Guinea pigs are very loveable animals. The small little fur balls are fun to snuggle with and amusing to watch in their cages. Guinea pigs have a wide range of strange behaviors that will leave you scratching your head. One of guinea pig’s strangest behaviors is their sleeping behavior. You may have noticed that guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open. That will be the topic of today’s discussion, and hopefully by the end of the article you will understand why guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open.
Why do guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open
The main reason guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open is because they are prey animals. In the wild, there are two types of animals, predators and prey. Predators tend to be near the top of the food chain and big in size, such as bears, wolves, tigers, etc. On the opposite side, prey animals are smaller animals that are at the bottom of the food chain, such as mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs. As a prey animal, you always need to be on the lookout for danger. As a prey, there are usually a wide range of predators that might come after you at any second. For this reason, guinea pigs are always alert. Even a couple seconds of not paying attention or a lapse in judgement can result in being eaten. Therefore, guinea pigs have evolved over millions of years to possess character traits that keep them safe. Sleeping with their eyes open is one of these traits.
You may be surprised to find out that when a guinea pig sleeps with their eyes opens, their eyes are still able to transmit information to their brain. Therefore, if a predator such as a dog, bird, or cat comes into their view, they may be able to wake up in time to escape. By sleeping with their eyes open, guinea pigs can react faster to a predator. For this reason, guinea pigs almost always keep their eyes open when they are awake and rarely blink. That being said, guinea pigs do have eyelids so they do have the possibility of sleeping with their eyes closed if they want to. You should know that there is no reason to freak out if your guinea pig is sleeping with their eyes open or sleeping with their eyes closed. Guinea pigs will sleep however they feel the most comfortable. You should only get worried if you start noticing your guinea pig has a lot of discharge coming from their eye.
