When buying new guinea pigs as pets, or when trying to learn to better take care of preexisting pets, it is important to learn how to understand what they need and what they are feeling. For any guinea pig owners, what do their squeaks and noises mean? After doing extensive research, here are what the many noises of guinea pigs mean and what owners should do in response to them!
Guinea pigs make noises like wheeking, purring, growling, rumbling, teeth chattering, chutting, shrieking, whining, and will popcorn. Guinea pigs wheek, purr, chut, and popcorn in happiness while they growl, teeth chatter, shriek, or whine in distress. Care for pigs to increase their happy noises!
What makes guinea pigs get vocal? What does each noise and reaction generally mean for the guinea pig? Let’s go over what to look out for in case pet guinea pigs are vocalizing and a pet owner is at a loss as to what the squeaks mean.
Understanding the Wide Array of Guinea Pig Noises
It is understandable why guinea pig owners will feel perplexed when they try to interpret what their pet needs and wants since the sounds they make are so varied. However, it is crucial to learn what the pet guinea pig is trying to say in their way since an owner who ignores their pet’s communication will likely make it unhappy and less healthy. By learning what guinea pigs need through their sounds, a pet owners can learn when they are hungry, happy, distressed, or excited.
Wheeking
This sound is likely unfamiliar to most readers since it is an onomatopoeia, which means it sounds just like how it is spelled, which makes more sense when one listens to wheeking from a video online. Where dogs ‘woof,’ guinea pigs will ‘wheek.’ Guinea pigs will wheek to express that they are hungry, so they may make this noise if they see their pet owner approaching them with food. Interestingly, wheeking only happens around and is only directed towards humans since it has occurred thanks to guinea pigs getting domesticated. Wild guinea pigs will not wheek but tamed ones will wheek thanks to many decades of humans hand-feeding guinea pigs pellets, foods, and treats!
The sound of wheeking may also occur if guinea pigs want to express their desire to eat food. For instance, if a pet owner consistently feeds their pigs at the same times of day, their pets may wheek the most or the loudest during these periods. When owners come near with food, guinea pigs will likely wheek out of glee and anticipation, and their ears may even move around a lot as they are expressing this sound. Give the below video a watch to recognize what wheeking sounds like!
Purring
Purring is not a sound limited to cats! Even guinea pigs can purr in a low and constant vocalization. Their purring sound like the grumble of a dog combined with the purring of a cat and is often used by guinea pigs to express their happiness or contentment. Oftentimes purring will happen as an owner is gently petting their guinea pig. Purring can occasionally happen in very short spurts in reaction to a sudden loud noise or a threat if the guinea pig feels scared or threatened. Use context clues of the environment and what is happening to the guinea pig to figure out what kind of purring is happening.
Purring only happens and can only be made in the throat of the guinea pig’s body. Watch the below video to observe a great example of a guinea pig happily purring for long spurts of time!
Rumbling
When guinea pigs rumble it is like purring for them, but it is a vibration at a lower pitch. If owners only have one guinea pig, they may not hear this noise, but owners of one female and one male guinea pig will likely hear it. This is because male guinea pigs use rumbling to woo and impress females to mate. Rumbling is essentially the guinea pig equivalent of a mating call, often heard as they are wiggling their hips and walking around the female. These actions are often named the “rumble strut.” Females will rumble themselves when they want to communicate to the male that they are in season and prepared to mate with him!
Below is a video recording of a guinea pig rumble strutting for an example. When guinea pigs are rumbling owners should just let them be and give their pets some privacy!
Growling
Growling will occur when guinea pigs are distressed or threatened by something nearby. The growling sounds like “Drrr, drrr” and it also happens if there is a major or sudden change to their surroundings or cage. This is because guinea pigs dislike random changes to their food, surroundings, and schedules. Try to gently pet the guinea pig to help them become less stressed and get calm. Soon the growling will likely turn to purring. If guinea pigs appear to be growling at each other and fighting, owners need to ensure the enclosure is large enough, there are enough toys, and that the guinea pigs have plenty of food to ensure peace.
Teeth Chattering
Guinea pigs teeth chatter by letting out a fast stream of squeaking to express sadness, anger, and agitation. These animals will often teeth chatter at each other when they first meet each other to signal a warning for the other pig to keep to their own territory. Should this chattering happen between the two, gently separate the animals and bring them together again for a reintroduction when they are calmer. Repeat this process until the chattering dies down so that the animals will get used to each other and coexist peacefully in the enclosure.
Watch the video below to see an example of guinea pigs’ teeth chattering when they met for the first time.
Chutting
This noise is another onomatopoeia noise since chutting is a streak of “chut” noises over and over again. Some guinea pigs chut while others don’t since individual guinea pigs may choose to do it, or will even grow out of making chutting noises past a certain age! Chutting occurs when a pig is contented, happy, or relaxed. It is similar to purring and it can happen when owners pet their furry friends.
Watch the video below from 0:47 until 0:54 to hear a great example of guinea pig chutting. You’ll notice that the guinea pig in the video is relaxed, thus the chutting noise.
Shrieking
Guinea pigs will shriek in pain, in fear of danger or harm, and from severe discomfort. While this is a negatively connected noise, shrieking is still important for pet owners since it lets them know that their guinea pigs need help and a change. This will alert owners that they need to separate a pair or group of fighting guinea pigs and will help them immediately relieve their pet’s discomfort.
Whining
Pets will whine in a high-pitched moaning noise to show then they are annoyed, bothered, or disturbed by something. Guinea pigs may whine if they are bothered by their cage mate or if their human owner accidentally rouses them from a nap.
Popcorning
Finally, guinea pigs will ‘popcorn’ in action and noise at once. Many guinea pigs will wheek in happiness or contentment and will actually leap up in place or while running and zooming around to express their joy or excitement! It is very cute to observe and similar to how a puppy will excitedly get the ‘zoomies’ and run around in happiness or great anticipation.
We warmly recommend you check out the following video of guinea pigs popcorning, as that’s one of the cutest things you can witness!
Guinea pigs make a variety of sounds, and with practice and attentive listening, you can learn to interpret the meaning behind each sound. This will allow for the best care possible for your pet, so chat away with your furry companion and enjoy happy times together!
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