HOWELL, Mich. (WXYZ) — A Howell man has gone to extraordinary lengths for his pet capybara — building her a custom room, a personal swimming pool and helping her amass hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
Steve Spisz describes his nearly 4-year-old capybara, Daisy, as a bit of a diva.
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"Basically, like owning a teenager," Spisz said. "She's stubborn at times. If she gets mad at me, she'll go stare in the corner for 20 minutes."
The idea to bring a capybara home came about four years ago after Spisz went looking for something beyond the ordinary.
"We had a couple of dogs and I wanted to get something different," Spisz said.
After a Google search for exotic animals and some research, Daisy and her brother George arrived at the Spisz household. Capybaras are the largest rodents in the world, are semi-aquatic, and are closely related to guinea pigs.
"I bought them as family members, as pets, just like you would a dog," Spisz said.
Daisy and George quickly bonded with the family's dogs and settled into life in Howell. Spisz rearranged his home to accommodate the changes the animals brought to his daily routine, including building them a dedicated room and installing a personal swimming pool for Daisy.
"She should be thankful for everything I did for her. I didn't re-do the house for the dogs, but I did for her. She's got her own swimming pool," Spisz said. "Daisy sleeps by me every night."
Capybaras lack vitamin C, which typically comes from fruit, but Daisy more than makes up for it with her affectionate personality — she loves to cuddle and mark her closest companions with the scent from her nose.
What Spisz did not anticipate was how quickly Daisy and George would take off on social media. The pair, often spotted around town wearing pink and blue leashes, attracted hundreds of thousands of followers as fans followed their adventures.
Then, misfortune struck. George, who had grown up alongside Daisy since she was a 10-pound baby in the bathtub, recently died.
"For the first two or three weeks, she'd just go sit on the deck and not do much at all," Spisz said.
Spisz said the loss has been hard on him, too. While getting another capybara is not out of the question, for now, he is helping Daisy heal by introducing her to new people and says he is grateful for the outpouring of support from their followers.
"Once she walked through the door, she was like a family member," Spisz said.
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