Skinning Guinea Pigs

[Green2Rabbits]

(Disregard)

 

[Ghost]

To tube skin it you just do the bottom half like you did. You cut around all 4 legs making a complete circle cut so the skin will slide up and down a bit freely. Then on the back legs you cut from your cut around the paw around the anus (like you did in the pic) and then up the opposite back leg to the initial cut around that paw.

TRDR: I tried it the first time I attempted to skinning a guinea pig, and it doesn't work well with guinea pigs.

I'm not trying to be a butt-head, but I've read your response three times and it seems that you missed the whole aim of the thread (or did not read this thread from the beginning).

As it turns out there are two basic ways to skin a mammal, most other methods are basically a variation of one method or the another. One way is to pull the bulk of the skin off like a sweater usually turning it inside out as you go (as demonstrated in the rabbit video). The other method is to take the skin off like a jacket, where you first unzip the jacket and then take it off from the sides (as demonstrated in the hog video).

In the first post (October 2017) of this thread, I quoted Akane heavily. She explained why the "pulling if off like a sweater" is incredibly difficult for a guinea pig. It was her who first suggested that I use open skinning (hog video).

As re-read the start of this thread, I noticed that much of my early GP skinning experience was only explained in a different thread that was referenced at the start of this one. When I first started working with guinea pigs I had not heard of open skinning, so the first time I tried, I skinned it the same way I would a rabbit. The problem is that it was extremely frustrating because the underlying tissue was more tightly bound to the skin with a guinea pig. In rabbits it is not as tightly bound. The place where the GP's spine is bound to the skin is the hardest to remove.

Akane explained this to me, and introduced me to the idea of open skinning. From there, I searched the Net and found the hog video. Then this thread was born.

 

[Green2Rabbits]

I'm not trying to be a butt-head, but I've read your response three times and it seems that you missed the whole aim of the thread (or did not read this thread from the beginning)....
...

Sorry ignore my post. I skimmed it but no didn't read through it all. My fault ignore that post.

 

[ladysown]

should I ever get back into doing guinea pigs and using them for food I would find your tutorial very helpful.

Doing up guinea pigs is completely different than doing a rabbit and I'm so thankful you have given me terminology to use when talking to people about how to do up a guinea pig.

 

[Aqrabuamelu]

Maybe I can liven up this thread.
There is another way of skinning that involves one initial step. I raised hogs many long years ago, the big ones, and always skinned. Scalding and scraping 900#+ carcasses is a pain where only a suppository can reach. A fellow showed me a skin loosening method that blew my mind - well as the skin. With care I think it would work on GPs.
The hog had to be dispatched of course, quickly hung and bled out. This fellow then made a few very small slits in the skin here and there while the carcass was still warm. He pulled out his air compressor and the blow gun attachment. He'd made an extension with a piece of brake line about 8" long. It wouldn't have to be that long for a GP. He pushed the extension into each slit as far along and just under the skin as it would go, pinched the slit tightly around the extension and gave a good shot of air to loosen the skin. Make sure you're wearing goggles or a whole face shield! There can be spray-back! Don't have a drink sitting nearby either! Move the extension around in a circle, give a shot of air. Do that all around each slit, proceed with skinning and dressing it out. I doubt that a GP would need as much air pressure as a hog, that might have 'explosive' results requiring a rainsuit ....
I'm laying out a 50' x 50' open range area in my backyard for rabbits. I'm planning on a double layer of double-string hay bales under a lean-to roof for a bunker hutch for shelter from heat, cold and other weather as well as being a large fulltime supply of hay. You've got me thinking I might want to switch to cavies. They 'surface' burrow but don't go subterranean like rabbits do. My fence plan would be very suitable for them.
By The Way, when dealing with dressing out a GP, I wonder if a hopper popper rig or a choker might be better. Insert the head, stretch the neck, while it's held in the popper head up, proceed with skinning and dressing. I think that would be much more stable than holding the carcass on a table or trying to use a leg gambrel.

 

[ladysown]

I don't think I would be brave enough to try an air compressor on a guinea pig... thinner skin than a pig.
But you do have me thinking about adding guinea pig to the cats diet...
The skinning is a major pain.....

 

[arachyd]

@Aqrabuamelu that had me laughing imagining the guinea pig going airborne and landing on the roof or in the neighbor's yard.

 

[Preitler]

Well, a lady I bought a buck from told me that she uses the compresser air method on chicken, I think their skin is even thinner as that of GPs. but it does seperate quite easily.

 

[Aqrabuamelu]

For the big pigs we set the air pressure regulator at around 30+psi. I'd guess for a GP around 10# or 15# would be plenty or maybe still a bit much.

Flight 22 1/2 to Air Traffic Control, You Ain't Gonna Believe What We Just Saw ...

You're all welcome for the laughs!

 

[Cuygardener]

I mostly give to my dog with skin. She digests everything well. So when we share what th here. Take the head off because too difficult to skin. Although you lose the cheek meat which is according to the peruvians the best part. Then i clip off all the lower legs. I use bone scissors , which i find easier than a skinning knife. And then snip the sternum kin and just pull from there and then the skin cone off pretty easily without the lower legs or head. Then open up abodominal cavity and dog enjoys all the leftovers