Wheeking question

simon04

simon04

Junior Guinea Pig
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I've kept Guinea Pigs for some years... but It was only this week I thought about these questions. Actually when I realised the youngest pig has been wheeking at me everytime I come in the front door (or do anything!).

Would Guinea Pigs normally wheek to each other? Or is it just a thing they use to ask humans for food?

Do they learn from eachother? Or is it instinctive? Also, do wild cavies have this behaviour too?
 
They definitely learn from each other. At the very basic end of the scale they learn what's safe to eat by watching what the older guinea pigs eat. It's why if you get a guinea pig that has never seen other vegetables before they can always be a little odd about it...but it's because they've never learned it's safe to eat in the first place.
 
My pgis wheek every time I enter the room and I feel bad because sometimes I was only there to get something and I don't give them any attention. I only give them attention when I get home from school lol.
 
I think it can be a learned behaviour. My boys rarely wheeked but since I’ve had the girls, one of them will wheek regularly now.

Two of my four pigs usually wheek if they hear me open the door (I don’t know how they distinguish between my husband and I!), hear my voice or ‘hear’ my footsteps (or similar) upstairs and on the stairs!
 
According to the behaviour threads (if you look them up on this site under Forums) each herd has a Chief Wheeker. If something happens to them another pig takes over the job. Your youngest is Chief Wheeker, like my Silky (white pig in my profile pic).

How cute is that!
 
That is great! It's good to see the youngest becoming more confident now.
 
All of my other pigs have only wheeked for food, but my current boys seem to just want me to come in and do something (like say hello or rustle a bag) so that they can get excited and do zoomies 😂
 
Mistletoe is the chief wheeker in our herd. I call her Whistletoe!
 
Shy little Meg is the chief wheeker (she sounds like she's being murdered) then it's Christian. The other 3 wheek and get excited and popcorn and run around at veg time but Meg and Chrisitian really go for it.
 
I very rarely heard Blitzen wheek because tbh he didn't have to, Comet would do the job for him and then some. They had a very good system going - Comet would wheek and get the good, and then Blitzen would lie in wait and steal the food from Comet.
Comet would then come back for more food. Symbiosis!
 
All three of ours Roz, Twitch and Freya, decided they will all wheek in unison in the am...it's really funny but creepy! You would think they were starving..!
 
I always think of wheeking as similar to human behaviour around poker machines.

If you ever go to a casino and watch people next to poker machines they just sit there and shove coins into it, which in itself generates no reward.
However the key is that sometimes it does generate a reward, and sometimes the reward is small but sometimes it could be huge.
No one sits next to a vending machine and just feeds coins in, becasue they always know that the reward will be (whatever they select).

Guinea pigs are the same.
They have learnt from us (their equivalent of the poker machine) that sometimes when they wheek they get a reward (corriander instead of coins).
Sometimes that reward is small (a small treat or a pat) and sometimes it can be huge (a plate of fresh veggies).
So they wheek (feed coins into the machine) every time they think there is a chance of a reward, even though it doesn't always pay off.
 
When I first got Bacon, I already had Smokey (he was in a pair but Smudge crossed the rainbow bridge) and Smokey wheeked all the time but Bacon never did.
Now we’ve had them both for quite a while they both wheek, loud!
The wheek at me coming in the room, talking, moving the hay bag/pellet bag etc...
 
Our wee herd wheek now when I hoover next to the cage.it is excitement..and I give them a pet before and after..so that's a good thing!
 
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