Guinea Pig Chirping

[GPcrazy]

I've just woken up (middle of the night) to hear my guinea pig chirping away like a bird. Why do they do this? What does it mean? Is it just another normal sound or is it something to worry about?

 

[madguinealady]

It's very rare.I've heard one of mine chirping once.Nothing to worry about.

 

[TheCavySlave]

Last night I heard one or both chirping. Often the other pigs will go into a sort of trance, it's all very pdd, but nothing to worry about. You're very lucky- it's a rare sound and not all owners will hear it?

 

[Dorothy&Coco]

You're really lucky to hear it as it's rare. I think the other pig /piggies go into a sort of trance.

 

[3Tyger]

I kept guinea pigs a long time before I got my first one (Apricot) that chirped like that - it really sounded like a bird was in there and I had no idea about it at the time, i'd never heard of it before either! Nobody really knows exactly why they do it, i did lots of searches about it and came up with various views, such as; a genetic desire/talent to sing, an instinct passed down from their wild ancestors in response to some kind of trigger, an alert of weather changes/illness/danger - but it all seems speculation. What I have found very interesting is that the females that shared a cage with her also started to make this noise some time afterwards (even after she was gone) and so did the other females that shared living space with them, so basically I had a succession of little singers up until very recently. Do you have any other females living with your one that chirped? It would be very interesting if they start to do that as well.

 

[GPcrazy]

I have 2 sows. I'm not even sure which one it was that was singing as it was dark and I wasn't wearing my glasses. I didn't want to turn the lights on as I didn't want to disturb them, so I just checked there wasn't a cat causing trouble (none in sight) and then went back to bed and continued to listen. I've only had them 3 months. First piggies I've ever owned. They're about 4 months old now. They have been spending more time outside lately and there are a lot of noisy birds where I live so I half wondered if that didn't maybe trigger something.

 

[3Tyger]

Truly fascinating all the different noises they make, i wish I could speak fluent guinea-pig language, but only know the basics, like "Wheeeeeeek!" means hello & hurry up and feed me!