We always had dogs, but when my mom let me get a guinea pig, I fell in love. At one point, I cared for 26 of them at one time, but I'll never forget my first one which was a silver aguti guinea pig.
I can keep a secret someone tells me, but have found the only way to keep a secret really secret is to tell NO ONE. You can not even hint that you have something that you don't want anyone to know.