Keeping a clever pig occupied. Any ideas?

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MerryPip

MerryPip

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My Angus is too clever by half. He gets bored easily then starts causing havoc by pulling up his vet bed, bar chewing, hassling the others, eating furniture etc.

Does any one have any ideas of how to keep him busy for a decent period of time?
I have a few games to play with him but they need intensive input from me too so I need to be there.

He loves to climb and can jump a 10" fence clear without touching it so I am struggling even to keep him out of spots he shouldn't be in. He responds to his name and often jumps over the fence keepinh him oout from under the coffee table then waits for me to open it and call him back out. The minute he's out he goes straight back in and waits for me to do it again. He demolishes most toys/chews in about 15 minutes.

I'm running out of ideas to kep him busy!
 
I have not got many brilliant ideas for you but am interested in responses you get as Angus sounds slightly similar to my neurotic, chewing Cheeky.

We have tried loo rolls hanging up so he has to reach - but as you say, don't last long. Veg treasure hunts obviously. Changing location of play time eg indoor run, out door run, on grass, on flags. Veg on top of bricks in a run for him to find. Leaving newspaper for him to chew - even with crossword on in case he fancies having a go at that.....rolleyes

I have asked a builder to save me off cuts of drainage pipe and planning a tube challenge when I have those.
 
gplearner said:
I have not got many brilliant ideas for you but am interested in responses you get as Angus sounds slightly similar to my neurotic, chewing Cheeky.

We have tried loo rolls hanging up so he has to reach - but as you say, don't last long. Veg treasure hunts obviously. Changing location of play time eg indoor run, out door run, on grass, on flags. Veg on top of bricks in a run for him to find. Leaving newspaper for him to chew - even with crossword on in case he fancies having a go at that.....rolleyes

I have asked a builder to save me off cuts of drainage pipe and planning a tube challenge when I have those.
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Phew, glad someone else has one too. I thought I had some mad alien breed of piggy!

Angus is partial to eating/ throwing around whatever is on the floorincluding shoes, cups of tea, dinner plates etc. He loves to tip over glasses of squash and drink them.
 
I know what you mean, sometimes keeping Megan entertained is so difficult! Sorry cannot offer any help, you know how special our Meg is!
 
sport_billy said:
I know what you mean, sometimes keeping Megan entertained is so difficult! Sorry cannot offer any help, you know how special our Meg is!
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He he I love Meggie. Will have to come visit your lovely girls again soon....
 
He sounds amazing! I'm sat here chuckling to myself :)) All my pigs do all day is sleep {:|rolleyes
 
Have you tried to build him a little cardboard maze with treats hidden here and there? Especially one you can change the lay out?
Hung hay stuffed toilet rolls on a string across the cage?
A heap of (preferably soiled) fleece or rags to burrow in is also quite a bit of fun - if you wish, stick a chube in.
Saucers swilled with different fruit juices to explore and taste.
An unsprayed, dethorned rose stem, a rose bloom that is past its best, or an apple tree twig with a few leaves left on to wreak havoc with.
A "car wash curtain": A bit of old fleece, cut into stripes nearly to the top which you then tie to the grids/cage, letting the stripes hang down.
You can make 2inch high hurdles with a ruler or even build him a little assault course with tins, cardboard and bits and ends.
Get a cheap pack of paper bags from ebay (cut through any handles).
See what he does when he meets himself in a shaving mirror.

(As you can see, I have had the odd intelligent and easily bored piggy myself!)
 
:)) As Mrs SB has said, clever Angus! It can be difficult keeping them entertained... Megan because she is slow and needs a lot of stimulus sometimes - especially when she decides to chew bars and do nothing else rolleyes

I know Angus is a different kettle of fish, watching him with the Living world toy when we visited was amazing, he is one clever dude. Can only suggest Toilet rolls stuffed with hair and herbs in, they used to keep Pitch and Putt entertained. Love Weibke's idea of 'car wash curtain'

Look forward to finding out what you do for him. you'll have to come round soon, may even be in our new house. Love to Gill and the boys x
 
How do you feed your dry food? Sacattering it in pile of hay rather than offering it in a bowl can provide hours of forraging fun!
 
Wiebke said:
Have you tried to build him a little cardboard maze with treats hidden here and there? Especially one you can change the lay out?
Hung hay stuffed toilet rolls on a string across the cage?
A heap of (preferably soiled) fleece or rags to burrow in is also quite a bit of fun - if you wish, stick a chube in.
Saucers swilled with different fruit juices to explore and taste.
An unsprayed, dethorned rose stem, a rose bloom that is past its best, or an apple tree twig with a few leaves left on to wreak havoc with.
A "car wash curtain": A bit of old fleece, cut into stripes nearly to the top which you then tie to the grids/cage, letting the stripes hang down.
You can make 2inch high hurdles with a ruler or even build him a little assault course with tins, cardboard and bits and ends.
Get a cheap pack of paper bags from ebay (cut through any handles).
See what he does when he meets himself

(As you can see, I have had the odd intelligent and easily bored piggy myself!)
Click to expand...


Wow so they can chew on a de thorned rose stem and eat a rose bloom?
Just wanted to double check as I have many in my garden. :)
 
Try this, get a toilet roll (or kitchen roll) place your pigs fav food in the middle stuff it with spring greens and cap off each end with a slice of cucumber. Its fun to watch them figure it out although my pigs are pro's at it now and its destroyed in minutes! :))
 
Done loads of little things, not as good as Wiebke though:

- the toilet rolls i use often
- egg boxes with veg hidden inside
- old boxes for them to chew and climb through
- Ive got my Nutmeg a parrot toy with a mirror on for her to look at herself and a bell
- hanging toys
- hanging veg from string for them to reach up and get
- scattering veg and/or pellets around the run/cage
- old bottles and useless stuff... they just love exploring new things
- baby food (the fruit kinds) for them to try

x.
 
Loving the ideas here! As Abi said mine just love sniffing and exploring new stuff so sometimes I put odd things in (that are safe) for them to explore for a while!
 
Wiebke said:
Have you tried to build him a little cardboard maze with treats hidden here and there? Especially one you can change the lay out?
Hung hay stuffed toilet rolls on a string across the cage?
A heap of (preferably soiled) fleece or rags to burrow in is also quite a bit of fun - if you wish, stick a chube in.
Saucers swilled with different fruit juices to explore and taste.
An unsprayed, dethorned rose stem, a rose bloom that is past its best, or an apple tree twig with a few leaves left on to wreak havoc with.
A "car wash curtain": A bit of old fleece, cut into stripes nearly to the top which you then tie to the grids/cage, letting the stripes hang down.
You can make 2inch high hurdles with a ruler or even build him a little assault course with tins, cardboard and bits and ends.
Get a cheap pack of paper bags from ebay (cut through any handles).
See what he does when he meets himself in a shaving mirror.

(As you can see, I have had the odd intelligent and easily bored piggy myself!)
Click to expand...


Thanks for the ideas!

Will try the carwash curtain and an assault course. We've just bought them a new massive cage so I'll be able to put his hammock back up. He got a mirror from Santa so we will get that out again too. The roses is a fab idea....

Who wrote about the toilet roll tube with the ends stopped up with cucmber> That's a great idea too. will try that.

We bought him one of these balls that dispenses treats as you roll it around but Hamish is better at that than Angus.

I will have to get the brown paper bags out again and I have a boig roll of brown packing paper from work.

He's just so hard work but I love him for it!
 
MerryPip said:
Thanks for the ideas!

Will try the carwash curtain and an assault course. We've just bought them a new massive cage so I'll be able to put his hammock back up. He got a mirror from Santa so we will get that out again too. The roses is a fab idea....

Who wrote about the toilet roll tube with the ends stopped up with cucmber> That's a great idea too. will try that.

We bought him one of these balls that dispenses treats as you roll it around but Hamish is better at that than Angus.

I will have to get the brown paper bags out again and I have a boig roll of brown packing paper from work.

He's just so hard work but I love him for it!
Click to expand...

I think it's just a case of really mixing things up, so that he doesn't get bored with the same thing. Lots of variety is the way forward I think!
 
Teejay said:
.....my Squeaky does that too! Not good when it's a glass of Ribena on a beige carpet....sigh :{
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I think your Squeaky and my Angus are a match made in heaven if you want to mad, chaos causing, whirlwind piggies!
 
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