Rik Cridland: How A Guinea Pig Obsession Sparked A Thriving Pet Brand

Ever wondered how a single spark—two rescue guinea pigs and a designer’s eye—can grow into a joyful brand with real impact? We sit down with HayPigs! co‑founder Rik Cridland to explore how playful storytelling, bright design, and behaviour science turned a niche idea into a thriving small‑animal business. From the first circus‑themed prototypes to a warehouse full of stock they had to sell fast, Rik opens up about risk, resilience, and why delight is a strategic advantage.

We unpack what makes guinea pigs such rewarding companions—rich personalities, clear feedback, and a love for exploration—and how that informs product design. Rik explains how enrichment works in practice: rotating layouts, scatter-feeding, and forage-led treats that tap into scent-driven behaviour. The Pig And Mix range blends healthy botanicals with nostalgic branding to educate owners and spark daily engagement. Along the way, we talk candidly about Dragon’s Den: the constraints of filming during COVID, underselling the long-term vision, and the unexpected upside of building a tougher business plan. The outcome is a company that’s grown into a multi‑brand e‑commerce hub for small animals, supporting trade partners and a passionate community.

Transcript

Welcome & Hey Pigs Origin

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello everybody, my name is Nathaniel, and welcome to the Pet Trade People, the podcast that's brought to you by the team here at Pet Product Marketing. For episode 2, we spoke to Rick Kridland, who co-founded Hey Pigs alongside his wife Helen, with the mission of enhancing and enriching the everyday lives of small fairies and their humans. The company was born after the couple became connected with their own guinea pigs and saw the joy they brought to their lives. Today, the company has some really cool and unique products on the market, including the Harlequin Range and the Circus Range, which includes a cannonball tilting tunnel. We spoke with Rick about why guinea pigs are a worthwhile investment to build a whole company around. And the journey he's been on, which even includes an appearance on Dragon's Den. Let's take a listen. So, first of all, we'd like to ask our guests to sort of sum up the business in 30 seconds. Um, I suppose with the history of Dragon's Den and whatnot, it may be slightly longer, which is fair enough. But particularly for someone who hasn't heard of hay pigs before, how would you describe the whole the whole operation?

From Rescue Pets To Product Ideas

The Circus Range And Big Risks

Lessons On Naivety And Pivoting

Why Guinea Pigs Make Great Pets

Colourful Design And Engagement

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Um I guess we're the guinea pig guys, that's what we've been known for. Um our mission statement is enriching the lives of small fairies and their humans every day, and that's kind of what we try and do. And I think we always try and do with a sense of fun and a little bit of cheekiness, maybe. Um, because animals are fabulous, and absolutely we have this obsession with guinea pigs, and they're our thing, and you know, they just bring us so much joy, and that and and they're humans, so much joy. Um we just want to embrace that. That's that's what we're about. So, why specifically guinea pigs? Where did that where did that passion come from? Yeah, accidentally. Um I was always into small, well, not small animals, all animals. Um, as a kid, I was I was actually born in Africa. Um yeah, but we we moved back to the UK when I was a year old. Um, and I became a professional product designer, but it was the wife who was into small animals, she'd had them all as a kid, apart from a guinea pig. So when we got married, that was like I'd really like our first pets and the guinea pigs, and Facebook was clearly listening because before too long she was being fed pictures of guinea pigs at rescues, and she found that there was a rescue in Shelvesford, and we were just at the short thing at that point, right there, and then there's two guinea pigs, and there's this cute Nub Meg and Neptune there waiting to be adopted, and they you know, we adopted these guys, and um, I'd sort of stopped working in London, done done my stint in London, and was working from home, and these guys really were my work colleagues, you know. I'd spend my breaks interacting with them, and I just remember a lady at the rescue when she heard I was a product designer. She goes, Do you design anything for guinea pigs? And I go, Well, no, but I could. And she goes, Well, I'd buy anything that has a guinea pig on it. And I was okay, there you go. Would you? Would you really? So, you know, you start playing with ideas, and um before we knew it, you know, I got all these crazy ideas going on. I'd worked in the film industry, so I was fascinated by ranges that we've done, merchandise ranges. Didn't see enough of it. I didn't see enough of licensed products in the pet trade either. It's interesting now, just going around the show. I've just been around the the latest trade show and I'm seeing lots of licensed goods, and it's almost taken 10 years for that to come around. So I was really fascinated by that, but I thought had this idea well, why can't we theme guinepig stuff? And actually, instead of it being small animal stuff that's encompassing rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, gerbils, you name it. Why are we not being more specific in doing kine pigs properly? Yeah. Yeah. Um, and and the circus theme was an accident. It was an accident. We had a big octagonal run in our garden. Um frequently in the summer, you thought you'd got a good day, and then the rain shower would come over, and I'd have a trough over the top, and it would droop if it got wet. So I'd stick a little pole up the middle and it just created this accidental circus tent. So we looked into the commerciality of doing a circus tent outdoor run, and it was a bit of a risk. But actually, thinking about the accessories that would go with it, launched Hague Pig's guinea pig circus, and that's where we started. This mad idea of you know, we brought we had to buy 3,000 of each. We we originated six new products, we had 18,000 products hit the chef, hit hit our warehouse, a 3DB old warehouse, before we'd sold any, and then we panicked, and then we thought, hang on a minute, what have we done? I think that's the case. It's just pure risk of all award. Yeah, do you know what? Where I am now, I wouldn't take that risk. But if I hadn't taken that risk, Apex wouldn't have got where it's got. And we sold those 3,000 units a few times over, yeah. You know, it's not a risk now, but it was foolhardy to say the least, and a huge amount of naivety. But I've I've always thought about this the more I've learned about running a business and all that. Um, if you go in knowing everything at the start, you wouldn't take any risks. You need that naivety. Um, and all these people starting new businesses that just have to craft and learn and make loads of mistakes. I think that's the way it's gotta go. Is that that being one piece of advice? Not even just to pet trade, but anyone starting your lead business. Yeah, take the leap that you're scared of. Make loads of mistakes, right? But obviously calculate those mistakes. Because yeah, make a big, big mistake and it can bury you. Um, but make calculated mistakes, make them off and learn from them as quickly as you can. Um I think we've pivoted so much in what seven, eight years of trading now. Um, it's part of the journey, and I think we're only just getting there where we're starting to really understand what works for us and how to utilize it best. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so just moving away from the business, just lots of the guinea pigs specifically. Why do they make such good pets? Yeah, is it the size, the personality, or what's your perspective? Personality, massive. I I liken them to little dogs. Um, you get the companionship, you get the personalities, and best of all, they give you loads of feedback. So all the different sounds, all the different gestures, you can tell if a guinea pig's happy, stroppy, horny, angry, you name it. And that's brilliant. As a product designer, if the animal can give me the feedback like that, you know, I've had some great products that haven't gone anywhere because the guinea pigs have turned the nose, literally turned the noses up at it. So I think they're a brilliant companion pet. Um, small is great, particularly if you're a product designer again, where you know, the bigger the thing, the more expensive it is to make, to store, to move. So you can be very creative with it. But um, they're also good as young if you're a young professional, you know, and maybe you're out during the day. You can look after them in the morning, you look after them when you come back, they can live a happy existence without you having to see them all the time. Um, and they also suit environments where you know, perhaps you can't have a dog or a cat, flat life type sort of thing where you can have a smaller animal but enjoy that companionship. Um and that's why you fall in love with them. Um they're all they're all just so much fun. So if we just head back to the business side of it, um obviously the circus range is incredibly fun. That's in a way the USP just the idea is fun, it's front and centre.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Um, you also got the pig, the pig and mix range, I should say. Can you just explain a little bit about that and really how they connect?

Pig And Mix: Healthy Forage Treats

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think the the circus range in my head over the start is like we bring out a new range every two years, and then it's pirates, and then it's spacing. But the reality is we've got a lot of stock and you're building traction and you're coming out with something quite different. It takes a while for for everyone to understand what you're doing and get into it and your brand to build. But what I did see when I was looking around on the shelves at the start was a lot of very bland wood wicker, dull colours, and I thought, why there's no colour? What you want to do is engage the human to want to spend more time with our animal, yeah. So all these enrichment products are designed for both parties to enjoy. Now, the guinea pig doesn't care what colour it is, um, but the human chuckles and smiles at it. We have never had anyone walk past our stand without grinning, even if they're not into small animals, they just go, Oh, that's fun. So when the pig and mix range came along a bit later on, it was the idea of the complementary confectioneries that kind of ties into the audience of the circus and that fun side without being circus, so it's the pig and mix range, and it was um it played on all the traditional sweets that you'd get in in the UK pet shops. So sorry, pet shops. What am I talking about? UK uh you know, corner shops and things. Um so it had the nostalgia, but here's the thing what we put in it was all the healthy forages, the botanicals, the herbs, the the dried leaves, everything that is super healthy for guinea pigs, and they get excited about because they do a lot with their noses. So yeah, their eyesight's pretty poor, but their noses are super super sensitive. So there's you know, if you open our lemon and lime leaves, you get a blast of citrus, right? And the guinea pigs go mad for it, okay. Um, you know, if you're opening the tasty rainbow that's a literally a palette of different coloured botanicals to cover all the colours there. Again, it looks fabulous. You sprinkle it in the hay, they get all excited foraging around for it. Um, so it was actually a communication to the customer. Actually, you know, don't just think that you give a small animal a carrot. Yeah. Yeah. They can be equally, if not more, excited about variation in the diet and you know, um this encouraging that connection between the human and understanding, okay, this is the guinea pig's treat, actually. You know, mix that in the hay, and and that is you'll see them getting all excited, spread it around. They don't want it in a bowl, they don't want it all on a plate. That's that's for lazy guinea pigs. Spread it around, you know. Um I bet that's more interesting. I just see yourself getting animated just thinking about it.

Enrichment, Behaviour And Popcorning

SPEAKER_00 11:02

I bet it's much more interesting to look for us as well, with us to see them and not their natural habitat, but it's it provides a natural instinct as well.

Dragon’s Den: What Worked And Didn’t

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And that that I that has always fascinated me, you know, studying behavior. Yeah. Um, and I you do it with humans as well. Um, I think we all do. Do a lot of people watching, a lot of animal watching. Why are you why are they doing that? Why are they acting like that? You know, um, and a changed environment, yeah. You okay, change up your guinea pig environment frequently, leave something that's familiar. The smells are there, you know. There might be a some bedding, some fleece bedding, for example, that they're familiar with. It might be that you know, you leave some elements of familiarity, but then change up the way the tunnels are erased, change up the way that they can move around their environment, change up where they can find little pockets of it of enrichment to go and go and play with, to go and stick their noses in. They get so excited, you know. The ultimate compliment from a guinea pig is called a popcorn, and this is where they literally lose control of their bodies, they do a little spasm, they jump up and twist in the air. Um it's the I've been at the guinea pig welfare forum, and the vets were saying they think this has come from the natural um uh escape mechanism you see in parlors doing it, you know, when when there's a predator, that sort of sudden change of direction, but it's developed into this joyous thing. Um in rabbits it's called pinking, in guinea pigs it's called popcorning. Um it can be over the smallest thing, they might have just suddenly got a blade of grass that's really interesting, or yeah, but they give you that feedback. So if you've got them popcorning and zooming, um in dogs as well, don't you? Yeah, shooting around a bit, that is just so joyous. And you know, if you have if you have products that can create that wonderful experience for us all, it's so so rewarding, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Why would it be? Yeah, yeah. Um, so we've got to talk about Dragon's Den.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, your moment on uh your big moment in the in front of the cameras. How do you reflect on the whole experience?

Building Beyond A Niche Pitch

SPEAKER_01 13:14

And I suppose for potential pet the pet businesses who are potentially looking to apply for the show, what what bit of advice do you think is absolutely vital rather than just reflect on your past experience? Yeah, well, we were about three years into the business when we did it. Um it was very circus-themed. Uh, for those who've seen it, we dressed up as PT Barnum and Charity Barnum. Um, we had entrance music that didn't all make the cut, by the way, but we had a friend at the BBC who was a voiceover guy, and he we did this really extravagant start, had the guinea pigs in there, everything. Um, we were hit by the COVID era, so our first filming date got cancelled. Heard that a few times. We got the second filming date, and that was under completely different restrictions. And I think the big miss for us was those dragons did not get out of their seats and they were two metres apart, so we didn't have the interaction. Um, we took a guinea pig in with us under our arm. There were some guinea pigs in a nice enclosure that we'd set up. I think if that guinea pig had landed in, you know, one of the dragons' laps and we'd had a good chat, they'd started asking questions about guinea pigs, they would have realized just how crazy passionate we are about guinea pigs. But in a way, we were a bit too professional with the way we presented ourselves. There were no tears. There, we let them interrupt us, we didn't push our agenda. I think we would have been a bit stronger with the way we wanted the conversation to go. And we were in reflection and knowing that where we are now, about eight years into the journey, we we didn't sell this the future vision. They short saw it as niche. It's the first time they've ever seen this crazy idea. It's a circus for guinea pigs. Surely that's too small. But that wasn't where Hatepics was going. Hate's was building a brand. Hatepics now is a multi-brand e-commerce website, 25 other small animal brands on there, one-stop shop for guinea pig stuff. We have a subscription box, you know. We work with trade, we work direct to customer, you know, we are innovating new stuff all the time. We're helping other brands bring stuff to the small animal market. We didn't talk about any of that. You know, you were looking back. Yeah, that was the big we saw, we saw where we were instead of selling where we need to go. So that's something to consider if you're gonna do it. But what it does create, regardless of what happens, and we got a three and a half minute section in the middle, by the way. Because we didn't get investment, because we didn't have an argument, could have had an argument, but it wasn't on brand. So I had to bite my lip. But knowing, knowing what you're going in for, understanding it's a TV program, they are going to paint a narrative that they want. And we were the humorous animal thing that filled the little bit, and we understood that. But we're having a conversation now about Dragon's Den. Yeah. When we're on a stand, we have a little thing saying we're on Dragon's Den. It's a conversation starter. Absolutely. You're in this uh, you know, unique alumni. I like the fact that we're in the gang that didn't get investment because it spares me on. And if someone tells me I can't do it, I'm like, yeah, somebody's well gonna do it. You told me I was once told I wouldn't be a product designer. Um, here I am, um, with you know, hundreds of products summed up my belt, you know, and and you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

So you've just touched on then everything, uh everything involved in the business side, the e-commerce side of it, and everything. Yeah, so you don't obviously you don't need to go back for dragons then. No, but if there was an opportunity for I'm huge expensive right now that required excess investment, would you consider reapplying, looking back?

Investment, Plans And Hard Lessons

Family, Balance And Community

Jimmy’s Farm Guinea Pig Village

Retail Versions And Launch Timing

State Of The UK Guinea Pig Market

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah, yeah. Um when we looked to the dragon panel that was there at the time, um we felt like we're with Sarah, she seemed to be on our yeah, and she had some really lovely things to say, you know, and very complimentary, and actually told us we didn't need an investor. She said, just carry on with doing what you do, and seek a bit, a bit of um, you know, trade capital and crack on. Interestingly, we did. Uh we we had to create a business plan for Dragon's Den. We executed the business plan regardless, and that was a really useful thing to do three years into your business. Guess what? Your business plan failed. Oh it didn't work, it didn't work, but we did it. We lost a quite a lot of money trying to do it, um and we learned some harsh lessons, but it just goes to show had we got the investment, actually it wouldn't have been useful then. I think now we know where we're going, and um, you know, we've just uh made a quite a you know for us sizable investment in a new project now, and we're in a such a strong, such a stronger position to to execute it and and know the market so much better that it is part of that learning process, yeah. Um you know, uh I think we're happy. I I just need to caveat this, you know, my partner Helen, co-founder of Hey Pigs, you know, she has been such a massive part of our journey, you know, she's not here now. Um she's at home looking after the kids. Oh, you know, or there's getting them off to school anyway. I I our four-year-old boys now go to school. But you know, um you need that as you need it, you need uh the family around you to be on board with this project, whatever your project is, yeah, because it is so intense. You have highs and lows, and the lows are very low. The highs can be very high, but just be careful. I think if you let any of those get too extreme, you're in trouble. Just try and remain level-headed with it all. It's about balance, really, and not absolutely. You need to take a risk as a new starter, but you need to maintain the balance at the same time. Take risks, learn quickly, make loads of mistakes, but do learn quickly and use the community around you. You know, this small island community is fabulous. You know, I think we know so many people. Again, I'll come back. I've been walking around the trade show. I can't walk five yards without bumping into someone that we've we've met or had a stand next to, or uh, you know, um met an awards thing or some some um organizational thing, and just everyone wants you wants to hear the they've they've seen you grafting, they've seen you there with the kids strapped, you know, strapped to you, working hard. They it's a family. The pet industry is a family, and that's why it's so is that the appeal for you that way yeah, so yeah, and everyone can at the end of the day, everyone can talk about animals. Oh, absolutely, yeah, you know, and has a passion and an interest. I mean, I find it funny whenever I meet someone and go, Oh, I don't like animals. How? And I go, Oh, oh, we're gonna struggle for a conversation here. Um, you've always got that entry level, haven't you? Yeah, and that's that's That's great. That's yeah, it's baffling to me that some people say, can't get my head around this. No, no, and it must be from childhood, you know, you meet people who've never who are nervous of dogs, and it's only because they haven't had dogs around them. Um, you know, and they just need that safe introduction and and to learn that actually these things aren't helpful. They're all your best friends. Yeah. Um, so let's talk about the uh the guinea pig village at Jimmy's farm. Yeah, they're now the sponsor of. Yeah, tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, you yeah, you may have guessed the the problem problem I have as a creative is I see lots of gold, shiny things all the time, and I've got to be careful not to dream too much, but I'm always dreaming of the next thing. Completely. Yeah, uh, we we'd had a bit of a connection with with Jimmy's farm because they're close to us, about 50 minutes down the road, and they have a they had a guinea pig village. It was 20 years in. His village was made right at the start when he started Jimmy's farm. And I don't know what you've if you've seen the development of Jimmy's farm, but it turned out from a little you know thing with a few pigs to a complete gigantic I'm not saying it from the beginning, but yeah, wildlife. He's got polar bears, you know, he's got brown bears, he's got capuars, he's got zebra, you name it, monkeys, everything out for sure. A wonderful day out, and um he had these tired guinea pig village villages, and I just always fancy it having a carrot making a village. So I said, Oh, do you want us to make you some new ones? And they said, Oh yeah, that'd be brilliant. And again, it can't I couldn't half do it. I couldn't half do it. I was like, right, what is the best guinea pig village? What can we do? You know, we've got a pub, we've got a nail bar, we've got a cafe, we've got a church, we've got a corner shop. Um the church like has stained glass windows that are all vegetable themed. No one sees that apart from the guinea pigs because the light shines through them from the outside in. Yeah, so unless you put a light inside, the visitors don't really know. The guinea pigs do. Yeah, yeah, that's how I love all the geeky things, like those little subtle things. So when you visit or see this village, you will see something you've not seen before, a little tiny little nod on a on a sample bit of signage or something. It's just full of guinea pig gags. Sounds brilliant. Yeah, and we just love that. So we have actually finally, finally, finally, finally, uh got to the point where we're making some retail versions, like little flat pack versions, about two-thirds scale. Because people have been going, we want your village, we want your village, and we're like, Oh no, and delay on the market now already. Nearly, nearly, nearly. The first two, the cafe and the the nibbles nail bar are on the way. Do you know Rafael Wang? Um, I think it's going to be um mid to late October, um, which is super exciting. I've got to go home and do packaging now, oh right, which requires a few photo shoot with the guinea pigs. Um, if they're on form. Are they cooperative in that sense? If there are herbs and treats around, they're very cooperative. Um, so let's hope they're on good form. Uh if they're not, we'll we'll have to wait for them, the little divas. Um, yeah, it's all good fun. Yeah, that's this has been amazing. Just to we should have ready for this at the start, but um, how would you briefly summarize the guinea pig market in the UK? Um, because it's obviously significant mixed for the dog, can't tell fish. It's it's fascinating, you know. When when we started eight years ago, there wasn't a lot. Certainly, it was very niche specific. It was just trying to throw it all under small animals, and that doesn't really work, but there was a community, and I remember seeing uh a guinea pig called Fuzberta uh in California who had 250,000 Instagram followers, yeah. And I knew from that moment that there was an awesome community there, and there was interest, and um we love that community, and we are ingrained and full of it, and the people we have you know come across in that community, they're fabulous because we all just adore our guinea pigs, you know, and it's it's people come together over that. I think there's a lot of people who might struggle a little bit socially, and rather the animals are their comfort. And actually, if you meet other people that you can all talk about guinea pigs, you bring people together that wouldn't necessarily normally mix, but we all have this point here of passion. Um, so I think niche is the future, right? I think more you niche than better. Don't be scared of niche. Um because you can build these fantastic communities, and this is proof, and and proof, and hate's is a brand, you know. Who's to say it doesn't broaden out over time? You know, but at the moment we're having so much fun in our niche, you know. Yeah, keep going. Just yeah, we're not finished yet. Um you get off the impression there's plenty more ideas in the notebook for sure. Too many, yeah. Anyway, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's been really nice chatting. Appreciate it.

Closing Reflections And Sign‑Off

SPEAKER_00 25:07

So thank you very much to Rick for taking time out of his busy day to talk to us. It's amazing to see when someone finds a gap in the market, throws absolutely everything at it, and it pays off. So we're very excited to see what the company does in the future. But that's all we have time for today on the Pet Trade people. Thank you very much for listening. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, that's pet product marketing, like our LinkedIn page too, and check out our website at www.petproductmarketing.co.uk, and I'll catch you on the next episode.