Guinea Pigs Body Language and Behaviors Explained

Guinea pigs have many interesting behaviors and body language quirks.
In this video, we will talk about 18 strange things guinea pigs do and explain the meanings behind them. From spraying urine to biting and dragging their bottom, stay tuned to find out.

Freezing
Guinea pigs freeze or stand completely still when they feel threatened.
Spraying urine
More often than not, guinea pigs pee on each other to show dominance. The dominant guinea pig will pee on the subordinate, which shows its authority.
Guinea pigs also spay urine when they are marking their territory or when they are annoyed.
Sleeping with Open Eyes
Yep, you heard that right. Guinea pigs often sleep with their eyes open. They sleep with their eyes closed too, but only if they feel very safe and comfortable with their surroundings.
Guinea pigs dream during the REM stage of sleep and they twitch their ears or whiskers in response to whatever's happening in their dreams.
Eating Cecotropes
Have you ever seen your guinea pig dip its head down between its hind legs, then come up chewing?
Well, your piggy is eating their cecotropes, which are soft feces that are nutrient-rich.
Guinea pigs produce two types of droppings, fecal pellets and cecal pellets.
It is from these cecal pellets that guinea pigs get the majority of their nutrition.
Popcorning
Popcorning is when a guinea pig hops straight up in the air, sometimes repeatedly. Because of the suddenness of the jumping, it’s been called popcorning.
It usually happens when guinea pigs are very happy and excited. They’re having a good time, and literally jumping for joy!
Biting
Guinea pigs are not usually aggressive animals; however, your piggy might bite you or another piggy if they feel they are threatened or in danger.
Biting their cage
Guinea pigs' teeth grow continuously throughout their life, so they need to chew regularly to keep their teeth down to a healthy size. Chewing on their cage bars could mean they do not have enough things to chew on.
Guinea pigs may also chew on their cage bars when they are bored, nervous or frustrated.
Licking
Bonded guinea pigs show affection by grooming and licking one another. So if your piggy licks, and perhaps even try to nibble you gently, they are showing you that they love and care for you. A guinea may also be giving you a lick simply because you taste good!
Sprawling out
Sprawling is when a guinea pig lies down on its side or belly. This position indicates that your little pet is comfortable and feels safe with its surroundings.
Scent marking
If you see your guinea pigs rubbing their bottom across on the floor or against cage furnishings, it is their way of claiming the area as theirs.
Guinea pigs have scent glands slightly above their anal regions that they use to mark their territory.
In a similar manner to bottom dragging, both male and female guinea pigs urinate in different spots and on various objects in the cage to mark their territory.
Tossing head in the air
Tossing the head back in the air is common behavior guinea pigs use to show that they are annoyed or uncomfortable.
Mounting
In guinea pigs, mounting is either a sign of a reproduction response or a dominance behavior.
A dominant guinea pig will chase the other around the cage and mount on subordinate guinea pigs to place themselves as the leader and declare their place.
Running away from being picked up
Guinea pigs are prey animals, so their instinct is to run away if they feel threatened.
If you're trying to pick them up and they back away from you, it's not a rejection intrinsically but rather a natural defense.
Yawning
Guinea pigs will yawn for one of two reasons. Firstly, a yawn will come on as your piggy is getting ready for a nap. But they may also yawn as a way of showing their teeth at another piggy in order to establish dominance.
Sniffing the air
Sniffing is a guinea pig’s way to check out what is going on around them. If your guinea pig sniffs the air, it wants to see what is out there. Keep in mind that guinea pig’s sense of smell is 25 times better than a human.
Fidgeting while being held
This is often a sign that your guinea pig is just tired of being held, or needs to go to the bathroom.
Touching noses
If you notice two guinea pigs touching noses with each other, they are sniffing at each other. This is a posture that guinea pigs use when they are getting to know each other. Touching noses is like hand greetings in humans and they will touch noses to greet each other.
Head-raising
Raising or stretching their head is another way guinea pigs show dominance. In guinea pig social circles, the higher the head, the more in charge the guinea pig appears

[gunnerrunner]

Hears bags rumbling...wheet wheet ( what's for dinner)

[jenniferbarr]

Every night, around 8pm, my Guinea pig will push his hide out into the middle of his cage and start popcorning and running around it. I love it. So cute!

[stargazingcatgirl]

I had a rare biting piggy. I never hurt him or did anything mean to him- I loved him! - I figured out that he would bite when my hands got too close to his belly. As a small prey animal, it scared him to have anything close to his belly because he felt vulnerable. Once I realized that, I stopped getting too close to his belly and the biting stopped.

[WolfspiderTheBanishedHivewing]

Me: accidentally rustled bag of chips


My piggies: FOOD?!

[anniegirlnerdgodess]

I feel one of the most precious gifts my piggies have ever given me is sleeping on me with their eyes closed.❤

[redwolf]

I like when theres a whole pack of them together following each other around.

[vr]

They are the cutest when they stretch out and yawn🥺🥺

[sporkhybrid]

One of my Guinea pigs nearly does backflips when he popcorns 😂

[fishrsocoolomg]

My poor little baby died a few years back and after I did a bunch of research to find out how although it was almost all inconclusive as she was a rescue and I didn’t have that much information on her, when I found her dead she was sprawled out at the time I didn’t think much of it but I remembered and clicked the video to see and it warms my heart that she left feeling safe and comfortable ❤️

[TheNovemberain]

Thank you for all the tips! I was worried something was wrong when one of my Guinea pigs was mounting the other.

[dsolis]

My Guinea pigs love to do the sprawling out and sleep with their eyes closed when I’m playin with my Nintendo. They go under the tv that has a pillow for them, I lower the volume and they do it

[gorga]

A little tip on how to pick guinea pigs up:
Dont immediately pick them up, you should put your hand in front of them, then pet them, after a few seconds you can pick them up, if they sqeak or keep jumping that means they arent really in the "mood" to be picked up. And the way i pick up MY guinea pigs is that i put my thumbs on their back, and the rest of my fingers on top, then i just fix my position when theyre in my hands so i can pet them. And sometimes when you go to put them bacm in theyre cage, they'll probably try and jump out of your hands, if your close to the ground of the cage, let them go, but if your a little bit high up, its not recommended to let them jump, or they will end up hurting another guinea pig, or themselves🙂

[Weluvboo]

Whenever I do a little tidying up on the cage or bring the treats and stuff they always popcorn and it is the cutest thing ever! They just love hoping around and getting hyped for the treat or the nice clean space for them to make a mess of again!

[AquaticFeather]

Great, it's really nice to have animations and videos that show the guinea pigs behaviours while you're explaining the behaviours 😃

[nhvnaturalpet]

Thank you for this informative and helpful video!

[xdream]

My guinea pig only bites the cage when I bring ✨ greens ✨ because they are wayyy too excited for dinnerr

[NezukoKamado___]

Sometimes my guinea pigs bite me because they think my finger is a piece of grass 😂

[WhileMyGuineaPigGentlyWheeks]

Aww I’m loving these piggy videos! Keep up the good work. :) I got a New Guinea Pig to love yesterday and I’m so happy. His name is Furrn 😂 Lots of From Furrn, Daisy (my other Guinea pig) and I to everyone!

[dictetejlgaard]

Thank you for making this video so I can know more about guinea pigs

[terencewolf]

Answered my Observations, thank you ^.)❤️