Break The Boredom! Time For Toys!

Like any animal, whee guinea pigs can get bored. Some signs of boredom include, not running around as much, overeating, barbering (chewing the hair of ourselves or another guinea pig) and biting cage bars. These things can be annoying and upsetting to your hoomans

Our dear little Bingo was very badly behaved and like bar biting

There are things other than toys that can prevent boredom. The most important ones are:

– A fellow piggy as a furfriend. This is super important. Whee guinea pigs need companionship or whee can become very lonely.
– Hay, Hay, whee always love a bit of hay! Unlimited hay is not only needed for good health but also a great thing to play in
– Fresh fruits and vegetables. Try to change it up. You wouldn’t like eating the same thing efurryday and neither do whee.
– Regular floor time. Running in the garden in a run or inside the house in a piggy proof area gives us stimulation and keeps things interesting!
– Cuddles with hoomans  and interaction. Whee often squeak to our hoomans and have long conversations. Hoomans aren’t great at listening and don’t always seem to understand but with practice they improve!

Now onto the fun part! The toys! Firstly, the very best toy whee can suggest is a hidey place. Some hoomans say that you shouldn’t give us a hidey because whee will just hide and never get used to you but our Mummy found that letting us hide and slowly gaining our trust was a far better option and now if whee really don’t want cuddles or to talk to anyone whee can hide. In the wild whee are prey animals so whee run and hide when whee are afraid or want to be alone. Mummy says they make us feel more secure and that is true. Good hideys include:

– Cardboard boxes, a favourite of ours. Shoe boxes are best!

– Shop bought ‘igloos’ fondly known as pigloos in the cavy world!

– Wooden huts, also available from pet shops

– Fabric pet shelters such as tents or other animal beds

This leads us neatly into snuggle toys such as:

– Flat cushions, these can be bought or hand made quite easily. The one Buddy models below was a first attempt by our hooman. She just used a fleece blanket and some pet safe wadding bought from an arts and crafts shop.

– Blankets, most fabrics are ok but fleece is best

– Dog, cat or rabbit cosies and beds (or the little hoomans build a bear dog bed toy for their teddy!)

– Cuddlecups which are essentially fleece snuggle pouches. You can make your own or buy them using online guides

(Even our Mummy has made them so it can’t be too hard!)

A baby Buddy enjoys cosy testing!

– Fleece tunnels, also can be made or bought using online guides (relatively advanced though so not for your average can only just sew in a straight line hooman, like our hooman!)

Finally toys to chomp and chew and play with!

– Brown paper bags. Primark in the UK do some good one’s for this. Stuff them with hay and treats for good fun.

– Screwed up balls of newspaper (sometimes hiding treats in there is fun as it makes us forage like whee would in the wild)

– Kitchen and toilet roll tubes. Stuff them with hay and treats and you have hours of fun.

– Tennis balls or other sports balls so long as they’re a good size and fun to push around.

– Plastic tunnels you can buy in most pet shops.

– Wooden garland gnawing toys, available in most pet shops. If you have bar biting piggies hanging these across the affected areas can help deal with this by giving us something else to chew on.

– Willow twig balls and twigs to play with. Mummy uses the twigs to kebab veggies on for us as something fun to do sometimes. In hot weather, high water content veggies on a kebab are a fun way to keep cool.

– Slightly messier but still good fun, a plant pot or container, stuffed with shredded newspaper, hay, bedding and strip of fleece and fabrics. This works with most animals as a good toy, just adjust the size of your container to match your pet!

– Maze of books and boxes. Our little hoomans love designing mazes for us to play in. They have a toy piggies which is the same weight as us and life size so they can be sure it is a safe. They hide treats and whee have great fun tracking them down!

– A wash cloth cut into strips (not completely, leave a 2cm gap uncut at one end) and hung across the cage can be fun to run under and play in.

– Mirrors. Whee are slightly obsessed with our reflections so bird toy mirrors are really good fun.

There are plenty of fun things you can make or do for your piggies. Imagination is key! Mummy just spent fifteen minutes playing with Basil and a square of tissue he liked chasing and shredding. Whee don’t need you to spend money to have fun!

An old pigture of Nutty who also love the tissue game!

Do you have any boredom busting tip? What are your favourite toys?

Happy Saturday

Nutty, Nacho, Buddy & Basil

xxxx