Capybaras find community in Coeur d'Alene

May 28-As soft Brazilian jazz echoes through the Capy Hour Café, two baby capybaras climb atop folded legs to chew lettuce and kale out of hollowed coconut husks. Green saliva drools down the pair of river hogs' jowls, as human customers sip lattes and giddily pat the rodents' backs.

Capy Hour Café, which opened April 4 in Coeur d'Alene, has all the refreshing drinks, fuzzy capybaras and jade green spittle for which fans of the world's largest species of rodent could ask.

For $50 per person, guests interact with two baby capybaras, Miguel and Mario, in a Brazilian-themed café for 30 minutes. It costs $59 per person for 45 minutes and for a group of up to 10 people, it costs $495 for 45 minutes.

The café is attached to Big Red's Barn, 7397 N. Government Way, an indoor petting zoo that boasts about 100 different animals. Two years ago in May, the original owners of Big Red's were looking to retire. They found homes for all their animals, were set on selling the building and had everything ready to dissolve the business. But the Harris family stepped in.

"It went beautifully, and they kind of handed over the torch," said Ginger Harris. "It was much like the movie 'We Bought a Zoo.' "

In the 2011 movie, Matt Damon portrays a journalist from Los Angeles who quits his job and buys a zoo after the death of his wife. In the Harrises' case, Ginger Harris worked as a house cleaner, her husband was a UPS driver and her son, Jace, had just wrapped up nursing school when they decided to buy Big Red's Barn.

While the Harris family doesn't have lions, tigers or zebras, they do have a wallaby, a 14-foot python, an emu, a sloth, a couple axolotls and numerous other reptiles, birds and livestock. They also have another 100-pound capybara named Carlito.

Unfortunately, Carlito, the capybara larger than most dogs, doesn't get to spend time in the café or with the baby capybaras, because he likely would try to kill Miguel and Mario. Jace Harris said it's not uncommon for adult male capybaras to sometimes kill infants that aren't related to them. This is just one of many fun (and not -so -fun) facts he shares with visitors. Others include that a full -grown capybara can weigh up to 150 pounds and eat 10 pounds of vegetables and grasses each day. At only a day old, capybaras can eat solids, Jace Harris said, and the semiaquatic animals can hold their breath up to five minutes at a time.

"They're kind of a mixture of all different animals, which is why I think people like them," Jace Harris said. "They're rodents, but they're semi aquatic. They're fast runners, they're really unique."

"But yet so gentle," Ginger Harris added.

Ginger Harris said the vast majority of their animals, about 90%, are rescues. They found Carlito at a zoo near Seattle, where he had a dog collar embedded in his skin and bore multiple stitches and bite marks from when his herd ostracized him. Now he remains by himself, but with proper attention, Ginger Harris said.

The idea for a capybara café first came about when some folks asked the Harris es to take care of two baby capybaras (not Miguel and Mario) who were en route to the East Coast. The weather was terrible at the time, Ginger said, so the family took the babies in for two weeks.

When the community found out, people started lining up to see the adorable rodents, some flying in from as far as Nebraska.

"Capybaras have their own fanbase, and they are hardcore," Ginger Harris said. "It's the 'it' animal right now. There was a Highland calf phase and now it's capybaras."

Mario and Miguel's parents are part of a Make-A-Wish project involving capybaras and otters in California, Ginger Harris said. Miguel is slightly larger than Mario, which is really the only way to tell the two brothers apart.

Jace Harris said he was inspired to try a capybara café because of some videos he saw online. He knows of one in Georgia and a couple in Florida, but said their isn't another capybara café west of the Mississippi.

Miguel and Mario have become so popular that Jace Harris said they schedule reservations 90 days in advance. As of May 14, their next open spot was nearly three months out. They also only allow up to four groups of people per day so as not to exhaust the baby capybaras. And after each visit, the brothers return to their back bedrooms to rest up.

Upon entering the café, visitors are greeted by a vibrant, rainforest-esque environment, complete with soothing background music, a jungle mural created by a local artist and real and plastic plants. Although judging from the bite marks on many of the leaves, it seems like Miguel and Mario haven't yet caught on that some of the plants are fake.

While sitting on any of the small couches and floor cushions available, guests can swig Brazilian-themed drinks, like the Capy-love Latte and the Amazon Tiger, made at the drive-thru coffee stand next door.

But prospective visitors should be wary of wearing any sort of clothing they don't mind getting green slobber on. Miguel and Mario eat a lot and also drool a lot because of all the vegetation they consume.

While owning and operating Big Red's Barn and the Capy Hour Café doesn't come without its share of hairy challenges ($24,000 just in romaine lettuce last year for instance), it's been nothing short of a thrilling adventure for the Harris family. And one they hope to continue.

"My whole family is an animal lover," Ginger Harris said. "I've had a pig that's lived in my home for the last 10 years. He's got his own bedroom. And this just kind of fell into our laps, to be honest. We wanted it to stay open for the community. We are big on education and hands-on learning, and if this were to dissolve, the community would have nothing. It's very joyous when the children come in, or families meet here, and we can educate them about the animals."

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 8:02 AM.