Journalism students had a recent visit with Steve and Melissa Spisz, plus their two capybaras, Daisy and Jeorge, created quite a scene, leaving students piling up outside the doors and windows of room A102, peering in, attempting to get a glimpse of the unique animals.
Steve, who got to decide on the next family pet, chose a capybara. After discovering no permits or requirements were needed to adopt a capybara, Steve and Melissa headed to the exotic pet shop where Daisy and Jeorge had been waiting for their new home for at least a month.
One of the key things Steve and Melissa quickly learned about these exotic animals was the significant amount of time capybaras spend in the water,
especially when the weather is dry. Steve and Melissa have made necessary adjustments in their home internally and externally to meet Daisy and Jeorge’s needs. Steve built a pond in the back, allowing Daisy and Jeorge to enjoy in the summer.
“The most important thing I learned is you must have constant water for them because their skin will dry out. In the Amazon, they spend about 30% of their time in the water,” Melissa said.
Emphasizing the very different care these animals need on top of all the new experiences they have brought into the Spiszs’ lives over the past two years, they’ve learned to adjust. As they adapted to life in a house, Daisy and Jeorge developed a routine.
“When we’re home on a typical day, they love to cuddle and sleep. That’s all they do. They’re extremely, extremely lazy. They love to run around, and when the dogs are running, they do the same. They try to participate,” Melissa said.
Explaining the difference in needs and resources, then their other animals, such as their two dogs. Each month, they spend a couple hundred dollars on food, which is not much different from what they typically would spend on their dogs.
Part of Daisy and Jeorge’s ability to get up to three feet when standing is the result of constant food missing from the countertops and cabinets.
“You don’t realize how long they can stretch. Daisy will put 
her paws up on the kitchen counter, her neck stretches out like a giraffe, and she’ll reach up and grab all the food off the back of the counter. We’ll be upstairs and hear stuff falling. She even knows how to open up all the cabinet doors.” Melissa said.