Guinea Pig Concern

Fitzg

Hello boardies,
I would love to hear from anyone about my guinea pigs behaviour.
Cracker Jack is a sweet, lovable, friendly, cuddly little guy but he has a weird quirk... in his cage and when he gets to run about outside he goes through this weird high jinks...he throws himself up into the air and bucks like a rodeo horse...I hope it is high spirits but just in case its anything else I thought I'd post here and get some opinions. He has no other indicators of oddness...he is healthy and bright eyed and doesn't scratch his ears or shake his head...
Thanks!
x Fitzer

Fitzg

Sorry Boardies!!! Good news, I just googled some guinea pig sites and found this great site called jackiesguineapiggies.com !! BINGO apparantly he is doing it out of joy whoo hoo

Popcorning
Popcorning is a wonderful sight to see. Its usually baby guinea pigs that do it, but adult guinea pigs can also popcorn, they just don't jump as high because they are heavier. A popcorning guinea pig will run-around and jump into the air, land on all fours, quickly turning in another direction and repeat the jump. This lovely action means your guinea pigs is extremely happy. My Clover, who normally weighs around 2 lb-10 oz, can still manage to jump quite high, its usually brought on when she has a new bed of hay or is just starting her free range time.
http://jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigbehaviour.html

Outkast_IRE

Ya popcorning sounds right our guinea pigs are over a year old and they still do it when i put in a big pile of hay for them to mess about in , or sometimes when they are out of the cage they start doing it .

Shy_Dave!

Ha yes! I was worried when my Guinea Pig (Yogi) did this first time around but now it is great to see her doing it - I know she is happy!
Maybe you could help me too, my guinea pig is around 4 years old now and whenever I leave her out, be in on carpet or wooden floor she barely moves, I wish she would run about exploring. Have you any tips?

Sigma Force

Sounds like one very happy piggy.

Shy dave if your pig just potters about more not than popcorning and running it's probably just age, if your pig has a yearly or 6 monthly vet health check and is otherwise healthy then there's nothing to worry about.
She's just getting on a bit, as she gets older keep a close eye on her feet, ears, eyes etc. Feet and foot pads and nails especially can effect how pigs get around as they get on.
Gorgeous guineas have some great products for pigs feet and skin which can make their lives more comfortable as they get older plus makes them smell nice as well.

It's good though to encourage an older guinea pig to get around so perhaps making little houses out of cardboard and scatter them about the room within sniffing distance and pop a piece of veg or herby hay or something in each one to encourage the pig to move around.

Vet bed is great for older pigs they love nothing more than eating and sleeping so a nice comfy bed is as good as a treat to them. Would you consider perhaps a piggy friend for her might keep her interest a bit pigs should be kept in pairs and they tend to keep each other busy moving about.

hunterpetz

he is just plain old happy ! whoo hoo ! freedom . LOL.