Lots of people ask me if capybaras have big teeth. We do. We have big, dangerous teeth. Another thing people ask about is if I bite. Sadly, I have bitten. I wrote about it on my blog when it first happened. That was on my MySpace blog and I feel that it is important to let people know about it so I’m going to repost it here now. Please don’t judge me too harshly.

My teeth

Well, I don’t like to admit it but I’ve been a bad capybara. I don’t mean a little bad, like chewing on cords bad. I mean really bad. Since I’m keeping this blog to help others understand what it’s like to live with a capybara, a feel I have to be honest about it, keep you informed, let you draw your own conclusions. So here goes.

As you may know, I attacked my owner and bit her a couple of months ago. You can read my blog about that. It’s part of the reason she decided to neuter me. After the initial biting incident, I tried really hard to be a good capybara and most of the time I succeeded. There were times though when I wasn’t so good. Mostly at night, if my owner came out in the hall to change the water in my poop bowl. Sometimes I’d get all upset and click at her. She took to carrying a pillow around and she’d push it at me and say “No Caplin!” Sometimes I bit the pillow.

After my surgery I was really sick for a while. My owner slept on the floor with me. She hand fed me. She gave me special treats and made me as comfortable as possible. I didn’t click at her at all then, no matter the time of day or night or whatever she was doing.

On Tuesday, my owner and Sheldon took me to my favorite fourth grade class. The kids and I had a great time. I rolled on the floor and they rubbed my belly. They fed me my favorite rye grass. I was the perfect capybara. And then I went to my job as company mascot, where I was also very good. After work, my owner took me to PetsMart where I was a big hit, as always, and very well-behaved if I do say so myself.

Wednesday when my owner got home from work we spent some quality time together. She took me swimming in the pool and I played with my pool toy. Then I went for a graze while she did some stuff around the yard. That’s when things went bad. I don’t know what came over me. I saw my owner filling up my little pool and I raced across the yard to her. I don’t know what I was thinking! When I got to her, I stood up on my hind legs and put my front legs on her back. I never did that before and I’m not sure why I did it then. When she tried to turn around–this is where the really bad stuff happens–I lunged at her and tried to bite her! Oh my gosh! I don’t know why I did that.

My owner kicked me in the head to keep me from biting her. That just made me mad. I circled her, clicking and huffing and looking for an opening. Then I lunged at her again! And she kicked me again. I was enraged! I lunged again, and even though she kicked me, I got past her defenses and I bit her hard on her thigh. She was wearing jeans but I bit right through them and I took out a chunk of flesh the size of a quarter. My owner fell down when her kick didn’t connect with me all the way. She was kicking as hard as she could and wearing boots but…

Anyway, she got up and ran into the house. I followed her and stood outside the glass door huffing and clicking and daring her to come back outside. Eventually she did but now she was carrying this yellow thing that looked like a small tennis racket. She hit me on the nose with it and it sent a spark through the air and bit my nose. I backed off but I was madder than ever. She hit me a bunch of times and finally I backed off enough for her to do what she needed to do. Then she went back in the house and wouldn’t let me in.

After a while Rick came home. I was happy to see him and didn’t feel like huffing or clicking or biting him at all. But when I saw my owner, I went back to my bad behavior. So she started carrying that yellow thing all the time and hitting me with it if I clicked at her. This just made me click even more. I’m not sure why, but I really wanted to bite her.

The next day was the same, every time I saw my owner, I just wanted to attack. But when she left, I wanted to be with her. I’m so confused. She locked me out of the kitchen-family room area and wouldn’t come in where I was. Then she sat next to one of the gates and fed me treats over the top or through the slats. That made me happy. That night, Rick and my owner let me sleep in the bed with them for a couple of hours and we were all happy again. But in the morning, the madness came over me and I clicked and huffed at her.

That’s pretty much where we are now. I’m fine around Rick and Sheldon. I don’t feel like biting them at all. And most of the time I don’t feel like biting my owner either. But sometimes I do and I just can’t control myself. I’m hoping this is what my owner called “teen angst” and I’ll grow out of it. Or maybe my hormones are all messed up from the neutering. Or maybe it’s because it’s spring. I don’t know. I hope it passes quickly though. I don’t like being separated from my owner. I don’t like her being afraid of me. I want her to scratch me and feed me treats and hold me on her lap–all of  which she still does, only now she carries that yellow thing and she acts afraid.

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Me on April 10, 2008

This is my next blog, which was an update to my biting situation.