Sounds Chirping!!!

[NarwhalsRock]

I was reading in bed last night, and I hear something squeaking. And then I realized that one of the girls was CHIRPING! I didn't want to disturb them by turning the light on, so I'm not sure who was chirping. I was almost trembling, I was so excited! It only lasted for a few seconds, until I shifted to hear better.

I just wanted to share, as I'm super duper excited!!!!! Who else has heard one of their pigs chirp?

 

[CavyMama]

Only one of my pigs has ever chirped and he only did it a handful of times but I'll admit, the first time I heard it, I had the window open and truly thought it was a bird outside.

 

[RodentCuddles]

Haha, that's awesome!
My boy Ron chirps at least once month, no idea why.

 

[Aleks]

I've never heard George chirp, what makes them do that? Does is mean that they're really happy?

 

[CavyMama]

It doesn't happen often and not very many pigs do it so not much is known about it. I've never heard that it's necessarily a happy noise. I've read that it's a stressed out noise or an alert noise.

 

[Res Judicata]

I had one who chirped once when her cage mate got out of the hospital cage I had her in after she had surgery. She was not supposed to be too active, so she spent a while in a smaller cage next to her cage mate. I must not have shut the door properly because I heard the one chirp, came to investigate and found the hospital cage open and empty with my convalescing pig right next to it. Had the healthy pig not chirped right then, we would have had a search to find her cage mate.

Earlier this year I was sick and spent the day at home. I put in some laundry early in the morning because it needed to be done, then went back upstairs to lay down again. The washer and dryer are in the basement, the piggy cage on the main level and the bedrooms upstairs. I woke up to hear a rhythmic high-pitched sound and thought at first maybe the washer was unbalanced, but realized that there's no way I could hear the washer from two floors away. No birds were singing and I didn't have any ceiling fans going. I can only conclude that one of my current pigs was chirping. I think it was probably Gabby because she is by far the most vocal of the two. She lives up to the name; we didn't know when we named her that she'd turn out to be so talkative.

 

[RubyRain]

One of the rescue pigs I work with chirps like crazy during play time when we clean his cage. He's so expressive-it's just crazy. People will come in from the other rooms just to see what is going on. They are always surprised to see it's a little guinea pig.

 

[CourtArtanis]

It doesn't happen often and not very many pigs do it so not much is known about it. I've never heard that it's necessarily a happy noise. I've read that it's a stressed out noise or an alert noise.

I've heard too that it's a distress/alert noise, like a group based alert so all guinea pigs in the vicinity will know of the Impending(?) danger....

I've also heard elsewhere that it can be like a pack/tribal type socialite thing. Similar to that of group activity or dancing that you might experience with central African tribes or south American tribes i guess - dancing round fires or other sacred symbols.

EDIT: Religious chanting, that's what i was thinking xD

I suppose there are several theories, but 2 of our piggies chirp fairly regularly without any signs of stress - so I really hope it's the latter

https://www.guinealynx.info/behavior.html#chirping

 

[RubyRain]

He usually only chirps when down on the floor at cage cleaning time and it does sound like an "I need your attention" noise. Like he's warning the others something is going on. But he never seems distressed per se.

 

[BernieAndBert]

I hear one of my boys chirp about once a week. He seems to do it particularly at feeding time. The first time I heard it I checked to see if any windows were open because it truly sounded like a baby bird was in my apartment! So strange and adorable.

 

[RodentCuddles]

Ron never seems stressed or scared when he chirps.
Here is a thread with a video I got of him chirping once, He does it for at least 5 minutes each time.
https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...4-3-mintue-video-ron-chirping-must-watch.html

 

[CourtArtanis]

Ron is awesome!

 

[NarwhalsRock]

Agreed. Ron IS awesome! The cat might have been sniffing at the door... There's a big cat (appropriately nicknamed Big Cat) that hangs around our house, and he might have been underneath the window smelling them... They're next to a window, so that could explain it... I hope my poor babies weren't scared! It only lasted a few seconds, so that's good (I think?).

Of course there's the option of them sacrificing the last pellet of the evening harvest... Hmmmmmm....