DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND YOUR DARLING LITTLE PIGGIES?

Guinea Pigs are really no different to us in showing their moods, they are noisy little creatures, purring, grunting, chirruping, chattering, wheeking and squealing, but they use a lot more body language in their communications with each other, read and learn:-

1. Marking what's mine
Just like us, gp's label the things they own, how? by leaving their scent of course. They have scent glands on their cheeks, backs and bottom, and they have a grease gland on the base of their backs also. You'll have seen them dragging their bottom along the floor, or rubbing a log or similar with the base of their backs, this is them leaving a calling card, so another little piggie can smell were this little piggie has been. Also when you see two gp's acting like they are trying to kiss each other's cheeks, nope they are actually rubbing their scent onto the other's cheek, cheeky or what!!

2. Smelly clues
Gp's often sniff the air to see if anyone is close by, it looks like their pointing their little snouts up in the air just like little toffs. When two gp's meet they'll smell each others noses, or you'll see them greeting each other by sniffing bums (yeuch) they're just sniffing to see if it's a friend or stranger. Aren't you glad your eyesight is so good, yeah me too!!

3. The strangers
I think its a shame to keep only one gp on its own - it could end up being an unhappy little gp, even though they have their little tiffs, gp's are social animals who really like each others company most of the time, and two gp's are only a little bit more work than one, but there are exceptions. Unless two adult gp's are needed for breeding, then it's best to chose young males or females, from the same litter, or a father and son, or mother and daughter.  Putting two strange adult gp's of the same sex together should be avoided unless you have lots of room to split them up, as they may fight a lot, especially the males.  And not all females are all sweetness and light, even our two wee darlings, Sophie and Leia, they seemed to take turns of being the dominant aggressive piggie, but the more antsy one was definitely Leia.

4. Meeting the enemy
One gp can get pretty angry with another one sometimes, when this happens its hair stands on end to make it appear bigger. It will make a loud chattering noise (it sounds like teeth chattering when you are cold) this is to tell the other pig (hey watch out I'm really angry with you).

5. The angry pig
Whenever a gp becomes furious, it will appear to be yawning, but beware its doing this not because its feeling tired, but it's really very angry with the little piggie who is getting a right good look at its razor-sharp teeth.

6. The boxing match
If two gp's are really mad with each other, they will have a stand up fight, they'll stand on their hind legs ramming each other with their heads, (two headbangers) and keep their mouths wide open ready to bite, this can be the result of keeping two incompatible gp's together, but hopefully you wont see this action to often. Males are more prone to this kind of behaviour than females, if it happens split the piggies up for awhile, sometimes gp's will do this if they are kept in an overcrowded cage, they're just needing a little space to themselves, don't we all sometimes.

7. Still as a statue
After all the above points believe it or not gp's are really very shy creatures, (oh yeah) if they hear strange or loud noises,  they'll freeze, literally and not move a muscle, every hair on their frightened wee bodies lies still. They think if they lie perfectly still and virtually play dead they wont be spotted, probably in the wild this would save a lot of piggie lives.

THE GUINEA PIGS COMMUNICATION CHART