Balto and his noises

[Shrike_xX]

I've recently taken on a white albino male, from a friend of a friend because he hated all her other guineapigs and then got bullied by her rabbits through lack of anywhere else to put him. I've had him 3 weeks now and he's really settled in and is quite a happy little guineapig now really landed on his feet with me I think, but I'm fascinated by the different noises he makes and want to understand them a bit more.

He chats to me like guineapigs are well known for sort of a squealing eep eep noise - does this mean hes happy and comfortable or excited or what?

He makes this noise like a tiger makes like a purr I suppose but a bit gruffer whenever I pop him back in his house after a long snuggle session or whenever I open the blinds first thing in the morning lol - what is that one for?

Then he makes really quiet more of a eee eee but its not a squeal.

Are there any noises to listen out for which means he's unhappy too?

Sorry I'm just really loving learning about him and love that he's coming out of his shell more and more.

Also, now he's comfortable with me and his home, how can I introduce more exercise into his life? He's an indoor guineapig, but I'm planning to grow some grass for him so he can have an inside outside run (I have two springer spaniels so an outside run isn't practical), but for now it's just various boxes and objects to chew within a 3-4 metre space to run around in, is there anything else I could do to encourage him to run around, climb etc?

 

[Kira]

here's a couple of really good sites for identifying noises
http://www.jackiesguineapiggies.com/...pigsounds.html
http://www.mgpr.org/MGPR/Guinea Pig Sounds.htm

 

[Wiebke]

You could hand toilet rolls stuffed with hay, grass or cabbage or lettuce leaves etc. from the top (not too high), but make him work to get at it.

If you drink fruit juices, swirl a bit on a small dish and let him explore and lick the dish. Little rags or offcuts of fleece - if you want, pegged to the bars and hanging onto the floor or just lying on the floor.

In winter you can let some wild bird seed sprout in a tray, which will provide some different greens - if you keep it watered it's cut and come like lettuce (which you can also grow in a windowsill box from seed all year round).