5 Must-Know Facts About Guinea Pigs
Guinea pigs are extremely interesting animals, with a plethora of wonderful traits and quirks. Most people have a basic knowledge of guinea pigs, but there is so much more to them that we would love to share. They are an animal that has evolved and survived for millions of years, and throughout that time have developed some amazing features. So, let us share with you 5 must-know facts about guinea pigs.
A family of guinea pigs
Fact 1 – Guinea Pigs Extremely Active
Guinea pigs are extremely active animals. They only sleep for about 4-6 hours a night, meaning they are awake for up to 20 hours a day. This sleep is done periodically throughout the night, and not consecutively. Guinea pigs adapted this sleeping pattern to help reduce their exposure to predators at night – a stationary animal is a vulnerable animal!
Guinea pigs are considered crepuscular animals, which means they are most active at dawn and dusk. This explains why it feels like your guinea pig gets major zoomies right before you go to bed every night, they aren’t trying to purposely keep you up, it’s just when they’re used to being active.
Despite their little amount of sleep, guinea pigs have a surprising amount of energy every single day. This also explains why they are so prone to boredom. If you were awake for 20 hours a day, you would be craving some new stimulation too. Toys, tunnels, hutches and foraging activities are extremely important to keep your guinea pigs physically and mentally active during their day.
Hiders, Not Climbers!
While guinea pigs are animals that love to jump and run around, they’re definitely not climbers. This is a common misconception with guinea pigs, and it’s often promoted through premade guinea pig cages that come with lots of ramps and layers. In fact, having a cage with lots of ledges and ramps may be a hazard for them. As they aren’t used to ramps, there is the potential they could fall and hurt themselves or may even be frightened to explore them.
If you’re deciding on the best way to allow your piggies to express their natural behaviours and have fun in their enclosure, then invest in tunnels, hutches and hides.
Guinea pigs will have much more fun running in and out of their tunnels and hanging out in their favourite hutch than they ever could running up a ramp.
Fact 2 – Guinea Pig Eyes are Complex
As a prey species, guinea pigs have developed complex eyes fully adapted to protecting them in the wild. One of the main features of a guinea pig’s eyes is their field of view. They can see up to 340 degrees around them, which is almost a complete circle! The only area of vision they lack is a 20 degrees blind spot right behind their head.
This field of view is extremely large, especially in mammals. It explains why when near your piggies, you sometimes feel like you’re always being watched, because technically, you are!
This adaption of their eyes is so they can keep an eye out for predators wherever they go and makes them much harder to sneak up on and surprise. It’s the same reason their eyes are positioned on the side of their faces, rather than directly ahead; they can see further and wider. This combination makes them experts at sight!
Sleeping with their Eyes Open
Not only do guinea pigs have a super wide field of view, but they also sleep with their eyes open. This is an extremely common behaviour in prey animals, as it helps them stay extra alert for predators while sleeping. Guinea pigs tend to sleep with their eyes partially open, but some owners say that they’ve never seen their piggies close their eyes at all to sleep.
Specialised Cleaning
With guinea pig eyes doing so much work throughout the day, it’s important they keep them well moisturised and clean. That’s why guinea pigs have developed a specialised fluid that secretes from their eyes which is used to lubricate the eye and clean the rest of their face.
This substance is extremely important for their eyes. Since guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open, they are at a much higher risk of drying out and sustaining damage over time. Alongside the occasional need to blink, this fluid will make sure their eyes stay moist and fully operational.
This substance Is a milky white colour and can be a little concerning for new piggy owners who aren’t aware of it. Once you know about it, then you know it’s nothing to worry about.
Fact 3 – Guinea Pigs are Super Smart
One lesser-known fact among those who aren’t as familiar with piggies is that they are very intelligent. Guinea pigs love to learn new things and are incredibly inquisitive once they feel safe within an environment. Comfortable piggies will love to come up to you and investigate you, your clothes or anything interesting you may have in your hands.
This is another reason why providing a range of toys is super important for guinea pigs. They have the potential to learn so much about their environment and giving them toys, such as enrichment feeders, allows them an opportunity to utilise their natural behaviours combined with learned knowledge to figure out a puzzle.
Teaching Tricks
You heard right! Guinea pigs are fully capable of learning tricks, just as a dog is. There are many tricks you can teach your guinea pig, and training is a great way to build and strengthen the bond between you and them. Some of our favourite tricks to teach our piggies are:
Shake paws.
Turn in circles.
Coming when called.
Pushing a ball or toy car (though, I don’t think they will qualify for a driving license, so keep them off the road!)
Giving kisses.
Using a litter box.
While many of these tricks are for our own amusement, some do come with practical uses. Training a guinea pig to use a litter box can make our lives much simpler.
Litter boxes are much easier to empty, disinfect, and will greatly reduce the risk of you accidentally stepping on their poop.
Fact 4 – Guinea Pigs Never Stop Talking
Guinea pigs are social butterflies, and love to have a conversation with any human or piggy who will listen. They love to make friends with their own kind and have over 11 unique sounds they make to communicate their feelings. Many of these sounds are to express happy and positive emotions, and some are to express when they are not enjoying the current situation.
One of the most well-known guinea pig noises, and the one you will undoubtedly hear every single day is their ‘wheek-wheek’ sound. This sound is usually made when guinea pigs are getting pretty excited over something, which is usually food. Just like clockwork every single day, piggies will be wheeking up a storm when they sense dinner is on the way.
Fact 5 – Guinea Pigs are Born Fully Formed
Baby guinea pigs come out the womb fully formed and ready to go! Guinea pigs are precocial animals, meaning they have their full sight, hearing, and can freely move and run around independently from the mother within hours after birth. Not only are their senses fully developed, they’re also born with fur and teeth, making them completely ready for the outside world.
As a rodent, being precocial is quite abnormal. The majority of small rodents, such as mice, rats and gerbils, are born without their senses fully developed and are completely reliant on the mother. This is called altricial.
This evolutionary difference from guinea pigs to other rodents most likely comes from the fact that guinea pigs are more likely to be born above ground where there are many predators. Animals birthing precocial young is a survival tactic, to enable babies to escape predators if they encounter one soon after birth. Being precocial also allows some opportunity for the babies to survive if something were to happen to the mother. Altricial rodents often would birth their young underground, where they would be unlikely to encounter their main predators.
Guinea Pigs may Stop Growing, but Their Teeth Never Will!
Like with all animals, guinea pigs will stop growing. Once they reach about 3 months, they would be considered fully grown. However, one part of a guinea pig that never stops growing are their teeth! A guinea pig’s teeth are referred to as ‘rootless’ or ‘open-root’. A guinea pig manages their teeth length through what they chew and eat, and their hay is the main contender that keeps their teeth nice and short. Make sure your guinea pig has access to unlimited hay every day to prevent them from becoming overgrown.
