If you have guinea pigs, you can tell how playful those little bunnies can be. Without the right amount of physical stimulation and exercise, your guinea pig can become obese. It’s easy to learn how to keep your guinea pig healthy and entertained by following certain rules.
There are different fun and easy ways to keep your pet happy and well-exercised, but what do guinea pigs like to play with? Well, that is precisely what we’re going to tell you in this article.
Let’s get started!
What Do Guinea Pigs Like To Play With?
Before we go into the different toys and activities guinea pigs like to play with, let’s talk about some safety precautions that you need to ensure for a safe playtime with your pet.
When trying to get your pet into engaging in an activity or use a toy, always watch for its reaction. Always pay attention to your guinea and get to know its personality before trying to engage it in any game. You don’t want to force a thoughtful game on a guinea pig with a short attention span.
Once your guinea gives a negative reaction to a toy or activity, it should be stopped or removed.
Before allowing your guinea pig out of its cage, make sure to take your cat or dog out of the room and keep the door shut to prevent your guinea pig from escaping.
Also, Remove or safely cover any electrical cords, and eliminate any floor-level hazards such as dropped medications or poisonous plants during your playtime and block off any nooks where a guinea pig might become trapped.
To guess activities that your pet may enjoy, try to pay attention to the guinea pig’s reactions to daily events. Does it like tossing, rolling, or chewing? Then create games built around these activities.
When trying to actively engage your guinea pigs in activities, you want to do this routinely.
Try to engage in the game at about the same time every day or in the same situation; this is because guinea pigs are prey animals that run, freeze, or sometimes attack when startled or afraid, so you never want to surprise your guinea pig.
Now that we’ve gotten safety out of the way let’s look at some fun activities that guinea pigs can do.
11 Things Guinea Pigs Likes Playing With
1. Food Scrabble
For this, you will need to find a plastic tube, a hollow ball, or some other non-edible container and place some of the guinea pig’s favorite food inside it, and allow your pet work to free the food. This is a very good mental stimulating game for your guinea pig.
2. Food Hunting
You can tie a toy, stuffed animal, or even a small treat to a cord and drag it across the floor. Try moving the cord a bit faster than the guinea pig so it doesn’t get hold of the cord, or it could chew at or swallow part of it.
Another way to organize a food hunt activity for your guinea pig is by breaking up a special treat into tiny pieces and hiding it in areas your guinea pig can safely access on its own when its time for a food hunt; show your pet one of the hiding spot and watch to see if it can find the next treat.
3. Racing
Simply create a track using playpen walls or line it up with heavy but sturdy items that are taller than a guinea pig. Place the piggy at one end of the track and a piece of treat on the other. If your pet shows a positive interest in the game, you can go ahead and try timed trails.
4. Obstacle Course
This is a very great mental stimulating game, and you just need a couple of cardboard boxes or random objects around the house for this. And if you have time, you can actually create a DIY cardboard maze; just make sure there’s enough space for the guinea pigs to move around.
Also, try changing your obstacle course frequently because guinea pigs are very smart animals, and once they learn their way through the obstacles after a few tries, the game becomes boring.
5. Tunnels
Guinea pigs have a natural instinct to burrow, so tunnels provide endless fun for them. You can either purchase tunnels online or make one yourself using wrapping or toilet paper roll.
Place the tunnel in areas where the guinea pig has more space to run around makes it more enjoyable for your pet. Tunnels help to keep guinea pigs exercised and prevent cardiovascular disease.
6. Burrowing
This is similar to tunnels for guinea pigs. They have a natural instinct for burrowing, and they use it to build comfortable nests to protect themselves and their young from predators.
Providing a cage that is 7.5 square feet per guinea pig is highly recommended because it allows your pet to create its own burrowing spots inside the cage.
You also need to provide adequate wood shavings to also aid your pet’s burrowing.
7. Paper balls
This is very inexpensive and easy to setup. Simply scrunch up a paper bag or crumpled paper into a large ball and place it inside your guinea pig’s cage.
Guinea pigs are attracted to the crumpling noise of the paper, and they will like to gnaw and chew on it. These make paper balls an excellent toy choice for guinea pigs.
8. Hay Balls
Hay balls are not only a great toy choice, but they are also a tasty treat. It entertains them and, at the same time, groom their teeth.
Depending on the product of hay balls you purchased, some hay balls have an added bonus of a fun jingle toy inside that makes a pleasant noise when rolled.
9. Stuffed Tube With Hay
You can also make hay- stuffed paper towel or toilet paper tubes. These tubes are non-toxic, so your pet chewing on them shouldn’t harm it. This makes a great treat and toy.
10. Stuffed Socks
If you have any mismatched socks, you can turn it into a toy for your guinea pig. Simply round up a sock and fill it with hay or clean beddings.
Then tie off the sock with wool on the open end. This is a great toy your guinea pig can drag around, play with, and nestle on.
11. Tug-of-War
Guinea pigs love to play with one another and will be more playful if they are housed in a cage with adequate space.
An old sock or a piece of newspaper can be used to create a fun game of tug-of-war for two guinea pigs. The sock can also be used as a pillow or drag it around their happy little home.
What Toys Do Guinea Pigs Like?
- Playpen
- Play balls
- Chew sticks
- Tunnels
- Hammock
- Treat ball
Conclusion
Knowing what your guinea pigs like to play with will enable you to provide the appropriate stimulus both mentally and physically for your pet.
Leaving your guinea pig idle and bored does great harm to its general wellness as guinea pigs are known to experience depression-like symptoms when lonely.
Living World Pet Tunnel
The living world medium tunnel is specially designed to attach to the living world medium tent for small pets. It provides small animals with extended space for play and exploration. It can also be used as a stand alone play area for tunneling and burrowing.
Product SKU: B006MOWXYO
Product Brand: Living World Pet Tunnel
4.5
Pros
- Durable and lightweight
Cons
- Need to clean very often to avoid awful smell
Niteangel Natural Chew Activity Toys Fun Safe Hay Grass Pet Balls
Made of natural seagrass, rattan, coconut fiber, corn hush, timothy hay. safe material is the best rabbit chew toys for furry friends, Diameter of balls around 3-inch makes it easy for moving and chewing, your cute critter will get it as a favourite plaything to break boredom and grinding teeth.
Product SKU: B0BBLRWC93
Product Brand: Niteangel Natural Chew Activity Toys
4.6
Pros
- Cool maze and easy to assemble
Cons
- Flimsy and too small
