This mum who quit work to care for a herd of 88 squeaking guinea pigs is quids in after they gained 265,000 fans on Facebook - raking in over £40,000 a year. When former shop worker Sophie Mason, 31, of Lincoln, first acquired six little piggie sows - or females - just before her honeymoon with RAF serviceman Mark, 45, four years ago the couple decided half a dozen pets was plenty. But one 'sow' was actually a boar - or male - so the newlyweds and their sons Joshua, now 10, and Jacob, eight, soon had a muddle, or herd, of 16 guinea pigs to care for.