Types of Cavies

There are many different sorts of cavies and I have owned  quite a few varieties over the years. Eventually I hope to put pictures on every breed in this page but for now some are only descriptions of the breeds.

Selfs

This is a description given to cavies of one colour all over their bodies

CHOCOLATE

Simple enough really this cavy is a rich Chocolate colour. 

GOLDEN

Goldens are of a rich gold colour they come in both pink eyed and dark or ruby eyed versions, the dark eyed being my  personal favourite.

a pink eyed Golden

 

RED

Reds are of a very deep rich gold colour, darker than Goldens. Like the red setter dog

 

 

BUFF

Beige

Beige is a quite rare colour, they are the colour of a rich tea biscuit

Slate

the slate is another RV of a 'self colour' like the buff

this cavy is owned and shown by Grimcol stud

NON SELF SMOOTH COATED

The description given to all other types of cavy is NON SELF here I have divided it into Smooth, Rough and Long coats.

TORTOISHELL AND WHITE

 

These were my first ever breed when I started off with just three cavies. They are smooth haired and have even patches of black, brown and white

TORTOISHELL

 

These are somewhat rarer being just two colours, namely black and brown, if the black and brown are totally mingled they are known as Brindles

HIMALAYANS

 

Himalayan are mainly white cavies with just colour on their nose, ears and feet, there are 2 colours, black and chocolate.

 

A Black Himalayan

A Chocolate Himalayan

SATIN

 

The satins are a developed breed, they have been invented, they come in practically every breed, .The only breed that I know of that hasn't been sanitised is the Rex,   and it has been done with their cousins the US Teddies. Satins can be BRED to satins nowadays, although it can sometimes produce weak babies

This young lady is a satin agouti

Topaz is a satin sheltie

TRI or BI COLOURS

These cavies are very much like the Tortoishell only they must be of three other colours than that specified as a tort. i.e. they could be buff black and brown or just Buff and Black 

 

 

AGOUTI

 A difficult one to describe, on an agouti, one single hair is of two colour, and this pattern is all over their body, for example a silver agouti, has hairs coloured black and silver. I have silver agoutis and also  Cinnamons which are chocolate and silver, Creams ( chocolate & cream) and lemons ( black & cream). Gold is the other common agouti, being black and gold. Agoutis are a favourite of mine.

MAGPIES

these are black and white with equal patches of black, white and black/white mixture, and at the moment they are a VERY rare breed, with only around 5 breeders in the UK.

 

ARGENTES

 

Argentes come in numerous colours, rather like the agouti, indeed they are related to the agouti. This picture is of a lilac and white argente, at the moment they are classed as a rare variety. Basically they have a lilac coloured undercoat, with white tips at the end of each hair.

Sable Cavies

This is a picture of a Martin Sable Cavy ( Rosemary ), Sables are extremely rare, and there are very few people in the country who breed them. They are still very much in their development stage. To most people they would look like a chocolate cavy, or even worse a poor black, but they are in fact shaded with a mask ( rather like a Himalayan ).

 

ROUGH COATED

 

REX

The Rex ,they are short haired but their coat is rough and stands on end. They come in every colour imaginable, but the most common colour is agouti , the cavy pictured on the right is a rex

ABYSSINIAN

Abys have a number of rosettes all over there bodies, in fact they must have a certain number to be shown , that being at least 8 rosettes, 10 if possible.

AMERICAN CRESTED

The crested breeds all have only one rosette in the centre of their head, otherwise they are smooth coated. With American Cresteds the rosette is white, in contrast with the rest of their body which is the colour of a self, usually black or golden,

 

ENGLISH CRESTED

 

In this case the whole of the body, including the crest is of one colour, such as Golden and Black

A Cream English Crested

 

OTHER CRESTED

Stick a crest on anything is some peoples motto, personally I have had crested in Himalayan, Agouti and Tortoishell, although I no longer do. Some crested varieties such as the Rex Crested are not yet recognised by the National Cavy Club

 

Ridgeback

This is Randy, my Ridgeback boar, given to me by Su Taylor, Ridgebacks are a rare variety

Teddy 

Teddys look similar to Rex but are genetically different, so were you to breed a Rex to a Teddy you would get smooth hairs. The Cavy world is considering a standard to breed the teddies to

Swiss 

The Swiss is a brand new breed to the UK, click here for more info

LONG COATED

TEXEL

 

One of my favourite, they are a cross between a rex and a Sheltie, being long haired and Curly, but as with any long hair they are difficult to keep and show, once their coat is just a little damaged they are no longer showable. However they make great pets because they are very placid

 

MERINO

A cousin of the texel, again it is curly plus it has a crest on its head.

ALPACA

Another cousin, this time without a crest but with a frontal, i.e. its coat, when shown, comes over its face, a difficult breed to show. 

SHELTIE

Shelties are a common breed in the UK but I believe they are rarer abroad, they are called the Silkie in the US and are basically long haired and smooth with a mane framing the face

A Sheltie

This is also a Sheltie, but his coat is 'satinised'

Basically the same as the sheltie, but with a crest on its head. This is Freckle, one of my youngsters

Peruvian

This cavy has hair covering its face ( called a frontal) as well as the rest of its body. When not being shown the hair is brushed back so it can see :0).

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