Looking for some outstanding boredom buster ideas for your guinea pig?
Our lovable cavies are more than just bundles of cuteness and fur.
They are social creatures who need mental stimulation to live their best life.
So, with that in mind, read on for some amazing ways to stop your guinea pig from being bored!
You may also like: 5 Fun Ways to Exercise Your Guinea Pig
Table of Contents
WHY YOUR GUINEA PIG NEEDS TO BE ENTERTAINED
Did you know that the brain of a guinea pig is 50% larger than the expected size, taking his body size into consideration?
Guinea pigs are herd animals that make sociable pets that can play with you and enjoy watching TV!
These intelligent animals can get bored easily if they don’t have enough to stimulate them.
A bored piggy is a lazy pig, after all, and a sedentary lifestyle can lead to problems down the road.
The good thing is, guinea pigs are not very demanding and can be entertained with some of the simplest toys.
You can do so by giving them sufficient toys to pique their interest, planning fun activities, building a cozy and exciting habitat, and allowing them to socialize.
We’ll get to our ideas in just a moment. First, though, let’s take a peek at how to determine if your cavy is suffering from boredom.
How to Understand if Your Guinea Pig is Bored
How will you know if your guinea pig is bored and stressed? Your instincts as a pet parent will help you to some extent.
But unless you know what signs of boredom you should look for in your guinea pig, you won’t be able to help your friend.
Guinea pigs are generally active and fun, and they know how to show their happiness through jumps and noises.
But when they are unhappy, they will show the following behavior:
- Lazy behavior and oversleeping
- Nervousness and freezing
- Refusing to socialize or come out of the hiding space
- Aggressive behavior like teeth-baring or hissing
- Strange behavior like chattering or head tossing
- Loss of appetite
- Hair loss
Best Boredom Buster Ideas for Your Guinea Pig
Keeping your guinea pig from getting bored is not difficult. They love the simplest of things.
The key is variety and interaction so that your fur baby’s interest level rises and she can have some fun.
Let’s take a look at how you can keep your guinea pig engaged and excited all the time!
Activities
Guinea pigs love activities that involve running around. This gives them the chance to exercise and stay entertained at the same time.
But how can you get your guinea pigs to enjoy fun exercises? Here are a couple of ideas to keep your pet active:
1. Obstacle Course
Guinea pigs love to get challenged with puzzles, and it’s easy to create the perfect game with the help of cardboard.
A DIY cardboard maze is a cheap and easy way to give mental and physical stimulation to your pet.
Don’t forget to reward them with their favorite veggies!
While obstacle courses are great, you should not give them running wheels or exercise balls.
These can hurt your piggy’s back because its anatomy is different from that of smaller pets like hamsters and mice.
On top of that, exercise balls do not offer air circulation. So these are harmful to a guinea pig.
2. Tricks Training
Training your guinea pig fun tricks will not just keep them active and get some exercise.
It can also be one of the best boredom busters for a guinea pig.
But remember that training guinea pigs can be a bit challenging, and you will need to invest some time into teaching tricks to your pet, but it will be worth it.
You can train your furball to Sit, Jump, Dance, Fetch, and more!
These tricks are old-school and easy to teach and perform.
You can also try to teach them new tricks, like chasing food or using new toys that you give them.
You’ll have a chance to bond with your pet, and they’ll learn to perform on seeing you.
3. Roaming Time
Your guinea pig deserves time outside the habitat, so give her some roaming time each day.
Ensure that the room is safe for them, and there’s nothing lying in their way for them to chew, as they test the edibility of everything they find.
Getting the enjoyment of free-range running is not only entertaining for them but also very healthy.
Choose a specific area outside the habitat as a safe space for them and barricade this section off as its exercise space.
However, never leave your cavy unattended outdoors. Even if you don’t have other pets yourself, it takes two seconds for a neighborhood cat to jump a fence.
Try out the tutorial below for an easy DIY guinea pig playpen.
Interaction and socialization
Guinea pigs are fun and interactive creatures who love being around other living beings.
That’s why experts recommend adopting a pair of piggies.
If they have some company and playmates, guinea pigs remain entertained for hours.
Socialization simply helps them stay happy.
4. Interaction with Owner
Guinea pigs are friendly by nature, and a little attention from you can make them quite happy.
In the initial stage, it’s best not to force them to spend time with you. Let them come to you and nudge you.
That’s how you will know they are seeking your company. Eventually, you can play with and pet your cavy.
Guinea pigs are known to be quite friendly with their owners. One great way to spend some quality time with your cavy is by traveling with her.
This will not only get them excited about a new place but will also allow you the chance to spend some quality time to entertain your pets and bond with them.
5. Get Her a Playmate
As a guinea pig owner, you must have wondered if your little cavy needs a partner to play with.
Like I said above, two is definitely better than one.
However, if that’s not feasible, it’s ok if you own only one guinea pig AS LONG AS you can devote the time and energy to keeping them entertained.
Honestly, though, it’s a good idea to get your guinea a playmate – or maybe even more than one.
Of course, you’ll still need to spend time bonding with them individually, but a companion is a built-in boredom buster for guinea pigs.
6. Habitat Placement
Since guinea pigs love to be around people and other animals, it’s a good idea to place the habitat in a place where your family spends the most time together.
The family room is a great choice! The kitchen can work, too, as long as it’s large enough to keep your cavy away from the stove.
This will give them the chance to interact with you and the other people in the house. Your pet will soon get used to having you and the others around.
They may also enjoy the motion on TV. While they won’t understand what’s going on, guinea pigs enjoy watching TV once they get used to the indoors.
But be careful not to expose them to loud sounds as this can scare them.
Perfect Home
Make sure that the little fellow lives in the perfect cage with everything that can keep it busy and happy.
There are many accessories that you can add to the cage of a guinea pig to ensure that it can play, hide, rest, and exercise as it wishes.
A larger cage will accommodate more toys and give your pet a better quality of life.
Let’s take a look at everything you can add to your pet’s habitat.
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7. Snuggle Sacks:
These are pouches made of fleece fabric. Guinea pigs can slide inside them and enjoy some privacy and darkness to relax and sleep.
8. Bed:
Place a soft, deep fleece bed for your guinea pig inside its cage, and make sure that it’s the perfect size for your pet to get the chance to dig, which it will enjoy a lot.
9. Hiding Space:
Guinea pigs love to hide, and you can place a Hidey Hole like a fleece hut, plastic pet igloo, wooden house, etc. You can also go for DIY hiding huts.
10. Hammock:
The tiny hammocks inside the cage can be a huge hit as a luxurious bed for your guinea pig to snuggle in at the end of the day.
11. Toys:
A tunnel, ladder, hay ball, and more can be placed inside the cage to allow guinea pigs to stay entertained.
Check out some of our favorite guinea pig toys for more ideas.
12. Guinea Pig Treats
Guinea pigs love to chomp on food bits.
So, you can take full advantage of this and turn giving food into fun little games that will make them curious and keep them on their toes at all times.
The simplest game is to tie an edible reward to a piece of thread and pull it to make your guinea pig chase it and run around.
Another fun trick is to cut vegetables or take fruit pieces and hide these in their toys, rolls, crumpled papers, etc.
This will keep them active as they go looking for food pieces and retrieve them.
You can also build an easy treat hanger by cutting thin strips of veggies and hanging them with a thread from the cage’s bars like this video.
13. DIY Toys
Toys are probably the most important in busting guinea pig boredom.
Guinea pig toys keep the piggies active, mentally and physically.
A guinea pig can play for hours with them.
Besides, if you give them more toys, their curiosity is triggered.
But what toys are the best for little piggies? Thankfully, even simple things like rugs, socks, and towels can distract them.
Let’s look at some DIY cheap toys for a guinea pig:
- Tubes Stuffed with Hay: This is a pocket-friendly way to give your pet a toy to play with, as well as something to chew on.
- Cardboard Box: You can cut a cardboard box and turn it into a funhouse for your pet. You can also make a maze with it.
- Stuffed Socks: Stuff a sock with hay, dandelion greens, or grass and cut it in places to give your guinea pig something to chew on. You can try replacing the stuffing with bedding for them to dig into.
- Paper Bags: Take a paper bag and cut a few holes so that your guinea pig can sneak in and out of the bag – because it loves to hide!
- Crumpled Paper: Just make a paper ball and throw it into the cage. Your guinea pig will play for hours with this cheap toy!
- Toilet Paper Rolls or PVC Pipes: These can serve as pet safe chew toys and tubes for guinea pigs. But you will have to make sure that your pet is not eating it.
- Ping Pong or Tennis Balls: You cavy will chase this ball around the cage all day and stay busy while getting some exercise.
There are many other DIY toy ideas that you can arrange for your guinea pig.
But apart from these, you also need to invest in some good quality toys that are easily available in pet stores, both online and offline.
Toys for a guinea pig should include the following –
- Ladder to climb up and down
- Wooden Chew Toys made from apple or willow tree branches
- Wooden Balls made of willow to chew and chase
- Treat Balls to hide their favorite food
- Wooden Hanging Toys to chew and play with
- Tunnels to run to and fro
- Playpen to set up a play area for floor time outside the cage
- Stuffed Animals to give them a new friend
Final Words:
Lack of excitement in a guinea pig’s daily life can cause lethargy, inappetence, unsociability, irritability, and even depression.
You wouldn’t want to see your fun and active cavy turn into a sad being that sleeps and acts irritably all day, right?
So, it’s a good idea to ensure that she is happy and excited.
