by Duncan Blaxter

Created on: January 29, 2009

Sometimes it is obvious what a Guinea pig is saying, other times are not so certain, and a few of the sounds they make are indistinguishable from each other - leading me to believe that in some cases it is better just to guess what state the animal is in rather than try to listen to it. Below is my advice on the various signals emitted by guinea pigs and their meanings. Beginning with the most obvious and listing the most common noises and actions, this should provide a useful guide to the sometimes inexplicable communication from the guinea pig.

If the guinea pig moves incessantly, it wants some exercise - put it in a room where you do not mind pellets appearing all over the floor, and leave it. Chances are it will stay in one place for at least fifteen minutes, but after a while it will explore the room and hopefully be more restful when it is returned to it's cage or hutch an hour or so later.

Another obvious sign is if the guinea pig gnashes it's teeth without actually eating anything whilst making a sort of ch-ch-ch-ch noise. The meaning of this is that the guinea pig wants food and there is none available - to stop the chomping just feed the animal.

The noise which most people associate with guinea pigs is the 'wheep wheep' noises they make - a sort of high pitched whistle. This actually has multiple meanings. It can be either a greeting, a request for food, or a plea for attention - the circumstances when the pig starts whistling should show clearly which of those three it is trying to indicate.

An actual loud squeaking noise (as opposed to whistling) tells us the guinea pig is in some form of distress and it is probably a good idea to go check it out. Don't mistake the whistling for the squeaking, as once you hear the squeaking you will easily be able to tell which is which and act accordingly.

A very faint series of squeaks is just the guinea pig's equivalent of humming to itself as a human would do. This can be ignored safely - you will be able to tell it from a distress call because the distress call is much louder.

If the guinea pig starts chattering it's teeth loudly, it is feeling threatened. If two guinea pigs start making this noise at each other it might be an idea to separate them before they start fighting. If the guinea pig makes this noise at you, then it is annoyed and you should ignore it until it calms down.

Hopefully this guide will help you to understand some of the more common guinea pig signals - once you have heard each sound the animals make a few times you will find them easier to tell apart. There is no easy way to learn to understand guinea pigs well - for that the only way is a comprehensive knowledge of their behaviour and real life experience in differentiating between the various noises.

Learn more about this author, Duncan Blaxter.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.