Yeah Mom?!

Do guinea pigs know their names?


Yes they do!  They are able to recognize their names.  And learn them so fast.


MM was able to know hers in a month!

"Mom, why are you calling me?" :)

We called her by her name a lot, as we purposely wanted her to know her name, during her playtime and her mealtime - the time of the day when she was the most active.  I think it helped that her name is two-syllables.


So ever since, she has never forgotten her name MM.  Each time I call her, she certainly looks back.  When she's asleep, and it's veggie time, she doesn't need to recognize the scent of fresh veggies as we just call her by name, and she gets up right away.


Milky Way is also a very fast-learner.  I couldn't believe she learned her name during her first week!  Actually, I first noticed that she would respond with a nod when I'm addressing her.  Not when I'm talking about her, such as "Milky Way is so cute!".  She would only respond when she understood that it's her I was talking with, like "Milky Way, you are so cute!  Milky Way, you are a baby!  Milky Way, I'm your Mommy!".  At first, I thought it was random.  And then I noticed the same manner of nodding, each time I talked with her.


I asked my mom to see how Milky Way would react.  We dearly call her "Little Girl".  But after my mom saw how she had reacted, she told me to only call her by her name Milky Way only until we had no doubt that she knew that's her first name, so as not to make her confused which was which.


And in the next day, I tried calling her name without saying anything else.  At first, I thought she was not responding anymore.  And soon after, she surely knew she's Milky Way.  But only when it's me who's calling her - since I'm her mom! :p

"Yeah Mom?!!!"

Not only she looks around when she hears her name.  She would actively acknowledge my call with a nod, and since her fur is long, she responds with a flick of hair!  It's like she's saying, "Yeah Mom?! Eh?".


To check if Milky Way truly knows that that's her only name.  I would call her with the other names of our pets, and she won't care with that call at all!  She won't even look back.


And since then, she's never failed to answer back with a nod and a flick of hair.  Now she responds to whoever is calling her name.  There's no time that she wouldn't respond.  It's automatic for her to nod at the sound of my call, wherever she is during playtime, or when she's in her room.  I feel like at times, she thinks I'm a distraction, but still, she nods with the sound of "Milky Way!!!" ;)


Kadbury and Krunch don't react as much as MM and Milky Way do when I call them.  But I just know that they are aware of their names.  They don't look around when they hear their names each time. But they surely respond when they are relaxing, and suddenly they hear their names.  And especially, when it's feeding time!


It's better that the guinea piggies know their names. It would be easy to call them back when you left them wandering around.  It also brings more fondness between you!