Guinea Pig Genes?

Question
I have a male Dalmatian guinea pig, and I have noticed some things about him that my other 4 pigs don't have. One thing is that he poops way more than all my pigs, when my other pigs poop its 1 or 2 poops, but when he poops its at least 5 poops per poop, i know it sounds weird, any way another thing is that he has no hair on his testicles only the top were his back turns into them. The rest is naked. All my other males have hair all over except for their penis and anus. Now my question is, is It possible that my dalmatian guinea pig has the skinny pig gene? I don't know much about him as i rescued him, but i believe he is about 6 months to a year old. If you have any information for the reasons why he is different that would help. and no i am not planning on breeding him, i just want to know more about him.

Answer

Adult Baldwin  

Skinny Pig   No, he does not have the gene for Skinny Pigs. The bald spot above his scrotum is a something that all male pigs have but is more prominent is some than others. There is a very tiny gland that it barely visible that we call a 'grease gland.'  

Boars will sometimes secrete so much of this greasy oil that it builds up on the fur and is unsightly but harmless. Sometimes if you're brushing the area or combing it that grease will get caught in the teeth of the comb and pull out the hair with it.

Senior pigs (anything over 6 months of age) tend to have it more frequently than younger boars. It's not present in sows and nobody really knows the purpose of that gland other than it makes a mess when you're trying to show your pig on the judge's table.  Some judges will take points off for the dirty hair over that gland, others do not.  It's a grooming issue.

If the hair over the gland is light in color you can see the tiny indentation where the gland is, especially if for some reason the hair over it was pulled out.  As far as the quantity of the poo that too is often a senior boar thing. It has nothing to do with the pig's health, it's just the way it is. It seems to get worse as they age, but it's not a health issue.

Skinny pigs and Skinny carriers came originally from Teddies. Baldwins, which are completely without hair, originated in White Crested pigs and in fact the person who first discovered this gene in her line happens to be someone I know well.  

Both of those breeds started with a gene mutation that was passed on to their young. Baldwins are born fully furred and begin to lose their hair after a week or so. Skinny's are born with the fuzz at the base of the ears, feet and nose.  

When first discovered the founders of each of the breeds repeated the same breedings with the two parents and found that the same odd mutation was hereditary. Thus was created a new breed. Same is true of cats and dogs that are hairless. They were genetic mutations that were able to be repeated.

A carrier of either of those genes looks perfectly normal as would the coated counterparts.  But when bred to another carrier that gene is expressed or exposed and the babies will either be hairless or partly hairless (as is the case with Skinnys).  In a litter there can be both coated pups and hairless.  But those born with coats are still carriers of the gene.

So to sum it up your boar is perfectly normal. He just has different bowel habits than the others just as humans do. Male humans tend to have similar issues.

Here are a couple of pictures of both Baldwin and Skinny pigs, just in case you had not seen them.