Having a guinea pig as a pet is one of the most interesting things and knowing how to play with your guinea pig is a big plus.
A guinea pig is such a fluffy, cute, and lively animal; they give you the joy to live around its calm and peaceful presence.
This is mostly because they are entertaining, gentle, and social, especially since they love companionship with each other and with humans; you can’t help but fall in love with them.
The downside of having a guinea pig as a pet is that you have to maintain a spotless environment because their cage has to be kept clean at all times to prevent your home from having a pungent odor.
We will look at what you and your guinea pig could do for fun that could help you be happy, bond, and the most important of all, create memories that will keep your relationship healthy.
10 Tips On How To Play With Your Guinea Pig & Have Fun
Here are 10 tips on how to play with your guinea pig and have fun.
Playing With Toys
Using toys is important when you’re playing with your guinea pig since it helps to exercise your guinea pig.
This is because guinea pigs could get bored and gain weight.
Therefore, it is important to incorporate different toys like dragging a toy using a string and letting a guinea pig follow you as you drag.
Tunnels
Since guinea pigs are rodents, they have an instinct for burrowing tunnels, and therefore you must provide them some tunnels to play with.
You can do this by creating tunnels using tubes or fabric or even plastic, or you can buy them from pet stores or pets toys accessory stores or buy them from online shops.
Chew Balls
Chew balls are important because they help your guinea pig’s teeth in perfect health.
It also helps them to exercise as they run around their cage.
You can make chew balls using grass which is a good idea because they are a great treat as they play; they can also chew on it.
Some of them are made of wood with bells inside to increase the fun.
Others are made of plastic embedded with fruit images like carrots.
Chew Sticks
They work like chew balls but are made of natural wood.
They also improve the dental health of your guinea pig and are tasty as well.
Chew sticks are a good way of keeping you and your guinea pig happy.
You might be surprised how fast the sticks are nibbled away.
Obstacle Course
Obstacle courses are fun because they are fun to create and maintain.
This could be one way of having fun with your guinea pig because it creates different stages and tasks that your guinea pig has two go through.
Have fun while creating these obstacle courses.
You can create a maze using carton boxes, books, cushions, sheets, or any other material lying around in your house, which has no purpose.
Make sure you get creative; you can even color your boxes and name the stations while building the obstacle course.
After creating a maze, make sure to train your guinea pig on how to maneuver through your obstacle course; you can start by running and jumping.
Ensure that at the end of your obstacle course, you reward your guinea pig with a treat.
Playpen
You can create a playpen inside your house using cardboards or even buying one online or in pet stores.
Ensure that your playpen has some treats that your guinea likes, maybe one of its favorites to encourage it, and is dry.
Also, make sure that it has a place where the guinea pig can run to a safe house to make it feel as natural as possible.
One advantage of a playpen is that it is easy to clean up the mess that your guinea pig has made most especially if you had placed something on the bottom of your playpen, let’s say like plastic.
One idea that you can do is to use a kiddie pool.
It is safe and easy to clean up, plus you can have fun playing with your guinea pig while feeding it.
Protect Your House By Covering Surfaces
Guinea pigs love the freedom to run around the house, so why don’t you give them some time from their cage and have them move around the house.
This will come with a challenge because, as we all know, guinea pigs are messy.
This is mostly because they have a higher intake of water than other pets.
Due to that, it is better when you cover your seats or any other surface that you don’t want to have cleaned off because of guinea pig urine.
Towels
You can use towels, which can be washed and reused, but you will need a whole lot of towels when you let your guinea pig out of its cage to play around the house.
Puppy Pads
You also have the option of buying puppy pads from pet supply stores, online stores like Amazon, or even supermarkets and using them to cover surfaces.
These pads are very resourceful and can help to clean up the urine by soaking it up.
One problem with the puppy pads is that they are expensive because you cannot re-use them; you get rid of them if they are already used.
Containers
Another great way of protecting your surfaces is by using wide shallow plastic containers like basins.
Why not make things more fun by buying a grass pot that is wide enough to fit the guinea pigs, and since guinea pigs love grass, they can eat while you play with them.
You can place your guinea pig on one of these and move around with them in the house.
You can even place it on your couch comfortably and play with your guinea pig.
It will save you a lot of time that you would have spent cleaning up since it’s easier to clean it; you only need to wash it using soap and water.
When you want to let your cute pet out to play in the house, ensure you get things covered to prevent extra clean-up that may have to occur especially around the carpets.
It is because guinea pigs love the carpets more than the hardwood of the floor.
Experiment With New Food
When you have a cute little guinea pig, one fun thing to do is experiment with their diet because they can be bored eating only one type of treat or food.
First, you should know which food is suitable for your guinea pigs and avoid giving your guinea pig food that could be harmful to its health.
Such foods include biscuits, rice, nuts.
Healthy guinea pig diets are like hay, pellets, fresh vegetables, and water.
Vegetables are key when feeding guinea pigs because they need vitamin C.
Some vegetables that you could try to experiment which include grapes, grass, kale, mangoes, watermelon, oranges, hay, green beans, lettuce (romaine lettuce or red leaf lettuce)
Also, mint leaves, papaya, pumpkins, peach, red, green, yellow papers, plums, and sweet potatoes.
You can have fun with these and toss them around the house or in the backyard, which doubles with exercise giving your cute pet a healthy lifestyle.
Another way is to place all the vegetables together on one plate and watch as you find out your guinea pig’s favorite food.
It is also fun to watch your guinea pig chew fast on its favorite vegetable.
Your guinea pig will love it, and you can have fun doing this and make it as playful as possible while ensuring you keep your furry friend healthy.
Play Outside
When it’s sunny outside, it is always a great time to take your guinea pig out to go and stretch a little and enjoy some fresh air.
There is enough fresh grass that guinea pigs love to eat in such nice warm weather.
It could also be fun playing with your guinea pig outside while enjoying the warm sunshine.
Extreme Temperature
Guinea pigs love to run up and down in the sun; take special consideration when the weather is above 68℉ and below 80℉ so as not to expose them to extreme temperatures.
Be very conscious because guinea pigs can be directly affected when they face extreme temperatures, like too cold or too hot.
If the temperature is too hot, our little cute guinea pig could be affected, so you should make sure there is plenty of water and a shed to keep your pet cool.
The same applies when you have cold temperatures, it is better to go out for a few minutes and go back in to keep your cute pet safe and warm.
Safety
To keep your guinea pig safe from predators like hawks, make sure you place them in an outdoor enclosure or a safe space that is fenced properly.
You can as well supervise them and enjoy their company as they play around.
To spice things up a little, add various toys that they can play with; I recommend balls, tunnels, and an enclosure because they can chase and chew on them.
Ensure you don’t expose your pig to harmful plastics and any other materials that could be outside; ensure you do a thorough cleaning before letting them out.
If you have a garden, pay heavy attention to the environment and ensure no harmful chemicals are used to clear weeds or fertilizers for plants like flowers and herbs around the area.
Guinea pigs could chew on them and choke or be poisoned.
When having a guinea pig as a pet, you should know how to apply first aid just if your pet runs into trouble because of temperature changes or any other incidents that occur from playing outside.
Teach Guinea Pigs To Climb Up And Down The Stairs And Ramps
It is always fun to teach your guinea pig to climb up and down the stairs.
Train them regularly by establishing a routine on how you train them to get used to it.
You can create your staircase for your little friends, or if you have one that is comfortable, why not use it.
Do a check-up to ensure that the stairs or ramp are safe and stable for your guinea pig to climb without its feet getting stuck between things.
Ensure that the ramps are not too steep because guinea pigs have short feet, and it could be difficult for them to climb through the steep staircase.
Encourage your pet to climb by placing treats up the staircase so that they can follow the trail of their favorite treats up the staircase.
This can help you have fun while playing with your guinea pig.
It is also an important exercise that could help to keep your pet healthy and prevent weight gain.
It also keeps your guinea pig happy and entertained.
Try A Chase Game
Chase games are easy and fun.
You can do this by tying a string on your pet’s favorite treat or vegetable and dragging it while your pet chases after it.
Before you do this, ensure that the area on which you’re playing is free from harmful objects that could harm your guinea pig.
You can even add some toys along the way, like tunnels, so that they can go through them as they chase after their treatment to make it interesting.
Make sure that you are moving faster than your guinea pig to maintain the fun of the chase.
This game is most especially fun when you have more than one guinea pig.
Make sure you know what your guinea pigs like, whether toys or treats so that you can use them during the chase game.
This game is important because it also helps to exercise your guinea pigs and boost their interest and encourage them to use their minds.
The chase game will also create a deeper bond between you and your furry friend while also building trust between you and your guinea pigs.
Race Games
Race games are fun, especially when you have more than one guinea pig.
Race games are interesting because you can create a fun environment that your guinea pigs can race through.
For example, you can create a racecourse track and put treats at the end of the track and encourage your guinea pigs to race and see which one is the fastest.
This only works when the racecourse track is something that all your guinea pigs love.
It also means that you should know your guinea pigs before you create your race game.
Some guinea pigs do not like running around, and they like playing with toys, so this game might not work for them; it is, therefore, important to know beforehand.
If you have two guinea pigs who love running around, this game might be effective to see which of your furry friends is the fastest.
You can create tracks using pens, sticks, tunnels, boxes, and even books.
Make sure you have fun while creating them and make them as interesting as possible.
How about having a friend who has a guinea pig as a pet over and tries out the race game.
Discovery Game
Guinea pigs are social animals, and so they thrive through socializing with others; they enjoy a little playtime with them.
Your company is important because a guinea pig could get inactive and stressed when left alone for a long period.
So, make sure you give them enough time during playtime because they love the company.
What you could play is a hide and seek or discovery game.
This game is fun to play with your guinea pigs.
You can do this by hiding your face and covering yourself with a blanket and allowing it to come and discover you.
Guinea pigs are curious, and therefore it won’t take long before they come to find out what you are doing.
This game is most especially important when you have just got a guinea pig as a pet, and you want to make the guinea pig trust you.
It is also a good game to play when you have a guinea pig that is not as social as it is supposed to be in nature, maybe due to a hostile environment or if it wasn’t handled properly and is still timid.
Final Thoughts
Having a cute furry guinea pig as a pet is a fun experience, especially when you learn to spend time together and play with your guinea pig by playing games or daily routines.
Your guinea pig doesn’t need exercise wheels or expensive toys.
Guinea pigs provide the best companionship time that could help you and your guinea pig unwind for a while.
It maintains a healthy atmosphere at home and strengthens their relationship.
It is also useful as it helps your pet guinea pig to become healthy by reducing the stress levels it could have.
Become flexible, try out different games, and find out which one works for you and your furry friend.
