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my pigs dont wheep

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daleksarah

daleksarah

Adult Guinea Pig
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i love the piggie sounds of wheep wheep wheep but my boys dont seem to like to talk to me :( the only time they wheep is if I'm trying to pick them up and they are running around as though I'm trying to murder them but once ive picked them up theyre quiet. my old guinea pigs used to wheep at me all the time to feed them or just to generally shout at me. do you think my boys are just too content to need to wheep at me (they never need to ask for food as they always have plenty)or is it that they just cant be bothered to talk to me
 
If you start making a certain sound that accompanies feeding them (rustling a bag or - like I do - tsk tsking) they'll catch on eventually. It took Taffy and Tegan ages - only when they saw how the others were behaving would they join in.

Give your boys time to settle in and sort out all those new sounds and smells!
 
Time! (they haven't been with you that long!) and a regular feeding routine and I'm sure they will be wheeking at you. Relationships with animals are rarely instant, but you'll get there!
 
would you like Frank for a week? actually I'm surprised you can't hear him.... he just wheeks at anything: any food wrapping, the fridge door, my steps down the stairs and of late the cold tap in the kitchen...mallethead somehow he's clocked that I wash vegetables with cold water before feeding him so washing up can be a noisy affair!:))
then as soon as Frank wheeks, Finlay climbs the bars of the cage cos he knows when Frank makes some noise, he gets fed too....
I'm a total piggy slave!rolleyes
 
yes, he comes with a free pair of ear plugs:)):)):))
 
Eli starting wheeping after his first bowl of stir fry rolleyes.
Now he doesn't stop :))
 
My piggies have the tesco value stir fry, no onions though.
They love it.
xx
 
sokel said:
I sometimes wish my lot didnt wheek rolleyes
They always seem to start just as I am on the phone or listening to something
Then its impossible to open a fridge door or open a paper bag without them starting :))
Click to expand...

I'm jealous i really want to hear piggie noises round my house, maybe il have to walk around saying 'wheep wheep' all day!ha ha
 
My Matilda is the loudest wheeker out of my lot. Montgomery rarely wheeks although does make the bird chirping sound quite a lot. None of my other piggies have ever done the bird chirping sound.
 
It's true that pigs can teach others to do it. My foster girls never used to make a sound but they now join in the wheek wheek chorus when they hear me start to chop veggies. Or clink their bowls together or even empty the dishwasher!

Give them time to associate the sound to the oncoming of food. They will do it!
 
Mine didn't wheep much until I boarded them out for the holidays; they were much louder after they came back. I guess they got the idea from the other pigs being boarded.
 
A way to encourage guinea pigs to wheek is to give them something to anticipate. For example, Sokel's guinea pigs clearly associate the fridge with being fed yummy veggies, so whenever he opens the fridge door they anticipate being fed, become excited and wheek.

I have given my pigs an association: when I whistle at them (my whistle imitates their wheek) it's a signal that I'm going to feed them. It took a short while for one of my pigs to make the association and to associate my whistle with the excitement of something yummy dropping into their cage but once it caught on, it caught on. I taught it by repeating the act of whistling and then giving them food... whistling and then giving them food... twice a day every day.

The good part is that pigs will teach others. While Cashew knew to expect food when I whistled, the younger pig Koda taught Cashew that this was a moment to relish and and and - WHEEKWHEEKWHEEK-FEED ME! Cashew is a quieter pig and doesn't wheek, but he does become extremely animated when it's veggie time.

Mimic was my third addition to my group. He was introduced after my whistle-wheekwheeKWHEEEK! association had been created and it took him a few weeks to realise exactly what was going on and that the whistle signalled that it was a good idea to start looking upwards for food. A few months after that and he now joins in the chorus of Koda wheeking. It's adorable that he's "found his voice".

As your pigs become more comfortable with you and your surroundings, which can take time, if you give them a new room to explore or change the floortime area of your current piggie-room and then listen you may also get to hear them muttering to each other as they walk around.
 
My Gizmo always wheeks when he thinks there is food about, when the fridge door opens, rustles of bags and when our gate opens outside as I go into the front garden to get grass etc. It took mine a while to wheek and Gizmo is the loudest and Joey hardly ever does it, he only does it when its cuddle time and both are on me cuddled up. I'm sure once they get settled they will start wheeking etc. x x
 
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