Sisters or not?

Question
i have recently taken on a pair of rescued guinea pigs, both female under 12 weeks old.  these are my first guinea pigs and i was wondering if it is possible that they could be sisters - the both have the same colour (tan and white) coats, but one is smooth and the other is abyssinian.  do you know if its possible to have litters of guinea pigs with both smooth and abysinnian coats?

also - any links to web sites with guinea-info or book recomendations would be most appeciated, i am a bit like a vacuum cleaner at the moement, sucking up all the information i can on guineas!

Answer
Hi there!

Guinea pigs can look very similar (or even almost identical) but not actually be related. My first two piggies that I owned were brothers but one was (is) a white long-hair and the other was a smooth piggy, brown and black.

2 piggies that I currently own are not siblings but look almost identical, both have the same black band across their backs and white face markings.

So, in answer to your question, yes, guinea pig siblings can look wildly different from one another, even to the point of having differing coat types.

As for books, anything by Peter Gurney is good reading, he really "knows his piggies"!

Andy