How popular are Skinnies?

The Burpster

The Burpster

New Born Pup
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I’d not even heard of them until last week when my daughter came home from a new job and told me that the girl she is working with has two skinnies.....
Looked them up and searched a few posts on here, they are soooooo cute! I have no room for any more at the mo but they certainly have me fascinated.

Also for those that have them, I guess the biggest difference between keeping them and their hirsute cousins is temperature regulation?
Other than that are they the same to look after?
 
Skinny pigs poop and wee a million times more than furry piggies and eat twice as much and are very difficult to keep warm in winter... also some of them are rather eccentric/hyperactive characters that are tricky to bond and difficult to keep entertained. And they often hate being touched and hate things touching their naked skin.
We have a skinny pig and I can honestly say they make fairly rubbish pets in many regards, you have to be very commited to running your central heating constantly for 6 months of the year for an animal that wheeks all night and poops constantly and won't let you touch them!
Aside from that they are a charming freaky lab animal variation on the classic guinea pig that is a pleasure to have in my home :)
 
PigglePuggle said:
Skinny pigs poop and wee a million times more than furry piggies and eat twice as much and are very difficult to keep warm in winter... also some of them are rather eccentric/hyperactive characters that are tricky to bond and difficult to keep entertained. And they often hate being touched and hate things touching their naked skin.
We have a skinny pig and I can honestly say they make fairly rubbish pets in many regards, you have to be very commited to running your central heating constantly for 6 months of the year for an animal that wheeks all night and poops constantly and won't let you touch them!
Aside from that they are a charming freaky lab animal variation on the classic guinea pig that is a pleasure to have in my home :)
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You paint such an attractive picture of skinny pig ownership 😂
 
I love Tallulah very much but I wouldnt want anyone to make the mistake of thinking she's just a hairless guinea pig... only her husboar Ollie actually believes she's really a guinea pig I still think she's a weird supernatural bat hippo shadow creature, and trying to do eyedrops 4 times a day for 3 months really hasnt convinced me otherwise! Trying to catch her is like wrestling a ball of tarantulas I swear she has about 28 scrabbly scratchy legs!
Fortunately I love tarantulas and weird lab animals but if I didnt and thought I was just getting a guinea pig I would be rather frightened :)
 
Oh, and other than that her care is the same. I had a chat with the vet and the vet tech just yesterday, and they said generally no special skin care or anything else is required by them, but if they do get very dry and flaky you could put coconut oil on them. They said some dandruff is normal though and not to worry.
 
Yes Tallulah also has beautiful chocolate skin that needs no care at all its the one thing about her that is low maintenance! Maybe she's just a special case but she's very very different to my 7 furries and in Northern England costs a fortune to keep warm from October to April its constant heating.
And yes they shouldnt go in the direct sun outdoors they burn easily but they do enjoy basking in a ray of sunshine that comes through the window in the morning or evening as long as they can move out of it if they want and go in the shade :)
 
The initial cost is nothing up to the heating bills in the UK, I have a Smart Meter showing daily energy use and Tallulah costs about £3 per day to heat November to February and maybe £1.50 per day to heat October, March and a cold April like we had this year... thats just keeping the house at 18 degrees rather than the 12-15 the furry pigs and hoomans are ok with in winter!
 
Vegetable_Monster said:
You must really love the summer . I bet these shops are not giving this info out to people who buy them. You can get naked rats aswell
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Yes my house has been a steady 18-21 degrees since May, my daily energy usage is only 83p today! But once it gets cold Tallulah wheeks like a fire alarm every time the temperature drops to 17 degrees. Doesnt matter how many heat pads or fleecy beds, she likes those too of course but if the air temp goes below 17 when she comes out for hay she will just stand there shouting "I'm cold I'm cold I'm cold!" like an inverse fire alarm that alerts the hoomans to any deviations from tropical temperatures in Northern England in the early hours of the the morning. For half of the year :)
 
Vegetable_Monster said:
They really do sound it . You know what aswell. I've only had 3 aby pigs and 1 smooth . But abys seem to be quite stupid in a very funny way. I can put food down infront of my aby boar , he doesn't know it's there for a good few seconds. Saying that though , I've trained him to run to the same spot for food everyday . To the point that when I scatter feed now , he runs to that spot still and thinks he has to stay there
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I'm starting to pick up that trend with the Abys too, they are a little oblivious in a very adorable way. Often they get confused, can't find their food and just look at me for help.
 
Yes Tallulah skinny pig is very clever and luckily so is he furry husboar Ollie, he has disabled back legs so playpen time is all about his nose and brain! They like fancy puzzle boxes for enrichment like lift-the-flap boxes and egg boxes and also paper bags with little holes cut in they have to think about how to get the treats, oats and strawberry tops and individual coriander leaves hidden in tricky places...
My main herd are less ingenious and prefer floor food in a pile :)
And yes Jezzy my aby type floof is adorably clueless and literally cant find her own bum because its hidden by the bushy fur rosettes round her eyes and anything she cant see probably.doesnt exist! Jezzy often gets a little wedged in slightly too small furniture then waddles off wearing it unawares... or sweeps up everypig's breakfast in her skirts then wonders why the others are following her...the time she got her bum stuck in a designer fleecy toadstool hidey house designed for smaller piggies was priceless, she seemed genuinely unaware she was sporting a big fleecy mushroom on her backside for half a day...!
 
PigglePuggle said:
Yes Tallulah skinny pig is very clever and luckily so is he furry husboar Ollie, he has disabled back legs so playpen time is all about his nose and brain! They like fancy puzzle boxes for enrichment like lift-the-flap boxes and egg boxes and also paper bags with little holes cut in they have to think about how to get the treats, oats and strawberry tops and individual coriander leaves hidden in tricky places...
My main herd are less ingenious and prefer floor food in a pile :)
And yes Jezzy my aby type floof is adorably clueless and literally cant find her own bum because its hidden by the bushy fur rosettes round her eyes and anything she cant see probably.doesnt exist! Jezzy often gets a little wedged in slightly too small furniture then waddles off wearing it unawares... or sweeps up everypig's breakfast in her skirts then wonders why the others are following her...the time she got her bum stuck in a designer fleecy toadstool hidey house designed for smaller piggies was priceless, she seemed genuinely unaware she was sporting a big fleecy mushroom on her backside for half a day...!
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You do make me laugh with the tales of your herds, @PigglePuggle ! You should put them in a book, with some accompanying cartoons 😁🤣
 
Featheryfriend said:
I'm starting to pick up that trend with the Abys too, they are a little oblivious in a very adorable way. Often they get confused, can't find their food and just look at me for help.
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"Stupid in a funny way" was my aby, Frenzy, exactly. When I would clean out the cage and put in new food with her roaming the hallway, she would get so excited about it that she would forget how to get back into the cage! She would just desperately try to claw at the bars while her (very smart) cagemate went up the ramp like smart pig and ate all the food while Frenzy ran in circles outside!
 
Fun thread! Maybe I should rescue a skinny next. 75% of my pigs won't let me touch them so I'm used to that!

And gosh...my absynian is all that was mentioned above. She's just a derp! Even her markings. Looks like she tried to have that classic guinea pig red with white nose and mouth markings, except her white parts are so narrow it just looks like a mistake. And when I pick her up she doesn't really run away, just wheeks really loud and goes limp...it's sad! 😂
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PigglePuggle said:
Skinny pigs poop and wee a million times more than furry piggies and eat twice as much and are very difficult to keep warm in winter... also some of them are rather eccentric/hyperactive characters that are tricky to bond and difficult to keep entertained. And they often hate being touched and hate things touching their naked skin.
We have a skinny pig and I can honestly say they make fairly rubbish pets in many regards, you have to be very commited to running your central heating constantly for 6 months of the year for an animal that wheeks all night and poops constantly and won't let you touch them!
Aside from that they are a charming freaky lab animal variation on the classic guinea pig that is a pleasure to have in my home :)
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I love your honesty 🤣.
 
That summed up Frenzy so well. She was, truly, a derp. LMAO!
Scooter Pie said:
Fun thread! Maybe I should rescue a skinny next. 75% of my pigs won't let me touch them so I'm used to that!

And gosh...my absynian is all that was mentioned above. She's just a derp! Even her markings. Looks like she tried to have that classic guinea pig red with white nose and mouth markings, except her white parts are so narrow it just looks like a mistake. And when I pick her up she doesn't really run away, just wheeks really loud and goes limp...it's sad! 😂
Click to expand...
 
Black piggies said:
Taking a while to notice food in front of their nose, newly adopted Peruvian does that, what's it about?
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they ought to come and visit my 4.... if their noses aren’t in the bowls before My hand has left the cage they won’t get any....
it’s like Largo’s shark tank in the Bond film Thunderball....🤣🤣🤣
 
Black piggies said:
Taking a while to notice food in front of their nose, newly adopted Peruvian does that, what's it about?
Click to expand...

Sometimes I wonder if the hair is getting in the way of their vision or redirecting scent wafts or something. Other times I think they're just space cadets.
 
PigglePuggle said:
Skinny pigs poop and wee a million times more than furry piggies and eat twice as much and are very difficult to keep warm in winter... also some of them are rather eccentric/hyperactive characters that are tricky to bond and difficult to keep entertained. And they often hate being touched and hate things touching their naked skin.
We have a skinny pig and I can honestly say they make fairly rubbish pets in many regards, you have to be very commited to running your central heating constantly for 6 months of the year for an animal that wheeks all night and poops constantly and won't let you touch them!
Aside from that they are a charming freaky lab animal variation on the classic guinea pig that is a pleasure to have in my home :)
Click to expand...
I can only agree with you. I absolutely love my skinny pigs Dora and Ginger but goodness they are hard work. From all the extra poop to having to put a sun shade over their outdoor run. The 'no touching the bare skin' and almost constant wheeking for food.

I'm not trying to put you off having skinnies, as they have the most wonderful and endearing pigsonalities, and are the most outgoing of our piggies. You just need to understand what you are letting yourself in for if you have them.😀
 
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