Guinea pigs make great pets for kids and families, or even adults. We have two guinea pigs. One guinea pig is named Butterscotch, aka Scotchy, and the other is named Twix. We love our guinea pigs very much. We really have a lot of fun with them. Guinea pigs as pets are a fun addition to any family. Guinea pigs are great pets for people who live in apartments or who don’t have a lot of space as well. They are friendly little animals, and if properly socialized as babies, they can even be very affectionate, gives kisses, and snuggle. I’m going to share some fun things we do with our guinea pigs so you can also enjoy the same fun times with your pet guinea pigs.
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Fun Things to do with Guinea Pigs as Pets!
Make an Obstacle Course for Your Guinea Pig using Books
My sons love to make book tunnel obstacle courses for Scotchy and Twix. They line up hardcover picture books to make a tunnel for our guinea pigs to run under. It makes a great tunnel. They create a fun little play area for the pigs to run around in and hang out in. Pigs love to have some sort of cover over them, they feel safer that way. So, boxes, books, towels, blankets, and little beds are perfect things to add to a play area for them so they can hide out and hang out under some sort of cover.
Other things my kids have used to create obstacle courses for our guinea pigs include magnet tile toys, couch cushions, boxes, pillows, bean bags, and mounded up piles of blankets or sheets.
Grow Grass in a Pot
Guinea pigs love to eat plain old green grass, like regular lawn grass. We love to take our guinea pigs outdoors so they can walk in the grass and have a snack. They love it and will just chow down on the grass.
However, we have a lawn service come and periodically spray our lawn to take care of weeds, so to give our guinea pigs fresh grass at any moment all year round, we grew some grass in a pot. This way the guinea pigs can chow down on the grass anytime without worrying about exposing them to harmful chemicals because this grass in the pot is never sprayed. Plus, as a bonus, the guinea pigs can sit in the pot, even in the winter, and enjoy some grass time as well eat some fresh grass.
I simply bought some grass seed and dirt and planted the grass in a pot. I like this because then the grass pot is mobile so it can be moved from room to room.
Twix eating grass in pot video on YouTube.
Let Your Pig Free Roam Around a Room
Giving guinea pigs some time to free roam is huge for them. They absolutely love it. Just make sure there are no cords they can reach and chew on, as they love to do that, but it’s not safe plus it wrecks the cord. Block off any spots where they could sneak under a couch or something else that would be difficult to get them out of, and make sure you don’t do it for too long in case they have to go to the bathroom. We will often put down a pad and towels when our pigs run around and they have learned to go to the bathroom on the pads. We have had the occasional accident of course, but for the most part they are used to urinating on the pads.
Of course they poop, and they poop a lot, so be prepared to have to pick up some guinea pigs poops around the room after they have run around for awhile. They also vacuum up well.
They will give lots of fun squeaks and sounds as they run around because they love the freedom so much. It’s great to treat them to this free roam time whenever you can, it makes them so happy and improves their quality of life.
Other ways to have them free roam are to set up gates around the room confining them to a certain area. Plastic kiddie pools work great for this too, but they can be a bit small for much a free roaming time.
Our guinea pigs tend to like to walk on carpet rather than hardwood or smooth flooring. They like the grippiness of carpet over the slippery type floors. So that is something to keep in mind when choosing the free roam area for your pig.
Toss Fresh Fruits and Veggies Around to Let Pigs Find Them
When your pig is free roaming around a room, scatter some pieces of fruit, veggies, and herbs about so they can naturally find them and snack. They love this and it’s more close to their natural way of life of foraging and eating as they find food. We do this with our pigs and they adore it. They will run about and find something yummy to eat, then mosey about and find another delicious morsel. It gets them moving about and gives them something fun and interesting to do.
Feed Your Guinea Pig New Foods
We love to try new foods out for our guinea pigs. We set them up on the couch on a absorbent washable pad and towels and feed them various foods. Offering your pig new foods is a mutually fun activity. It is really fun to watch them pick out favorite foods from a pile on a plate, plus, it’s funny to watch how fast they eat. We have successfully fed our pigs the following natural foods:
- apple
- arugula lettuce
- asparagus
- banana
- blueberries
- broccoli raab, regular broccoli florets, and broccoli stem
- Brussels sprouts
- green cabbage
- red cabbage
- cantaloupe
- carrots and carrot green tops
- cauliflower
- celery and celery leaves
- cherries (no pit)
- cilantro
- corn on the cob
- cranberries
- cucumber with peel
- dandelion greens
- dill
- endive
- grapes
- grass
- green beans
- hay
- kale
- honeydew
- kohlrabi
- butterhead lettuce
- romaine lettuce
- red leaf lettuce
- mandarin orange
- mango
- watermelon fruit and rind
- mint leaves
- mustard greens
- orange and peel
- papaya
- parsley
- parsnips
- peach
- edible podded peas
- Bartlett pears
- sweet green peppers
- sweet red peppers
- yellow peppers
- plum
- pumpkin
- radicchio
- radishes
- raspberry leaves
- spinach leaves
- squash
- strawberries
- sweet potato (no white, toxic)
- sweet potato leaves
- Swiss chard
- thyme
- tomatoes
- turnip greens
- zucchini
Guinea pigs need vitamin C daily so be sure to give them some peppers, strawberries, oranges, or tomatoes everyday so they they can get their necessary vitamin C.
I hope you have enjoyed this guinea pig post and found some new fun activities to enjoy with your pet guinea pigs.
If you are looking for more ideas for fun with guinea pigs as pets, check out these posts:
Why Guinea Pigs make great pets.
10 Tricks to get your guinea pig out of his cage more and interacting with your family.
Guinea pig fleece snuggle sack.
The best guinea pig bed your pet will love.
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