Guinea pigs are really social animals.
They like to have companions and like to stay active. They also like to play in little mazes or run on a wheel.
But most of all, they love communicating which means they’re very intelligent creatures.
When it comes to communication, their vocal cords, hearing, and how they understand the stimulus around them matters.
This has led many guinea pig owners to ask various questions about the sounds and voices guinea pigs like to hear.
And turns out, many guinea pig owners are curious about a very pertinent question…
Do Guinea Pigs Like Music?
Sort of!
You read that right – guinea pigs do like music!
Guinea pigs don’t understand language like we do, but they are very adept at understanding sound waves.
The sounds of lyrics, instruments, and melody are very familiar to them.
According to many guinea pig owner forums, guinea pigs actually like soft music, which rules out genres like dubstep or electro.
In fact, some people claim that their guinea pigs enjoy listening to Maroon 5, Adele, Mozart, Lady Gaga, and so on.
To sum it up, guinea pigs seem to like music that is upbeat, has clear and loud lyrics, and has tons of squeaky instruments.
You can’t play music at full blast, of course.
These delicate animals have a very hyper-sensitive hearing – they are a kind of rodent, after all.
According to research, guinea pigs have very sensitive ears and their inner ear organs are the most delicate.
Loud noises and heavy sound waves can damage a guinea pig’s inner ear and that, too, irreversibly.
Understanding Your Guinea Pig’s Take On Music
It is pretty funny that guinea pigs like music, but hey, animals are dynamic creatures that adapt to changing environments and situations.
Since the guinea pig is a very domesticated animal, there are human influences on its biology and other things that make it the functional animal that it is.
So let’s see how music and guinea pigs go together, shall we?
How Loudly Do Guinea Pigs Hear?
A guinea pig’s hearing range is roughly 54-50,00Hz.
This means they have very sensitive hearing and cannot tolerate loud and stressful noises!
This rules out loud banging, shouting, extremely loud or aggressive music and even sounds of thunder if you think about it!
Maybe your pet won’t put in a request to play Katy Perry’s “Friday Night” but if you do choose to listen to it in a room where your guinea pig’s cage is, keep the volume significantly low.
Music Is Similar to Friendly Guinea Pig Sounds
Some music reminds certain guinea pigs of friendly chatter.
Guinea pigs have a very complex way of communicating, and wheeking is one of them – it’s a distinct sound that conveys excitement and when played at a low volume, music can be reminiscent of that.
However, guinea pigs also shriek and whine, so music that has vocals like these can really agitate your guinea pig – think metal, rock, and 80’s disco, and so on!
How Guinea Pigs Communicate Influences Their Preferred Genre
Your guinea pig will go through certain stages in its life. When guinea pigs are in heat and become parents, they begin to purr, coo, rumble, and chirp.
This is common guinea pig behavior and can influence how they perceive music – so it’s best to avoid playing any controversial genres loudly during certain periods of your guinea pig’s life.
For example, your feisty sow may have liked upbeat music before, but when she’s nursing her pups, she probably prefers peace and quiet because it signals security and safety.
Music Can Be Calming to Guinea Pigs
As mentioned before, guinea pigs are intelligent and social animals, so they’re also very prone to anxiety and stress.
However, playing certain genres to calm guinea pigs has become a trend, but there is no concrete proof that it works.
Music is essentially sound and sound waves can help to create or alleviate stress in living beings as seen by various animal studies.
However, with guinea pigs, we can’t be too sure if music really does calm them; we are sure, though, that loud, fast and aggressive music can highly disturb your pet.
Silence May Unnerve Domesticated Guinea Pigs
Guinea pigs like to exist in pairs and the domesticated guinea pig can be quite lonely if they don’t have a cage-mate.
Guinea pigs also like to communicate a lot.
Some guinea pig owners have noticed that if they’re going out and leaving their guinea pig at home alone, playing music very softly in the background is a way to make your pet feel like it’s not alone – it’s comforting.
But again, there are no scientific studies on this to verify the fact.
There Are Guinea Pig Playlists Available Online!
Because this is such a popular question and guinea pig owners are very curious about whether their pet will or will not like music, there are certain playlists available online just for your guinea pig!
It’s actually very amusing and pretty funny – Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, and other major media platforms feature playlists for pet guinea pigs!
Should You Play Music For Your Guinea Pig?
Well, that totally depends on your guinea pigs.
The following factors should help you determine whether you should play music for your little piggy or not!
Know Your Guinea Pig’s Biology
Guinea pigs are very sensitive to sound.
Their whiskers and ears are their security radars, which help them evaluate threats and dangers and the inner ear is an extremely delicate organ.
You must be aware that not only can loud music physically damage your guinea pig’s ear, but it can also agitate your guinea pig, make them aggressive or even scared.
In some cases, guinea pigs can get very scared, which isn’t good for their health!
Your Guinea Pig’s Personality
Guinea pigs have very versatile personalities. While some may be feisty and aggressive, others will be calm and docile.
Some are very patient and adaptable, while others are easily scared and always on their defense.
It depends on your guinea pig’s personality, in other words, what kind of music they like and if they like it at all!
Your Guinea Pig’s Response to Music
One of the most crucial facts is to see how your guinea responds to music.
If your guinea pig hisses, shrieks, whines or chatters its teeth, it’s a sign of fear, anger, dislike, and/or discomfort – in other words, turn that music off!
Your guinea pig will also show you through its body language whether it likes the music or not, so if your little piggy tosses its head up in the air, struts, stiffens, freezes, or exhibits behavior that seems like it’s angry or stressed, you know what to do.
Your Guinea Pig’s Going to Be Home Alone
We’ve emphasized this innumerable times – guinea pigs are very social animals despite their different personality profiles and other differences.
If you do plan to step out while your guinea pig is home alone, you can turn on some music in another room on a low volume to let your guinea pig feel like there is company around.
Or you could even just leave the news playing!
Sounds to Avoid At All Times
There are certain sounds you should keep away from your guinea pig.
They can cause your pet to freak out and scare them! Here are some common ones:
- Thunder
- Extremely loud ringtones
- Door slams
- Alarm clock sounds
- Loud speakers
- Shouting
- Aggressive Music (Metal, rock, etc.)
- Racy, quick paced sounds (ringtones, music genres, fire alarms, sirens, etc.)
Conclusion
There is no evidence to support that guinea pigs like or dislike music.
Guinea pigs are domesticated animals and their behavior has been shaped by humans.
So it’s not going to come as a surprise to us if one day a neuroscientist discovers that a guinea pig’s brain activity reacts positively to good music.
However, do be wary that guinea pigs have very sensitive ears and cannot tolerate loud sounds.
This includes loud music played on speakers too, so if you listen to music in the same room as your guinea pig’s hutch, keep the volume low.
This also doesn’t just pertain to music.
Loud noises like doors and windows banging due to wind pressure, scary sounds of thunder, and even sounds of heavy machinery and construction work can unnerve your guinea pig and stress them out.
Your guinea pig can also be agitated if your pitch is too high or if the TV’s volume is too loud, too.
So be careful around your pet when it comes to sound – they have hypersensitive hearing and their inner ear organs can be easily and irreversibly damaged.
Also, remember to limit your guinea pig’s exposure to loud noise.
Though your pet may like listening to Mumford and Sons, it’s not a good idea to keep the music constantly playing around a guinea pig, especially loud music!
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