Skinny Pigs

The new additions to our family are a couple of female Skinny Pigs! 
Mother and daughter to be precise, named Pineapple and Pippi.

I first found out about these bizarre creatures 5 years ago when I was at a friends wedding. A lady on our table was showing photographs of her new Skinny Pig babies she had been breading and I fell in love. The pictures looked like baby hippo's that were so ugly they were cute, a little like E.T!!
These adorable creatures are pretty much completely hairless except for a bit on their nose and feet after a science experiment in the 1970's in Canada went wrong!
The in's and out's of what went on in that laboratory are unknown, all I know is that I now have two very expensive naked Guinea Pigs!! Costing around £80 they are not an 'impulse buy', that doesn't include the expensive heat up mats they need everyday, or they fact that they cannot live outside so you need a special place for them inside.

Skinny Pigs are hard work!

They need cleaning out more often that your normal pet, they eat about quadruple the amount of a normal Guinea Pig and they don't much like to be stroked, (this is probably because they don't actually have any fur to stroke!!). They love fresh vegetables, and know when you are opening a pack of green beans!!

They look like baby hippos and squeak so much when you go into the room that it will make anyone smile. We get mixed reactions from friend when we show the our Skinny Pigs. No one I know had ever seen one before and when we took them to the vets they were shown around like celebrities as they didn't even know they existed!! Some don't like the feel of them whereas others can't stop looking at them!

Although they have no fur they are certainly NOT anti-allergen pets which is a common mistake! My daughters friend had to be rushed home after holding the Skinny Pigs and having an extreme allergic reaction.

I do love our Skinny Pigs, they are warm to the touch and feel like you are holding a baby and are our very own house hippo! But would only recommend to those who have lots of time and money on their hands to look after them correctly!