Rocky, Mr. Grey, Toffy and Mojito are real
They live with us, out in the garden. There were only supposed to be three. Then Christian saw the fourth, and Mr. Grey just belonged with them. Their quirks, the looks they give us and lots of little moments from our everyday life are where the ideas for the books come from. Here they are side by side: once in real life, once in the books.
The Business Guinea Pigs move into their winter quarters
When it gets cold outside, the four move from their outdoor enclosure into their big winter quarters inside the house. And each of them uses it a little differently.
Read the post → Fact sheetGuinea pigs: a fact sheet on the real four
Where guinea pigs come from, how long they live, why they should never live alone, and how we do things with our four. With facts from the German Animal Welfare Federation.
See the fact sheet → The two kidsDaria and Christian, in real life and in the books
The two kids are named after the founders of FLITCH. In the books, they're ten. In real life, they feed the guinea pigs.
More about the two of them →Where the names come from
Our son picked Rocky, who looks like a little rock star. Toffy was his pick too: warm and creamy like toffee candy. Mojito is Daria's very own guinea pig, named after her favorite cocktail, even though he looks more like a piña colada. And Mr. Grey wasn't supposed to come home with us at all. Then Christian spotted him, as gray as his name.
Of course, our real guinea pigs don't run companies. Rocky doesn't own a ballpoint pen, either, and in real life Mr. Grey doesn't wear tiny gold professor glasses. The stories are made up, and the business topics are told in a way kids can follow. But the guinea pigs' personalities are very much based on the real thing.