Guinea Pig Siblings

[deck1701]

Not really sure where to post this topic so I listed it under Guinea Pig Care. I know this is a massive long shot but I have two male Guinea pigs that I rescued when they were only 6 months old I have had them for nearly 4 years now and I always wondered if they were siblings or not. Jerry is an abyssinian he is White, Ginger and Black and the other is smooth haired Black Guinea pig with patches of Ginger, is there any conclusive way of determining if they are siblings or not as I always wanted to know.

 

[Wiebke]

Not really sure where to post this topic so I listed it under Guinea Pig Care. I know this is a massive long shot but I have two male Guinea pigs that I rescued when they were only 6 months old I have had them for nearly 4 years now and I always wondered if they were siblings or not. Jerry is an abyssinian he is White, Ginger and Black and the other is smooth haired Black Guinea pig with patches of Ginger, is there any conclusive way of determining if they are siblings or not as I always wanted to know.

Hi! Unless you want to do a gene test, there is no way of telling whether they are related or not. Guinea pigs with mixed heritage can have babies of different breeds; depending on how mixed the ancestry is, actually several different breeds.

These are triplets that I have adopted that were rescued from a hellhole calling itself sanctuary; they display three different breeds between them (aby, rex and smooth); one of them has all three breeds and the other two are a mix of two breeds.


These are sisters Sugar and Honey - Sugar is a smooth and Honey is an aby.

 

[deck1701]

Yes I suspected that that would be the only way, when I rescued them they did not have that much info about them apart from they needed special care as they had been mistreated but they are 100% better now, I am a bit worried about Ben though as he lost his friend on Wednesday another rescue Guinea pig I got at the same time, they use to meet every day on the Kitchen floor when they got there daily exercise he appears to be looking everywhere for him but he is still eating so I think he will be o.k I will really really miss him he had a huge character and was the most friendly Guinea pig I ever had he was amazing and will be a huge miss to me and my other pigs.. I have added a pic of Ben and Jerry. You Guinea Pigs look absolutely lovely I'm so pleased that they got rescued and were spared more misery .

 

[Wiebke]

I am very so sorry for your loss!

Have you considered dating your surviving boy at a good rescue so he can choose his own new friend himself? You may have to wait until after Christmas with the dating session as most decent rescues are closed over the holidays to prevent last minute impulse buys, but you can start asking around. Please ring up and message rescues within your reach. There are usually more piggies in rescue than are advertised.
Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
Rainbow Bridge Pets

Recommended good standard UK rescues: Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator
Recommended rescues in some other countries: Guinea Lynx :: Rescue Organizations
Please be aware that anybody can call themselves a rescue (or a breeder) and that there is no licensing or control on place. The rescues listed are those that we can guarantee for you and your piggy are in safe and experienced hands with adopting only healthy/full quarantined and treated piggies that have been handled and are properly sexed.

 

[deck1701]

Yes that is what I planned there is a really good guinea pig rescue in my area NEGPR Home Page that vet all people they visit your home as well to make sure you have a suitable environment for a guinea pig. Do you know how I would go about getting a gene test done on my Guinea pigs as I would really love to know, I have always thought of them as brothers and would just like to find out as long as there would be no discomfort to my Boys as I do not want to distress them in any way.

 

[Wiebke]

Yes that is what I planned there is a really good guinea pig rescue in my area NEGPR Home Page that vet all people they visit your home as well to make sure you have a suitable environment for a guinea pig. Do you know how I would go about getting a gene test done on my Guinea pigs as I would really love to know, I have always thought of them as brothers and would just like to find out as long as there would be no discomfort to my Boys as I do not want to distress them in any way.

I can recommend North East Guinea Pig Rescue warmly; my Carwyn is from there.

Sorry, I can't help you with the gene test; not sure whether you can have it done with guinea pigs or where to look. You are the first to enquire about this!

 

[deck1701]

Yes I have herd really good things about negpg, thanks for all your advice it is much appreciated I will have a look on the net to see if anybody can do Guinea pig gene testing but I will be very surprised if I can find anything but you never know.

 

[Freela]

Unfortunately, there is really no way to tell short of genetic testing. Pig siblings may look similar or may look nothing like each other, depending on the parents and the variety of breeds in their backgrounds. When we adopted Leela she was in with her two sisters- she and one sister both looked like short-hair/sheltie crosses, but the third sister looked abyssinian.