The Baldwin is characterized by numerous skin wrinkles and a very small amount of hair just on the feet only.
The Skinny and the Baldwin are two separate breeds and the two different hairless genes are not compatible. Hairless breeds require special accommodation, as they need to be kept warm and may require extra food.
Skinnys-Baldwin(breeding not recommend) None of the babies will be hairless, like the Skinny Pigs and or Baldwins. They will all have hair and look like a regular haired guinea pig, but 50% of the babies will carry either the gene for Skinnys or Baldwins, and you won't know which ones carry what gene till you breed it. And they WILL NOT carry both genes..
Baldwins are completely bald with absolutely no hair at all or very minimal on their feet. They are not born like that. They are born completely haired like a regular haired guinea pig. After a few days of their birth( 2-5 days old) their hair falls out. Starting most of the time with the nose shredding to the head then their bodies to bottoms, until they are completely bald at around 2 months of age or so.
Baldwin-Baldwin When you breed two hairless Baldwins together, it will be 100% of their babies will be Baldwins (with hair that falls out and become totally hairless).
Baldwin-Baldwin Gene Carrier There is a 50-75% or about half chance that the babies bred by a Baldwin to a haired Baldwin gene carrier, will have hairless Baldwin babies. The rest will just be baldwin gene carriers. You will know which ones are the true baldwins when their hair starts falling off. some may or may not carry that hairless gene at all.
Baldwin Gene Carrier-Baldwin Gene Carrier There is only a 25% chance that 1 or so baldwin babies will be born in these litters. You may have 1 or so carriers from this breeding as well.
Baldwin-Regular haired breed guinea pig(not a gene carrier of baldwin) None of them will be a hairless Baldwin. There is a chance that most of the babies maybe baldwin gene carriers which can then be bred back to a Baldwin.
Baldwin Gene Carrier-regular haired breed guinea pig(not a gene carrier of baldwin) There is no chance a baldwin pup will be born from a Baldwin gene Carrier bred to a regular haired guinea pig(not a gene carrier).
Baldwin-Skinny Pig(breeding not recommend) None of the babies will be hairless like the Baldwins or Skinny Pigs. They will all have hair and look like a regular haired guinea pig, but 50% of the babies will carry either the gene for Baldwins or Skinny Pigs and you won't know which ones they are. All the Baldwins born in the litters will all have hair and look like a regular haired guinea pig, and then their hair falls out until they are completely bald. You won't know which babies will be the true Baldwin gene carriers until you breed them.
Baldwins are said to lack a thymus gland, and are thought to have anatomical abnormality difficulties, also reproductive problems specifically with the males, (there are only a few with these problems but it is very rare). There is some thought, that if Baldwin's seem to be hardier, sufficient to develop, and successfully breed, than their immune systems seems to perhaps be made more capable with each generation.
Carol Miller the originator of Baldwins also does'nt believe this to be true, as the Baldwins have come a long way and are producing very hardy lines.
The Baldwins have a rubbery texture to their skin when you touch them.
Skinny and Baldwin guinea pigs seem to be the consequence of different separate recessive mutations in one gene each. So the conditions only occurs in the homozygous state. The skinny and Baldwin genes do not appear to be related to each other at all and they do not go together. When you breed a skinny pig to a Baldwin you will only produce haired babies in the first generation, so they are defiantly genetically different from one another.