About Argentes
I started breeding argentes back in 1992. I bought my first golden/lilac argente at an Epsom Cavy Club show, after falling in love with a guinea pig that looked chocolate, but had pink eyes! His name was Charlie (picture on my "Home" page).
When golden/lilac argentes are young, they look a chocolate colour and later on as they grow up the lilac (or beige) undercolour gets lighter and the golden colour seems to come through. This takes about a couple of months, so young argentes need to be kept for a while to see what they might turn into as they get older. Eventually Charlie started to take on more of a golden colour and I realised that I had become hooked on this unusual breed.
So after buying one, I had to get another and luckily found a golden/lilac satin sow in a pet shop!! (Carrie in "Past Babies"). The satin argentes look a lovely chocolate brown and golden colour and are very unusual. So at last I had my breeding pair and that is where I started and have been breeding them ever since.
They have a really friendly temperament (well mine do) and they all seem to love their food, and keep their weight on. The sows seem to be great mums while the babies are young, but sometimes sows together can be really temperamental and mums will often be quite nasty to their daughters after they are about 6 weeks old. If you want to keep a show sow, it is often wise to remove it from its mum, or it will get bitten ears!
They are quite difficult to get ready for shows and need lots of grooming to get rid of the guard hairs. This needs to be done a little bit each day, as they can get quite fed up with it, but you have to be careful not to groom too much, otherwise you will end up with bald patches. Once they are groomed properly, they look fantastic and have a lovely sheen to their coats.
I hope that more people will become interested in showing and breeding this lovely coloured and very friendly guinea pig.
Here is the Argente Full Standard supplied by the Rare Varieties Cavy Club and the British Cavy Council.
The Argentes now have a full standard and come under the Rare Varieties Cavy Club (RVCC have a new website, look in "Links")
THE ARGENTE FULL STANDARD:
Head, Eyes & Ears: Head to be short and broad, with a gently curving profile. Muzzle to be of good width and rounded at the nostrils. Eyes to be large, bright and bold and set with good width between. Ears to be large and drooping, with lower rim parallel to the ground and set with good width between - 20 points
THE ARGENTE FULL STANDARD:
Head, Eyes & Ears: Head to be short and broad, with a gently curving profile. Muzzle to be of good width and rounded at the nostrils. Eyes to be large, bright and bold and set with good width between. Ears to be large and drooping, with lower rim parallel to the ground and set with good width between - 20 points
Body Shape: To have short, cobby body with deep, broad shoulders. To be fit and of good substance, with plenty of firm flesh. To have good size appropriate to age - 20 points
Coat Appearance: Throughout the head, body, chest and feet the Argente should have individual hairs ticked with gold, lemon or white over a base colour of beige or lilac. This should produce a shimmering 'shot silk' effect that is even all over the body, including around the eyes and on the chest and feet - 30 points
Colour: Top colour to be bright and lustrous and conform with Description below. Undercolour to be carried well down to the skin. Belly colour to be the same colour as the ticking colour but not ticked (to be tipped), even and with well-defined demarcation line; and to be as narrow as possible, although not at the expense of condition - 20 points
Coat: To be soft and silky, clean and short, groomed free of guard hairs - 10 points
TOTAL - 100 points
DESCRIPTION OF ACCEPTED COLOURS:
GOLDEN/LILAC: Deep lilac undercolour with golden banding. Belly colour to be the same as the banding colour (gold). Eyes pink. Ears pink/lilac. Pads pink.
GOLDEN/BEIGE: Deep beige undercolour with golden banding. Belly colour to be the same as the banding colour (gold). Eyes pink. Ears pink/beige. Pads pink.
WHITE/LILAC: Deep lilac undercolour with white banding. Belly colour to be the same as the banding colour (white). Eyes pink. Ears pink/lilac. Pads pink.
WHITE/BEIGE: Deep beige undercolour with white banding. Belly colour to be the same as the banding colour (white). Eyes pink. Ears pink/beige. Pads pink.
LEMON/LILAC: Deep lilac undercolour with lemon banding. Belly colour to be the same as the banding colour (lemon). Eyes pink. Ears pink/lilac. Pads pink.
LEMON/BEIGE: Deep beige undercolour with lemon banding. Belly colour to be the same as the banding colour (lemon). Eyes pink. Ears pink/beige. Pads pink.
REMARKS:
The colour description should state the banding-colour first, i.e. Golden/Lilac.
FAULTS:
Circles of lighter ticking colour around the eye ('Eye circles').
Light streaks or patches on chest, body or sides.
Lightness on jowls.
Feet that are lighter or darker than the body colour, or that are odd.
Evidence of dark pigmentation on the ears.
White or other odd coloured hairs, to be penalised according to quantity.
Large patches of unticked hairs to be severely penalised.
Indistinct colours in either ticking or undercolour to be severely penalised.
