The Quietest Small Pets
🤎 The short version: if noise matters, the quietest small pets are gerbils and mice (near-silent little diggers), with chinchillas and rats fairly quiet too. The loudest is the guinea pig, which wheeks enthusiastically for its food. And remember when the noise happens: nocturnal species like hamsters are busiest — and noisiest — at night, so cage placement matters as much as species.
The quietest
- Gerbils — busy, near-silent diggers; you’ll hear soft rustling and gnawing, little else. One of the best low-noise pets.
- Mice — tiny and quiet; mostly the gentle sounds of nest-building and foraging.
- Rats — surprisingly quiet, and much of their vocalising is ultrasonic (too high-pitched for us to hear). The main noise is cage activity, not the animal.
- Chinchillas — fairly quiet by day (they sleep), with some thumping and bouncing at night.
The loudest
- Guinea pigs — the noisy sweethearts. They wheek loudly when they hear the fridge or your footsteps, and rumble and chatter to each other. Charming, but not quiet — worth knowing if noise is a real constraint.
- Sugar gliders — “crab” (a loud buzzing complaint) when startled, and are active and vocal at night.
- Ferrets — not especially loud, but energetic and clattery during play.
The bigger factor: day vs night noise
For many people the issue isn’t how much noise but when. Nocturnal species — hamsters especially, plus chinchillas, hedgehogs, sugar gliders and mice — are busiest at night, running wheels, gnawing and rearranging bedding. A hamster’s wheel or bar-chewing can genuinely disturb light sleepers.
Two fixes handle most of this:
- Don’t put a nocturnal pet’s cage in a bedroom (or anywhere someone sleeps).
- Use a large, solid, silent, axle-free wheel — cheap open wheels squeak; a good one is nearly silent. (It’s also safer — see enrichment & exercise.)
Matching noise to your home
- Want genuine quiet? Gerbils or mice, kept out of the bedroom.
- Fine with daytime chatter? Guinea pigs are wonderful — just loud.
- Light sleeper? Avoid a nocturnal species in the bedroom, and invest in a silent wheel.
The honest takeaway
No small pet is completely silent, but gerbils and mice come close, guinea pigs are the loud exception, and the real lever is keeping nocturnal species out of sleeping spaces with a silent wheel. Compare the wider field in which small pet is right for you? and see each animal’s activity pattern in the care guides.
Sources & further reading
- Hayfold — species care guides — per-species behaviour, activity and noise.
- RSPCA — rodents — behaviour and activity guidance behind these descriptions.
Common questions
Which small pets are the quietest?
Gerbils and mice are among the quietest — small, busy and near-silent apart from soft digging and rustling. Chinchillas are fairly quiet by day (they’re active at night). Rats are quiet and vocalise mostly in ranges too high for us to hear. Guinea pigs are the loudest of the common small pets.
Do any small pets make a lot of noise?
Guinea pigs are notably vocal — they “wheek” loudly for food and chatter to each other. Nocturnal species like hamsters can be noisy at night from wheel-running and gnawing, which can disturb sleep if the cage is in a bedroom. Sugar gliders “crab” loudly when startled.
Are hamsters noisy at night?
They can be. Hamsters are strongly nocturnal and run, gnaw and rearrange bedding through the night, so a squeaky wheel or bars being chewed can disturb light sleepers. A good solid silent wheel and keeping the cage out of the bedroom help a lot.
What is the best quiet small pet for an apartment?
Gerbils and mice are excellent quiet choices, and (kept out of the bedroom) most small rodents are fine. If night noise is a concern, avoid putting a nocturnal species’ cage where someone sleeps, and use a silent solid wheel.