Tag Archives: affection

Why Do Guinea Pigs Lick You

Why Do Guinea Pigs Lick You?

Guinea pigs are creatures of whom it is hard to know what they are thinking and feeliing. They are not ones for physically expressing their emotions like some animals do. They don’t express anger, sadness, happiness, and sadness obviously and so it hard for people to know what it is going on with them.

However, there are certain actions that they do that can give a good idea of what they are thinking and feeling.

One of those actions is when they lick you. This can be a strange thing for them to do at first. Their tongue is quite rough on your skin and it can feel a little weird having their saliva on your skin even if it is a faint wetness.

So there may be occasions when a guinea pig licks you when you pick them up or when they come up close to you.

Why Do Guinea Pigs Lick You?

They basically do this for one reason.

When they lick you, they are basically showing affection to you. It’s a great compliment when a guinea pig licks you and shows you that they like you.

They do this when they are close to you and when you pick them up a lot. When they trust you and have confidence in you they only tend to do this.

So be pleased that they choose to do this and is right up there with them purring in your presence as showing real affection, trust and confidence in you.

It is is a real gift from them to you.

The only other time that guinea pigs will also lick is when they are grooming themselves by licking their fur. They use their coarse tongue to get rid of any grime or grit on their fur which they cant get rid of otherwise. They don’t mind doing this and it doesn’t affect their taste buds when they lick their own fur, no matter what the substance is on it. Their only concern is getting the substance off their fur, as they are clean animals.

When they lick you, it could also be said that they are trying to clean you as well and see sense something on your skin that they want to rid you off.

This is a nice theory which although cannot be proven, has some merit but if so is a terrific act of generosity from the piggie to you.

 

 

 

how do guinea pigs show affection

How Do Guinea Pigs Show Affection?

One of the wonderful things about guinea pigs is that can they be very affectionate animals.

Of course, just like humans, if they are raised in an affectionate household, they will be affectionate animals.

Some guinea pigs aren’t like this, or take a while to respond to you. But on the whole if you give them affection, mostly they will respond to you in a similar way.

So if you are getting to know your guinea pig, how can you tell if your guinea pig is being affectionate of not?

image wikipedia

Here are 8 ways that guinea pigs can show affection.

1. Nuzzling – sometimes when you are holding them they may look to nuzzle their head against your hands or if you hold it up close, possibly under your neck. Lots of animals do this most notably cats. But guinea pigs are very good nuzzlers too!

2. Purring – if you are holding your guinea pig gently and stroking it, you may hear your guinea pig purr. When they do this they sound like a quiet cat purr or a pigeon (thanks @LauraGrahamLG :)). It is very soothing to hear and it’s a great sign that your guinea pig feels relaxed.

3. Squealing – if your guinea pig is excited at something they may let out a squeal of delight to let you know how happy they are.

Of course do check that they are not squealing in pain but it’s a funny sound to hear but quite delightful at the same time. It also means, I need food now!! 🙂

4. Popcorning – if they are really excited, they may popcorn which is when the leap up in the air. This is a terrific sight to see and is a great sign that they are really pleased about something.

5. Grooming other piggies – Often when piggies live with each other you may see the grooming each other by licking each other or brushing their heads against the others body.

This is a sign of affection towards each other.

6. Licking – talking of licking, if you are holding one and it happens to lick you then this a good sign that your piggie is being affectionate.

If it goes to lick your nose that is apparently even better, but it hasn’t happened to me yet!

7. Chortling – Personally I love this sound. It makes me smile and one of the many many reasons why guinea pigs are just the cutest animals alive!

Sounds a bit like a small chipmonk, but its a realy sound of happiness and contentedness.

8. Kisses – Now this is a real show of affection.

When they don’t gnaw your hand off because they think its food, and stop short of licking it and its not quite a sniff either.

But they put their mouth’s up to your skin and give you a little kiss. Its very cute, and if you get one of these, you are in the piggie’s good books!!

These are some of the ways I’ve seen my guinea pigs be affectionate, I’m sure there are more out there. If you know of any more then let us know in the comments.