Technically, there isn’t really any scientific research to support whether or not guinea pigs like music. However, some guinea pig parents have said that they were able to calm their guinea pigs down by playing calm, relaxing music for their guinea pigs.
As we know, guinea pig have some pretty sensitive senses when it comes to things like their hearing. Check out more information on that here.
What do we know about the relationship between music and relaxation?
In general, there has been consensus that music, and specifically certain genres of music, have a relaxing and comforting effect on people, and this same can be said for other animals and music.
Scientists have found that certain kinds of music can be relaxing for some animals, and it makes sense, since the animals, in this case guinea pigs, live very closely together with their humans indoors. This means they’re exposed to all kinds of sounds in the home, and exposure to music is inevitable!
Before you turn on those speakers, there’s more you should know!
If you’re a piggy parent, then you know that guinea pigs can be quite sensitive to sound, and specifically loud sounds! So, it’s a given that certain genres of music might not be suitable for your guinea pig, as it might scare them!
How to tell if your guinea pig is enjoying the music
It can be pretty simple actually! Your guinea pigs will continue on as usual and act unaffected if they aren’t scared of the music. They’ll continue eating as normal, will walk around comfortably and all around just stay as active as they usually are! (They might even popcorn!)
If your guinea pig is overly-active when the music is playing, it might be a sign of distress, so you might want to try something else, or turn it off completely!
During a photoshoot one time, we played a video of a K-pop girl group performing one of their songs, and while the piggies weren’t necessarily watching it, they didn’t shy away from where the device playing the video was, and continued on as usual! Safe to say that Ru and Mi enjoy K-pop girl group NewJeans!
What genres of music should you play for guinea pigs?
It’s probably best to stick to genres of music that are relatively calm, and don’t have a lot of heavy sounds from instruments like drums or strong electric guitar sounds. This means a lot of rock music is out of the question, which we know can be disappointing. But who knows? Maybe you could try playing it for them at a low volume—they might like it!
The best genres would probably be ones like lo-fi music, especially lo-fi hip hop, which tends to be very mellow and relaxed, without any loud instrumentals or heavy bass. You could also try classical music, acoustic music, or even softer piano music!
All these genres tend to be very gentle and soft, but this isn’t a hard rule, of course! Who knows, maybe your guinea pig will like listening to rap or rock, or even electronic dance music. Or maybe you’ll even have a little K-pop stan on your hands! Do they like BTS, Twice, or BlackPink? You won’t know unless you try, and it’s important to try at low volumes and ease them into it!
Chill with your guinea pig!
Once you figure out what genre of music your guinea pig enjoys, you can use it as a tool to calm them down whenever they seem especially jumpy or anxious.
1 comment
My 6-year-old male English short-hair Guinea pig absolutely enjoys music. Especially ragtime music. If I play a Scott Joplin tape, my Guinea pig runs over to the stereo speaker, parks himself there, and purrs to himself. Sometimes he will even do some popcorning when the music is on. It’s quite charming. As a neurobiologist, I can tell you that Guinea pigs have extremely complex and large and well-developed auditory cortex in their brains. I suspect that this is the reason that they enjoy music. I also suspect that this is why Guinea pigs can be so easily trained to understand and obey verbal commands. Mine is proficient at several – including “Come,” “Sit,” “Give me a kiss,” and “Go fetch your ball.” He also squeals with delight if I ask him “Would you like e treat?” He is really a smart and charming little guy.