How To Breed Albino Guinea Pigs

Albino guinea pigs are popular in the hobby because of their pristine white fur and pretty pink / red eyes. Sometimes people think there must be something wrong with a guinea pig that looks so strange, but albino traits are found in many small animals, such as mice, rats and bunny rabbits, and albino guinea pigs do not require any more or less care than their dark-eyed counter parts.

How Do I Know If My Guinea Pig Is An Albino?

How can you tell the difference between an albino guinea pig and a normal white guinea pig? It is easy. Only albino guinea pigs are missing the pigmentation (color) in their eyes and only albino guinea pigs have pink eyes. A guinea pig with dark eyes and white fur is not truly an albino.

Some pink eyed guinea pigs can have colored fur, which is quite funny to see. However these are not true albinos, albinism is a genetic condition defined by lack of pigmentation in fur and eyes. That does not, however, make them any less adorable.

If I Breed My Albino With A Normal Guinea Pig, What Will The Babies Look Like?

This is where things get interesting! You see, albino traits are recessive traits, like red hair in humans. If you breed an albino guinea pig and a normal guinea pig together, what you get depends on what traits the normal guinea pig is carrying in its genes. If it also has albino genes, you may get some albino guinea pigs out of the mating even though one parent has color!

Of course, a mix may result in guinea pigs with red eyes and colored fur, which is rare, but not impossible. Though you should never breed guinea pigs if you are not prepared to find them all new homes, breeding guinea pigs is a good way to learn about how genetics work.

Breeding Tips

Breeding guinea pigs is fairly easy because they do most of the hard work themselves. Two healthy parents over the age of 6 months is really all that is required. In fact, most of the work you'll have to do is in separating the male and female once the deed is done, and in making sure that the mother has clean and private accommodations in which to birth her babies

You should never allow a pregnant female to give birth whilst she is in 'general population', other guinea pigs may kill or accidentally harm the babies by standing on them.

A nursery cage is a must have for new guinea pig moms. If there are males in the litter, they must be removed at 3 weeks of age, otherwise they may start trying to breed with mom.