Encouraging Activity?

[Abbie Brooks]

Hi, once again I have a couple of questions...
Does anyone have any methods of encouraging their guinea pigs to be more active?

Acorn (just over a year old) is looking rather chubby, she is due to be weighed tomorrow but last week she was roughly 1.1kg (from memory since I don't have the pad i wrote it on with me) this is not sudden and she has steadily gained weight but I want to limit the possibility for weight related health issues.

Hazel is younger and still quite active. I want to encourage her to stay active too. They have a 4x3 c and c cage which is quite spacious for them and their hideys are positioned so they can run laps round the entire cage going through or around the hideys.

It is not a common topic I have seen on the forum but if anyone has any ideas/tips or advice I would love to hear it.

 

[piggieminder]

Somewhere in the guides accessed via the top bar there is a section on this. The guides have been updated and are really interesting and helpful but I can't find it at the moment. Floor time is good exercise if they will run around, I put cardboard boxes and paper bags dotted around the room so they explore each one. Scatter their food around the floor or cage at meal times so they have to look for it. Mine like to drink a lot while eating pellets so I spread pellets down one side of the cages while the bottles are on the other side. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[KathT]

Mine tend to run about more when let loose on the floor rather than confined in a cage or playpen. Saying that, Jack has never been a mover and tends to just sit where there’s food to eat!

 

[Abbie Brooks]

Somewhere in the guides accessed via the top bar there is a section on this. The guides have been updated and are really interesting and helpful but I can't find it at the moment. Floor time is good exercise if they will run around, I put cardboard boxes and paper bags dotted around the room so they explore each one. Scatter their food around the floor or cage at meal times so they have to look for it. Mine like to drink a lot while eating pellets so I spread pellets down one side of the cages while the bottles are on the other side. Hope this helps a bit.

That's really helpful thanks. I had heard of floor time but hadn't really considered it since they are in quite a big cage. Those other tips are really helpful as well - I will definitely try some of these. I didn't realise there was a section with info on it - thanks for letting me know

 

[Abbie Brooks]

Mine tend to run about more when let loose on the floor rather than confined in a cage or playpen. Saying that, Jack has never been a mover and tends to just sit where there’s food to eat!

That's what Acorn prefers to do too . I will definitely try giving them a larger playpen - thanks for the help x

 

[sport_billy]

I wouldn’t worry too much about her weight at that size. Some piggies are bigger than others, and you can often tell this when some are bigger boned and have a larger frame.
Guinea pigs by design tend to be lazy ha ha, during runtime scatter some treats around to try and encourage more movements

 

[Swissgreys]

I think this article has lots of good ideas:
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

But to be honest some piggies are super active and some less so.
I have had piggies who will destroy things and work super hard to get a treat, and some who look at me like I am crazy for hiding a piece of carrot in a box and just go back to bed

 

[Abbie Brooks]

I wouldn’t worry too much about her weight at that size. Some piggies are bigger than others, and you can often tell this when some are bigger boned and have a larger frame.
Guinea pigs by design tend to be lazy ha ha, during runtime scatter some treats around to try and encourage more movements

Thanks, yes Acorn has always been very round (so much so that i thought she was pregnant when I first got her ) and Hazel is rather skinny - I guess seeing them next to each other just emphasises the size difference

 

[Abbie Brooks]

I think this article has lots of good ideas:
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

But to be honest some piggies are super active and some less so.
I have had piggies who will destroy things and work super hard to get a treat, and some who look at me like I am crazy for hiding a piece of carrot in a box and just go back to bed

Thanks - I will have a read through the article now, I have made quite a few toys and stuff for them before but have run out of ideas so that article will be great. Well Acorn can be active when she wants to be, like when she knows she shouldn't chew the hidey house for example .