Award-winning small animal pet business HayPigs! caused a stir with the announcement it was switching its attention to hamsters in a bid to lower costs, optimise shipping efficiencies and refresh the brand.

Renowned for its love of guinea pigs and for creating a range of circus-themed guinea pig enrichment toys, the family business said it had decided to “take a new direction”.

Co-founder Rik Cridland explained: “It’s just not been adding up. With the increase in raw materials, labour costs, shipping and fulfilment costs, it just doesn’t make sense to think so big. We’ve always loved hamsters and in reflection, wonder why we didn’t do this sooner. By shrinking down our entire range to hamster proportions, we’ve estimated we’ll save around 34% in costs.”

Inspired by watching an episode of The Borrowers, the HayPigs! team announced it would be reducing the size of its iconic Cavy Cannonball, Circus Hidey Hut and Piggy Weightlifter by 40% and changing the word “guinea pig” for “hamster” in all marketing material. 

“To be honest, most people don’t know the difference between a hamster and a guinea pig anyway,” explained Rik’s wife and co-founder Helen. It’s not going to be a difficult transition. With our own herd of rescue piggies, we’re always being asked ‘How are your hamsters?’ Well, now we can just smile, nod and say ‘They’re great!’”

But loyal HayPigs! fans needn’t have worried because it was all an April Fools hoax, the announcement being made on April 1.

After revealing the story was a hoax, Rik said: "I'll say one thing about April 1st, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a daft concept! Everytime we think we've come up with something completely ridiculous we get contacted by multiple excited customers saying 'We'd love that'. Maybe we should revisit our April 1st back catalogue and make some of these things happen for real!"