Gp Eyesight

[Veggies Galore]

Can anyone tell me how good a guinea pig's eyesight is?
I get the impression that they can see as well in the daytime as they can at night. Do they have any colour distinction?

 

[Jerrybelly]

Guinea pigs are actually quite short-sighted. They rely on their other senses far more than their eyesight. I THINK they see in colour, but I'm not 100% certain. There seems to be little difference in their ability to see in the night to the daytime.

 

[ASTRID]

There was a man in a book about the science of guinea pigs who proved jerrybellys point he put a red dot on one bowl and a blue dot on another he taught it that the blue one carried treats if you walked up to it (the food was not placed in the bowl until the pig had walked up to it ) i thought it was fascinating) x

 

[LisaAli]

Guinea pigs are naturally short-sighted and have a visual range when young of about 60 cm ( 2ft ) with age this reduces to approximately half. Although any image may appear blurry to them they will react to sudden movement, this being a natural prey animal instinct. This is the reason why when settling new guinea pigs into your home all your movements around them should be kept at a slow pace, with a quiet voice as they rely much more on sound and smell to determine a likely threat. As for colour distinction they can see different colours but not as good as us hooman slaves...

 

[Wiebke]

Guinea pigs can distinguish colours, but they don't do as precisely as we humans - fingers can be easily mistaken for a piece of peeled cucumber or a carrot, especially if they have the right scent!

Piggies have sharp sight for a only a short range of about 1-2 ft.

After that they react to sudden movements, like all prey animals do; that is why you should avoid these with new piggies, but I use waving my hand or even arm when I want to catch their attention while free roaming.