The Best Toys For Guinea Pigs
Guinea pigs love toys. Some people might find it hard to believe if their only experience are guinea pigs running away from them in a hutch in the back yard, but it is entirely true. The best toys for guinea pigs are toys that they can push around and hide inside. Fortunately, you make many of these sorts of toys for your guinea pigs right at home just using cardboard boxes and cartons. If you haven't given your guinea pigs hidey places before, you'll no doubt already have noticed that they try to bury themselves under hay and if they can't do that, they will often huddle in the corners of their cage. This is natural behavior for guinea pigs, after all, they are not much more than tasty rolls of meat on tiny little legs, in the wild, they are a total delicacy, and in Peru and other South American countries, guinea pigs often find themselves on people's dinner menus as well.
So, if you want your guinea pigs to feel happy and safe, it is a good idea to make them places they can hide away in and run between. When your guinea pigs feel safe and content, you will actually see more of them, and you'll be able to observe their happy behavior much more often. Expect a lot of guinea pig chatter and conversation as they tell each other about their wonderous new homes!
It is possible to buy commercia guinea pig toys too. Many people buy grass nests, which guinea pigs love, or little grass or wood box homes that they can crawl in and out of. Rather predictably, guinea pigs love these too. Even larger plastic structures will work well if they have enough room for the guinea pig to get into, then turn around inside and leave again.
You may find that if you put several of these toys in your guinea pigs cage that they spend time rearranging them. Some guinea pigs may chew on cardboard toys, so it is best to use plain cardboard where possible. A little chewing won't kill them, but ingesting piles of ink and plastic covering is not going to do much for your guinea pig's digestive system.
Other toys that guinea pigs adore are tunnels. In fact, if you made a little complex on a thick cardboard base with little houses dotted about it and tunnels connecting them, your guinea pigs may very well faint from joy. I am joking, of course, they will not faint, but they will spend hours upon hours playing about in these sorts of structures.
Use your creativity! Your guinea pigs will be much happier and much more fun to watch as a result.
