Dwarfism

Question
I don't know if you know Ryan but I have a guinea pig ( a very little guinea pig!) and she is so small she fits into the palm of my hand. Now I know she is a juvenile but I saw the mother and father and they too can fit in your hand. Do you know if there are dwarf guinea pigs or perhaps this is just a recessive trait? If you don't know that's ok I was just wondering.

Answer
Hello Sherry and thanks for the question.

There really isn't "Dwarfism" per se but GPs have one of the fastest and most dramatic genetic mutation tendencies of all animals. Unfornutately, this winds them up in labs too often (yuck!). GPs that are abnormaly small and have abnormaly small offspring should be inbred (mother and offspring or father and offspring) if you want to keep the trait alive. I highly doubt the trait is harmful. That is how the Europeans in the middle ages did it. They would breed to keep a trait alive. Now we have ALL KINDS of different GPs out there.

I would assume that this is not a natural "recessive" trait but a mutation that has the tendency to become recessive.

Thanks and have a good day,
Ryan
PS: If you find this info useful, please rate me.