These cute little cavies have a lot of ways to express their emotions and feelings, either by sound or body language – but how can we tell if they are ticklish?
If you try to tickle your guinea pig, it certainly won’t laugh, but it will definitely show a reaction to your touch. Depending on their vocalization and/or body language, you can find out if they like it or not. You should stop immediately if your guinea pig shows any discomfort or annoyance.
Can Guinea Pigs Be Ticklish?
Tickling is a response to being touched. We humans usually laugh and feel slight discomfort when getting tickled, but how is it for guinea pigs?
Because of their prey-animalistic instincts, guinea pigs can be very sensitive to touch and pets. To be 100% comfortable with your touches, guinea pigs need to trust you before they can fully relax and have quality time. Tickling an uncertain guinea pig without warning can make them uncomfortable, and the outcome can be a bite if they feel trapped.
If you have a new guinea pig in your home and wonder if it likes tickles, I recommend you start by making the connection by letting it sit on your lap with a snack and gently touching your cavy.
A study shows that guinea pigs who get petted and don’t feel comfortable with it have reduced appetite, increased startling, and more freezing (stiffing up).
A new environment is scary for pray-animals, and they need more time to feel totally secure. So let it sit in the cage, and once it feels ready for interaction, the guinea pig will come to you.
Signs If They Like Tickling – Or Not
Most guinea pigs are comfortable with touches and petting, but intense tickling requires a deeper bond with your guinea pig pet. We humans associate the tickling response with a laugh, but here’s how you can tell if a guinea pig likes getting tickled.
Guinea Pig Sounds
Like most other mammals, guinea pigs express their emotions with sound. With the sometimes empty look on their face, communicating with vocalization how they are feeling is crucial – Both for us humans to understand them, but also inside their group in the wild.
They can get quite noisy, so you will quickly hear if they are pleased with tickling or not.
Positive vocal emotions
Look for these sounds if you wonder if your guinea pig pet likes tickling.
- Purring is a sign of a guinea pig who likes getting tickled. It’s common knowledge that a cat purrs when it feels comfortable, which is also usually true with guinea pigs. Their comfort is vocalized with a deep rumbling sound telling them they enjoy it.
- Murmuring is also one of the sounds you can expect to hear if your guinea pig likes the tickling.
- Wheeking is the most common sound you will hear if your guinea pig is happy and curious. Especially funny if they wheek with enough force that their ears start flapping.
Negative vocal emotions
There are the noises you can expect to hear if your guinea pig does not like getting tickled.
- Hissing, like with cats, hissing signifies annoyance and anger.
- Teeth grinding is a good indication it is time to stop the tickles. They vocalize this sound if they are annoyed or unhappy about the situation.
- Shrieking is a form of a scream (just the guinea pig way), so it’s a good sign to stop tickling if you hear something that resembles a scream.
Guinea Pigs’ Body Language
You can read their body language to find out whether they like to be tickled.
Popcorning is a reactive response to many stimuli in a day of a guinea pig. It can indicate startling, excitement, and arousing. You can expect to see some popcorning if your guinea pig is sensitive to touch and tickles. They use popcorning in many scenarios so that this one can be both positive and negative body language.
Freezing is common for guinea pigs if they are unsure regarding something in the environment or something happening.
Where To Tickle Your Guinea Pig Pet?
It varies where your guinea pig likes to be tickled and if it has a ticklish spot. Some enjoy petting on the back, and some like scratches behind the ears. Likewise, you have some guinea pigs that want a good old belly rub and some that do not like it at all.
Start by being as gentle as possible. These cuties are generally sensitive to touches, so they act tenderly. If you sense your guinea pig is tense when it comes to petting, distract it with snacks. This way, you divert the attention of your touch and make the guinea pig resonate with food and enjoyment.
The best way is to use the sounds and body language signs you have learned to see if your guinea pig likes to be tickled/scratched in other sensitive spots.
