It's Myths and Folklore Day, Piggies & Pals! Beware things that go wheek in the night! 🐹 🖤 💙 🖤 👻 👻 👻 🥕 🥕

As the seasons turn and the nights grow longer, strange sounds can sometimes be heard from the guinea pig cage in the small hours. Is it that mysterious midnight chirping—one of the strangest and least-understood guinea pig vocalizations? The disgruntled whining and chattering of cage-mates who have apparently chosen 2 a.m. to settle an important territorial dispute? Or perhaps the faintest movement from the bedroom has alerted an ever-watchful piggy that a human is stirring... and therefore might reasonably be persuaded to provide a midnight snack.

But there is another possibility, whispered of only in the darkest corners of guinea pig folklore: the Banshweek.

Like the banshee of Irish legend, the Banshweek is seldom seen, but unmistakably heard. From the darkness comes its long, eerie, increasingly insistent whistle:

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek...

Unlike its supernatural cousin, however, the Banshweek does not foretell death. It foretells something far more urgent: the refrigerator must be opened.

If the Banshweek sounds in the night, take all necessary precautions. Keep calm. Approach the kitchen carefully. And it may be wise to carry two carrots in the traditional cross formation.

Wheek! Wheek!