What breed?: Alpaca?

[Hillary]

When I first got my second Guinea Pig, Patrick, I was sure he was an Alpaca. (Reese, my other pig is a Texel. The difference between an alpaca and a texel that I know is that an alpaca has rump rossettes and a frontal sweep falling over the face, much like a Peruvian.) Now at two months old, I'm not so sure... Patrick recently had a very mild case of mites, but is now all better, so I'm not sure if that has anything to due with it. Below are pictures of him when I first got him at a month old, and now at two months old.

Before at one month:



Now at two months:



Are they like Pomeranian's and other dogs where they have a puppy coat, and shed it out and get an adult coat? By his shoulder's he has what looks to be curls forming, and his whiskers are very curly still. His coat is no longer course but soft, thick (almost like a double coat) and plush. It use to be wiry and curly.

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can share with me! I'm having a hard time finding out about the Alpaca breed.

[Hillary]

Still hoping to hear some thoughts on this.

[erikahand83]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think this a guinea pig breed called Alpaca. To me looks like it could either be a abyssinian or an american breed. It's kinda hard to tell from the picture in your post though so I might be wrong with my guesses. Maybe someone else will come along and add there opinion as to what breed you have.

[diane]

that is what I was thinking about the breed. Alpaca is another type of animal.

[gunnybunny]

I thought an Alpaca was a type of lama or something related to them? But someone else had also told me that there was a breed of guinea pig called Alpaca. I have done some research recently and could not fine anything on an Alpaca guinea pig. Sorry. But I may also be wrong. If there is could someone link me to the information in which you found this? Thanks

[Kipsie]

I also thought alpaca was a species similar to llama.
You certainly can't ride a guinea-pig.
Or can you?
A two-inch tall person could do it.
Your piggy has hair like mine. We're hair twins!

[Onetwo]

Yeah I also have never heard of an alpaca guinea pig. I would say that your guinea pig is a texel/abby mix. Thats what it looks like though... Very cute. The texel in the back looks like mine! Lol. Good luck!

[vicky2]

An Alpaca is a animal closely related to the Llama.
An Alpaca Guinea Pig is a breed but isn't very recognized and most people to know much about it, like myself.
By the way, he looks like a texel/teddy mix to me.

[Kipsie]

Guinea pig breed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder if that will help?
I'm sure it's somewhat accurate.
It says alpaca piggies are actually peruvian.

Breeds and Colors of Guinea Pigs
Here, it says nothing about alpaca piggies.

And if you really want to know about piggy breeds, there's an association that i'm not sure if I can list, so I won't.

[fieryone]

I did a Google search for "alpaca guinea pig" and it did come up in a list with a description and photo that resembles Hillary's. The site didn't have breeding info and even referenced Cavy Spirit for cage size recommendations, but it is a UK site and mentioned making your own (larger) hutches and I'm not sure if that's okay to post, so I won't.

[fridzalone]

This is site i found that explain about alpaca.

Hope it helps!

guinea pig breeds

[DalesLass]

The straight coated longhair breeds are Sheltie, Peruvian (rosette longhair) and Coronet (crested longhair).

Each of these three types may also have the Rex gene which will give a crimped coat so Texel, Alpaca and Merino respectively.

In all these breeds the coat grows at approximately one inch per month. Therefore a two month old baby will (if its coat has not been chewed or trimmed) have two and a half inches of coat as it is assumed that it was born with half an inch.

With the ’rexed’ coats, they will form natural ringlets. If the pig is combed/brushed several times a day its coat will end up almost straight. If it is very lightly combed/brushed every few days (need to check for knots/debris daily) it will retain the ’ringlet’ look. That explains the difference in appearance in some photographs of these breeds.

Personally if I saw your pig in UK I would have thought that it was a baby Swiss. I don’t know if you have them in USA/Canada?

The Swiss coat stays straight-ish, dense and wiry and stops at about 3-4 inches in length.
So – looking at your pig, if it is an Alpaca it will start to develop a fringe over its face. If it doesn’t it is a Texel. If the coat doesn’t grow beyond 3-4 inches it is a Swiss (but bear in mind that its cage mates may be trimming its coat).

[Cornish Cavies]

If its got the rosettes it could be a alpaca cross. This would make it have a shorter coat. Whats the coat liek to the touch is it fuzzy or quite course

[Hillary]

Thank you everyone for your posts.

Wikipedia mentions the breed Alpaca, and there are also many sites that do, it's just a very very rare breed. I'm thinking that Patrick maybe a abyssinian texel cross, or such, as he definitely has some sort of the curly haired breed in him, due to his curly whiskers. I guess I'll have to see if his coat continues to grow, or if it stops. Thanks all for your help! I appreciate it, and the sites you all posted, they really helped me.

[poopysmom]

Hi Hillary,

my girl Jazmine, she looks similar like your Patrick, she used to have a bushy longer tail fan out from the top of her rump, but that dropped off miraculously overnight, now she only have short fuzz like your Patrick.

btw, SECTION 1 Title 1 Title 2 Title 3

there is a photo and explanation of how alpaca supposed to look like on the link I included.

this is my Jazmine.


she is around 12 months mark btw.




when she still have her long tuff at the back.

I adopted her from local shelter and believe she is more of a texel/rex cross rather than alpaca.

[poopysmom]

Forgot to add that, the underside of her body and all the hairs around her rump and feet are all tight curls like a merino.

[Hillary]

Hi there, thanks for posting! Jazmine looks SO much like Patrick! I'm very glad you posted. I can't believe the similarities, I should post some or Patrick now. The coats are the same, but of course Pat's is a bit shorter as he's 3 months old. Thanks for the link to the Alpaca page. I think Rex/Texel sounds about right! I'll post some pictures of Pat when I can and we can compare. Thanks again for posting!

[poopysmom]

Glad to be of help. Sorry I didn't see your post sooner. The traffic around here goes pretty fast. When I saw your Patrick I also was like OMG, that is soo Jazzie

She is the most docile girl you can ever imagine. Is your Patrick as well behave? Apparently, the quiet personality comes with the breed.

[Hillary]

That's okay! They are a lot a like, colour too!

Yes, Patrick and my other boy, Reese (he's just a Texel), are both very calm and docile. Patrick is going through his maturing right now, so he's a little bit high strung, but both him and Reese are very calm boys. Patrick is funny, whenever I have him out in my lap or petting him, he just talks and talks and talks!

[poopysmom]

I have 3 quiet girls during lap time, one melodramatic whinger (which is about the same age as your Patrick).
Jazzie she is just so quiet, you can take her out of the cage anytime, and she just sits there on your lap. but she does not like to give you warning when it comes to poo and wee. She just does it. can be scary :P

My himi is the queen pig in there. She is around 18-19 months old. I call her my big fat teletubbie. she likes to pick on Jazmine

Put them all together, I have a lively quartet though. They like to talk to each other. ALOT.