It's 10am And The Birds Are Singing... Wait, That's Not Birds...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cavy Kung-Fu

Cavy Kung-Fu

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Messages
4,916
Reaction score
5,318
Points
1,475
Location
Brighton, UK
Sitting down with my coffee this morning, enjoying bird song only to realise one of my piggies was chirping! I still don't know who it is, this is chirp number three. Will I ever catch her?! When I got to them they were just sitting quietly, avoiding eye contact with me and looking like naughty children who have been caught out.

Has anyone managed to get to the cage in time to see their chirper? The floor boards are so creaky in my house that they hear me coming into the hall and immediately stop, much to my annoyance! I don't think they realise how beautiful their singing is. I just want to watch it!
 
I managed to catch and watch two of my pigs Maisie and Chloe chirping not long back. Very strange seeing a pig chirp like a bird.
 
How lovely to hear it! Maybe one day you' ll catch them in the act .....
 
Aww how lovely!

We have the opposite phenomenon at work here, the parrot has learnt to wheek...it's not half as special as chirping, tho I dare say I suspect it's considerably louder lol.
 
Mark Harmon said:
I managed to catch and watch two of my pigs Maisie and Chloe chirping not long back. Very strange seeing a pig chirp like a bird.
Click to expand...

Wow both of them at the same time? That's incredible! Having both chirp AND being able to watch it? What a privilege! I'm very jealous!
 
Squidgypigs said:
Aww how lovely!

We have the opposite phenomenon at work here, the parrot has learnt to wheek...it's not half as special as chirping, tho I dare say I suspect it's considerably louder lol.
Click to expand...

That's awesome haha I would love to see a video of that XD
 
Yes I did, one of my past piggies did it several times & I managed to get right up to the cage & yet they didn't appear to even see me, they were almost in a trance! It's a very odd thing to witness :)
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Sitting down with my coffee this morning, enjoying bird song only to realise one of my piggies was chirping! I still don't know who it is, this is chirp number three. Will I ever catch her?! When I got to them they were just sitting quietly, avoiding eye contact with me and looking like naughty children who have been caught out.

Has anyone managed to get to the cage in time to see their chirper? The floor boards are so creaky in my house that they hear me coming into the hall and immediately stop, much to my annoyance! I don't think they realise how beautiful their singing is. I just want to watch it!
Click to expand...

Yes, I even have got a very nice video of my usual concert singer, but it is generally not easy to find the chirper, as most chirping is done when it is quiet and often from a protected spot - not that chirping is that frequent an occurrence anyway.
 
One of mine was doing it at 4.30 this morning. I didn't get up to see who it was :)
 
@Mark Harmon ah no duet yet then!

Wiebke said:
Yes, I even have got a very nice video of my usual concert singer, but it is generally not easy to find the chirper, as most chirping is done when it is quiet and often from a protected spot - not that chirping is that frequent an occurrence anyway.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see the video if you have it! As you say, it's quite a rare occurrence and it fascinates me. I feel very proud that I have a chirper, just would love to get a video of them and know what it means! Hopefully one day.

@Sue and Smartie I always get up to see who it is but never get there in time!
 
Got a video of Widget Chirping, will upload it later this week. I even interrupted her with the camera and then she started again...

An eerie sound.....
 
I have heard it twice since I brought the piggies home on Friday, never heard Panda do it so it must be one of the new girls. The cats were convinced there was a bird in the house, it was funny watching them look for it :)
 
I had a chirper back when I first got my guinea pigs in 2010. I'm pretty certain it was my guinea pig Ludwig but I don't know for certain. It was either him or his cage mate Gilbert but Ludwig was the braver of the two and I had only had them a month when I heard it. My family and I thought a bird had gotten in the house and was distressed. The cage was in the room and we realised it was the piggies. Very strange sound and I haven't heard it since.
 
I have had two chirp over the years, it's very odd. It seemed to take them ages to 'Rev up' to it, and after a few puffs there were full on chirping which went on for a good few minutes. The others around her went very quiet. Very odd...best explanation I heard was someone on here years ago (cannot remember who) thought it was them contacting the 'mother ship'!
 
That describes it well @Guinea Slave . Sunrise was a chirper at times, Cloud did this several times, Penny did so half-heartedly, as in not quite sounding like a chirp but almost there, once.
Each of my pigs started when they were young and at that teenage stage. Cloud tried to hump the others afterwards, it was the first and only time she ever humped. Sunrise also seemed to be on heat at the time, and Penny I can't remember. I can't help but wonder if, even though they come into season when they are still in effect babies, by several months of age they are emotionally ready to mate and I have wondered if the chirp is a call for a mate? I don't know. It's just the timing (age and stage) of my chirpers and their behaviour around the same time as the chirp.
@Wiebke do any of your chirpers awake the interests of the opposite sex when they do this?
 
When mine did it, one of the herd were sick and they were all a little stressed at the time (at the time there were 6 in my herd). The two that have done it have both been 'stressful' types and very sensitive to herd dynamics. I have no idea what they expected to achieve from it and I remember they were both pretty tired afterwards.
 
This is very interesting to read, the environments they were in when they chirped. First time was about 9am, second was around 2am (very brief chirp) and then this 10am one, I'm not sure about them being in heat as it didn't really occur to me that they could be related. Cissy (who I think might be my chirper) never really shows signs of being in heat and is a very chill pig, whereas Bella only ever rumblestrutted occassionally and humps (even though she's the under piggy and seems to change during heat).

I think Bella might have been in heat during this last chirp but looking at Cissys behaviour afterwards and her stance I'm pretty sure it wasn't Bella, I could be wrong though.
 
Last edited:
There's not necessarily a heat connection, it's just that it happened that way with mine, so I found a pattern in my own which could be related or not. I've heard others say they chirp when one is ill, I've heard people say it's when they are stressed, and others say it happens when all seems very well in their world. The fact is no-one knows, as far as I know, why they do it and what emotion they are feeling at the time. I wish I knew though :)
 
I know right me too! My one wish is that we find out during my life time XD It would be funny if it was just some kind of piggy hiccup or something, and we're fixated on it for no reason haha.
 
I hope they just chirp for the sake of hearing their own voices, like people enjoy singing, just to sing. It's probably not that, but wouldn't it be nice?
 
Definitely, just serenading their loved ones because they want to! I really hope that's true!
 
Critter said:
That describes it well @Guinea Slave . Sunrise was a chirper at times, Cloud did this several times, Penny did so half-heartedly, as in not quite sounding like a chirp but almost there, once.
Each of my pigs started when they were young and at that teenage stage. Cloud tried to hump the others afterwards, it was the first and only time she ever humped. Sunrise also seemed to be on heat at the time, and Penny I can't remember. I can't help but wonder if, even though they come into season when they are still in effect babies, by several months of age they are emotionally ready to mate and I have wondered if the chirp is a call for a mate? I don't know. It's just the timing (age and stage) of my chirpers and their behaviour around the same time as the chirp.
@Wiebke do any of your chirpers awake the interests of the opposite sex when they do this?
Click to expand...

No, chirping is not there to attract or impress the other sex and I have never noticed a tie-in with being in season with my two chirpers. I also know from others that boars also chirp.

And no, I haven't uploaded that video after having made some very bad experiences how quickly things become detached from their source when publicly accessible, which I would need to in order to copy the link.
 
Hmmm I've been barking up the wrong tree then with my theory! The mystery will continue for some time I recon :)
 
Critter said:
I hope they just chirp for the sake of hearing their own voices, like people enjoy singing, just to sing. It's probably not that, but wouldn't it be nice?
Click to expand...

I really like that idea, I am going to assume it is true :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top