Guinea Pigs Behaviours and Body Language: A brief introduction

 I have found that this is one of the more interesting topics when it comes to keeping your Guinea Pigs happy, Taming your Guinea Pigs, and generally understanding them. As always I do warn you that I am not a vet, I just do lost of research from many different sources, to make sure I get it right, and from my own understanding & knowledge. 

• Begging for food
  This usually happens when they're hungry, if you forgot to fill-up their food bowl, or if they're thinking that you might feed them. One instance of this is when my Guinea Pigs have Squeaked quite loudly whenever I open or close the fridge, mess around with a paper bag (because the Pellets I buy them comes in a paper bag), etc.
• Popcorning
  When a Guinea Pig is exited, they can hop up in the air, run around and quickly turn in another direction and jumping some more. This usually happens more in Guinea Pigs which are younger. One of my older Guinea Pigs (who's sadly not with us anymore) popcorned at the age of 7, which I'm quite surprised about, to this day.
• Running away and hiding when you try to pick them up
  This is a natural defence instinct, which of course needs you to be patient. When a Guinea Pig does this, they are not rejecting you, they're just not used to being picked up for one or more of the following: 
  
• Being picked up from above,
• It is first time that they're being picked up, and there are a lot more reasons than that short list!
• Running Laps
  This is normal for every Guinea Pig. As Guinea Pigs can't use excersice wheels, I make sure they have a open space for them to do this. Similar to how athletes run around a track, Guinea Pigs do this to burn off some steam.
• Sniffing
  They're just curious about something, or they're making sure that you are who your smell says you are! Or, they could be trying to find some more food, or wondering what's going on out there.
• Scent Markings
  This is how Guinea Pigs mark their territory and/or property. They'll rub their chins, cheeks and backside on those items/areas. They can sometimes do this on the sides of their cage which they usually are.
• Freezing
  When they're scared, or think they are in danger, they simply just freeze. This usually happens when an unusual sound (e.g. plate falling to the ground and breaking) or when it's startled, or uncertain about its surroundings. 
• Tossing/Pushing you away with their head/moving it up into the air
  This could be when they are annoyed with being petted on their head or in a different area (or even with tunnels and flipping them over - well it could be just my Guinea Pigs, who knows). Its a way of saying "Stop that human!". I would personally recommend to do what they say when they do that.
• Licking your hand (or only one specific person's hand)
  And here we go.... Some people think of it as a sight of affection by the Guinea Pig, but not always. Yes, this could be a sign that they are comfortable near you, but you could just have a bit of salt (from sweat) or if you were cutting up some veggies for them, you could have some of the juices from those Vegetables still on your hands.
  
• Fidgeting when being held
  In my personal experience, if I do nothing about this: I end up getting weed on (not nice). This can be interpreted as they guinea pig saying "I NEED THE LOO!".
• Teeth chattering
  If you hear this, you've most likely either scared your Guinea Pig, or done something that makes it angry. This behaviour is usually said to be a pattern of anger or being upset. 
  If it is directed at you, move away to respect its wishes so that it feels better.
• Nibbling
  When I got my recent two piggies (Nugget and Teddy), I had noticed a huge chunk missing from my hoodie. Within 2 minuets of noticing that, I got weed on. Usually this is a way for them to say "I need the loo, but not right this second", or its to say "take me back to my house". This can also be observed from younger Guinea Pigs who are testing their limits, and seeing if your clothing is food, or even your finger/s!
• Biting (owch)
  It can be quite rare, but not so unusual. There can be many different reasons that they could bite you, so it's quite hard to guess which one:
• It could be the result of an accident, e.g. if you were hand-feeding your pig which therefore your Guinea Pig may bit you thinking it was the food.
• If your Guinea Pig is upset, angry, defensive or even annoyed at you or someone else.
• A result of a skin problem such as mites, so holding, stroking or touching them could cause severe discomfort, therefore they'd try to do anything to stop that pain (in that case, see a vet as soon as you possibly can).
• Not closing its eyes
  This is normal in the sense that it is a natural defence instinct, so they can see a predator coming even when they are asleep. They only ever close it if they feel very, very relaxed and safe.
• Stretching
  A guinea pig normally will stretch out while yawning at the same exact time. It is quite a cute experience to watch and observe