jumping guinea pigs

[johnthedev]

Hi,i was wondering if any body out there knows why my "piggies" (both boys) sometimes jump around.twisting and turning the other way as they do so.Also,sometimes it`s like Wackey races as they hare about as if they are playing "tig". Hilarious to watch. They are about 5 months old,and have a run of about 6ft x 3ft. thanks for any replies

[Flyinghippy]

Hmmm, this reminds me of what my rabbits used to do. They were sold to me as two females but turned out to be two males and we had to seperate them. They had a hutch each at either end of the pen and we could only let them out one at a time. One of them would run past the other and as it passed it would leap into the air and flick it's rear end. This was a bit cute a first but as they grew older the leap and flick was accompanied by a jet of urine. Eventually both rabbits (albino dwarfs) became a permanent dirty reddish brown colour. I guess this was some sort of territory marking. I know these were rabbits and you have guinea pigs, but your question reminded me of it. It may be something similar.

[wildwood]

You haven't been giving you piggies a couple of guinness have you? Sorry. It sound to me as if your guineas are just happy to be alive. Many animals start to do some sort of exercise and then enjoy it so much that they start to jump around in a happy stupor. Just enjoy it.

[johnthedev]

Hmmm.thanx for that.no urine as as of yet..as you say probably just really happy chaps

[Jola13]

The jumping in the air thing is called "Popcorning" and it apparently means they are happy and contented !!! Mine ( about same age but 2girls) do it quite often - in particular when they have got new hay in their bedroom or know they're food has been delivered downstairs ! Its so cute to watch but they sometimes jump so high and hard they land on or head butt each other ! :-)