surrounds our house and delimits his home range. I pat him on the nose and tell him he can’t come, that I’ll be back soon. He can hear me while I feed the horses and I can hear him. He eeps at the top of his lungs. Luckily, even his loudest noises aren’t very loud, but he really knows how to make me feel guilty.

Settling in on the couch

Back in the house he settles onto his favorite couch, especially if the morning sun comes through the window to warm his fur. The rest of the morning is pretty much just sleep, sleep, sleep. I sneak out to work once he is comfortable if it is a weekday or settle in for a bit of reading or writing in the same room with him if it’s a quiet weekend.

On weekdays I don’t see him again until evening but I do sometimes hear him. My husband, Rick, is not working these days and will sometimes give me a call, “Do you want to talk to the capybara?” This can be awkward if I’m in a meeting but otherwise I take the call. Over the phone I can hear his plaintive little eeps. I think he is saying, “When are you coming home to me?”

Sitting on his “pool table.”

On weekends if the weather is nice we do things outside. When it’s warm he’ll spend an hour or more swimming in his pool (and expecting me to watch him the whole time). In the summer I get in the pool with him. He’ll get on his pool table, which is a plastic table we put in the pool to give him a place to rest in the water, and lie still or roll around or beg for treats.

Caplin with Leopolda in a rare moment of truce

Nearly every day he spends several hours grazing in the yard, which is about ½ acre and completely surrounds our house. He’ll follow the sun to either graze or nap. He has a favorite corner back behind the pond under the shade of the plum trees. His repose there is sometimes disrupted by our tortoise, Leopolda. Leah has a tendency, as all tortoises do, to walk the fence. She doesn’t care much that Caplin is in her way. She’s perfectly willing to climb right over him. This drives Caplin crazy. When he sees Leah coming he jumps up and threatens her. His threats consist of lunges, huffing, clicking, and biting at her shell. Leah could not care less. She’ll pause when he actually bites her but moves on almost immediately. Once the tortoise threat has been handled, Caplin lies back down to enjoy his victory and claim his turf.

Swimming in Capybara Creek

Some days we go on outings. Caplin loves going places. When I put his harness on he runs to the gate. A favorite outings is just a walk down to the creek that goes across our property. Swimming in the creek is infinitely more fun than swimming in the pool. I leave his harness on but take off the leash. I can’t trust him in the creek. He believes that the Amazon is downstream and he is determined to get there. Long before he reaches the Amazon, he’d have to go across people’s property and dangerous roads. So the harness stays on.

Other favorite destinations are local pet stores and restaurants with outdoor, pet friendly seating. Caplin eagerly hops into the backseat for the drive. I fold down half the seat so he can get into the hatch but he doesn’t usually do that. Mostly he sits on top of the folded seat and looks out the window. When the weather is nice, I roll the window down part way and let him stick his head out like a dog. This has been known to stop traffic.

One day at PetsMart

Caplin always draws a crowd but he seems to enjoy that. He loves being pet and we always bring plenty of blueberries for admirers to feed him. The typical conversation with a new capybara fan goes like this:

“What is that?”

“He’s a capybara.”

“What?”

“A capybara. They’re the world’s largest rodent.”

“What?”

“Would you like a card?”

The card has lots of information about Caplin on it as well as his blog and YouTube channel URLs. I hope people read it later because even after I give them a card they continue to ask questions answered by it. We don’t mind, it’s all in a day’s work for a rodent ambassador.

As the sun sets, Caplin likes to get in one more graze. In warm weather this is preceded by a swim in the pool. In cold weather it is followed by another soak in the tub. A little late night TV in bed with Caplin begging for dried cherries and then it’s lights out. He crawls under the covers, lets out an audible sigh and we all settle down.

One final note. Sleeping next to a capybara is not that comfortable. He likes to lean against me and his fur feels like wires or straw or something poking me. I think I slept better before I had a capybara.