Love Piggie Speak

[soo's piggies]

Hi everyone, I've had my 7 week old piggies for four days now and I'm fascinated on how they 'speak' to one another, if I have one doing lap time they other squeaks to let me know he wants his brother back because he's quiet after that there's so many other times they have conversations but I still don't understand some if there sounds maybe more experienced owners could teach me

 

[katanamoon]

I often wish I could understand all the little chirps and chat - the only ones I've really got are the high-pitched squealing that Pixel makes when she thinks Thor is trying to snuggle up with her ("NoooOOOOOOOooooooo!"), the similar screaming that Widget sometimes ejects when I'm trying to pick her up ("NOOOOOOOOO!") and of course, the half-starved wheeks of desperation

 

[MomoMura]

Haha I find it so fascinating. I can usually tell the difference between a happy squeak and a disappointed squeak. I can also tell who is the one squeaking just by listening.

I have a boar who purrs all the time, be it when he is being territorial or when he's frightened haha.

My other boar squeaks for absolutely everything! Such a submissive little fella

 

[Chief Guinea Pig]

Naww, piggies have got so much about them!

 

[VickiA]

There's a website called Jackies Guinea Pigs. If you use a laptop rather than iPad she recorded all sorts of noises and what they meant Jackie's Guinea Pigs

Also I'm sure Guinea Lynx is useful Guinea Lynx :: Behavior for other sounds.

I adore the noises of piggies exploring a clean cage and then finding a new exciting item, the shrieks of get off me, the Mr lover lover rumbles accompanied by snake hips Mr Ted doing his dance, the protest wheek of "tea is late" the "how dare you" wheek as the claw clippers arrive, the "oh I can't contain myself - there's carrots" wheek of excitement... Mr Ted also does a grunting noise of disapproval.

Sadly at a recent failed bonding I also heard other noises which I hope not to hear again.

Enjoy getting to know your piggies

 

[Wigwig]

Sometimes, like today, archie makes a sound just like a braying donkey when he gets really excited to go outside. I mean literally too, its so strange but adorable.

 

[Wiebke]

Jackie's page gives you a good starting point, as the sound interpretations on her page are correct, which is quite often not the case in other places. The reason why we don't have a piggy speak guide is that you have to interpret a lot in conjunction with body language and situational context. A lot of positive and negative sounds are actually quite similar to us, so it is very difficult to distinguish them for newbies without the context. But I am sure that you will soon catch on. guinea pigs are great communicators!