Expert: Alison Gartery - 8/1/2009

Question
I recently bought two baby girl guineas, one of which is a real live-wire and really chatty, the other I'm a little concerned about.  Whenever i have her out of the cage she sits very quietly and nods off to sleep, but i've also recently noticed that when in the cage she will jump and twitch from time to time seemingly for no reason.  Is this behaviour something to worry about or is it just that she has a lazy and sometimes jumpy personality?

Answer
Hello,
All guineas have different personalities and as long as she isn't ill she is probably very comfortable with her atmosphere which is why she would be falling asleep on you. If you would like her more lively hide treats around the cage and put in toys for them to play with. If a guinea just randomly jumps up it is called 'pop-corning' when the guineas are very excited and happy.
I hope this helps
Alex