Available Cavies!!
0 Skinny Pig sows
2 Skinny Pig boars
2 Skinny carrier sows
2 Skinny carrier boars
2 Baldwin sows
3 Baldwin boars
4 Baldwin carrier sows
2 Baldwin carrier boars
Pictures of them are listed on my "Available Cavies" page
Expecting Cavies!!
We are expecting some litters of Skinny pigs and Baldwins as well as carriers of both breeds in January and February 2016!! Pictures of them will be up on my website when they are available.
MHPC's News
November 2, 2014
We are making deliveries on November 29th from Los Angeles to Sacramento for a delivery fee of $60 which is less than half the cost to ship live animals via airplane. Dropoff locations can be arranged to Sacramento or anywhere on the way. Please contact asap if you are interested in my hairless guinea pigs.
August 24, 2011
Visit ZOOMARS petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano, CA and checkout their newest addition of Hairless Guinea Pigs provided by Margaret's Hairless Pigs Caviary. For more information visit their website at zoomars.com
March 23, 2011
My Hairless Skinny Pig MHPC’s Lavender was featured on an episode of CBS’s TV show “The Doctors". It was aired on April 20, 2011 titled "Your Health in the Headlines". See the video in our "Featured Cavies" page.
Skinny Pig Origin
To view an article written by Cathy Tharp on the history and basic care information on Skinnies check out:
http://forum1.aimoo.com/RVBG/Illnesses-Care-tips/The-History-and-Care-of-Skinnies-1-1118657.html
Skinny Pigs came from several labs in Canada. Charles River's Lab in
Canada first introduced skinny pigs in 1982. They were a natural spontaneous mutation that was discovered in a colony of Hartley outbred guinea pigs in 1978. Charles Rivers had acquired them in 1982. They were then released to guinea pig breeders and etc. Skinnies came out as a natural spontaneous mutation, and have been crossed to haired guinea pigs to improve the breed.
Charles Rivers Lab(CRL) uses red eyed white(REW) Skinny's. Over time,
cross-breeding with regular haired pigs have resulted in many different
patterns and colors such as, rainbow, broken, TSW, and Himalayan varieties. They have been outcrossed to hardy haired guinea pigs for many generations by reputable breeders to bring hardiness to them. They are not a weak sickly breed as some people are led to believe. Those that have had weak sickly skinny pigs probably have not acquired a strong healthy line. They may also have been inbreeding too much and not breeding back to haired/carriers.There has been many myths about the skinny pigs in the past. They are just as healthy as regular haired guinea pigs with regular immune systems when bred and cared for properly. They are bred to improve the quality of this unique breed by many reputable breeders.
Here is some more history of skinny pigs from the labs:
NOMENCLATURE Crl:IAF(HA)-hrBR ORIGIN
Mutation first identified in 1978, among the offspring of three females caged with one male in a colony of albino Hartley guinea pigs at Montreal's Institut Armand Frappier (IAF). To CRL in 1982. Caesarean rederived in 1984. This guinea pig is euthymic and immunocompetent. COAT COLOR Hairless, albino.
Hairless Euthymic Guinea Pigs:
- • Now available from Charles River Laboratories.
- • Hair bulb, erector pili, and sebaceous glands do exist.
- • Produces defective hair shaft.
- • Reduced number of shafts.
- • Normal functional thymus.
The Hairless (hr) and Rhino (hr) Mutations, Chromosome 14:
Hairless guinea pigs are available in mutations designated hr and Hr.[1] Double mutants have been created.[74] Although little is available on the histology of the skin of these animals, they are commonly used to study pigmentation, [74] wound healing,[78] transdermal absorption, [79,80] and topical drug testing.[81,82] The hairless micropig skin lacks utricle and deep dermal cyst formation characteristic of mutations at the mouse hr locus. The hairless micropig has many characteristics of normal human skin.[73]
References:
Charles River Laboratories
Ron Banks, USAMRIID Seminar Series, 17 February 1989
The Hairless (hr) and Rhino (hr) Mutations, Chromosome 14