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Pet buyers snap up 'skinny pigs'

Author Times
Source www.timesonline.co.uk

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Pet buyers snap up 'skinny pigs'

BOURNEMOUTH Demand for 'skinny pigs', a hairless variety of guinea-pig, is outstripping supply, fuelling huge price rises. The bizarre-looking animals' lack of hair is a result of a deliberately induced genetic mutation. They need particular care because their lack of hair means they need factor-50 sunscreen in the summer, and custom-made clothing in the winter.

They eat three times more than normal guinea-pigs and require moisturiser to be rubbed into their skin, but such is the demand that these three-week-old 'skinny pigs' are on sale for £150 in Bournemouth, double the normal rate.