Product Review: Super Pet Crinkle Tunnel

To be honest, we haven't thought very highly of many of the Super Pet products we've tried in the past. Their music chews were boring, and their leashes and exercise balls could potentially injure your guinea pig. However, this time, they finally did something right with the Super Pet Crinkle Tunnel.

At first, we were scared to try it, but the humans put a few pellets inside the tunnel, which gave us the courage to try it out.

This is pretty fun!

We should point out that the tunnel is too big to fit in our cage, so it's mainly a floor time toy for us. Also, our tunnel is brand-new and we haven't had much time to make a mess in it, but rest assured that we will. When that happens, we're a little concerned that we'll have to put up with our humans complaining about how hard it is to clean up after us. Others who have used this thing have said that it's hard to wash, and recommended an alternative on Etsy. (If anyone tries it, please let us know what you think!) We'll give the Super Pet Crinkle Tunnel 4.5/5 stars!

Floor Time Fun in Piggy City

As we've already explained, floor time is important for mental stimulation and exercise. However, floor time can also be scary for some guinea pigs because we're leaving our familiar cage for less familiar territory. Following behind the dominant pig can help relieve some of this anxiety. Another thing that can help is if your human sets up what we are calling a "Piggy City." What is a Piggy City, you ask? Well, if you look at a human city, you'll see that they have buildings with streets between them. You can take the stuff out of our cages during floor time and create a similar setup.

What street am I on? I wish I had a GPS. I'd make this a "favorite!"

You see, we guinea pigs are prey animals, and hiding places make us feel safe. We don't like being in open spaces. You can tell us all you want that we're safe in your living room, but we don't care. The day we let our guard down could be the day that there's hawk hiding behind your bookshelf!

I feel much safer here than I do in open spaces!

Next time you give your piggies floor time, consider giving them a Piggy City to play in!

How To Make Your Guinea Pig Happy Right Now

The humans just let us our for extra long floor time tonight and I have to say, it was awesome! Not only do we enjoy the exercise, but we really love the opportunity for foraging that floor time affords us.

We were made to nose around the floor, taking little steps, sniffing the floor, and tasting the occasional stray blade of hay. It's a strong natural instinct for us, and when we are let out of our cage for floor time, we get to explore and forage for food.

If you want to go a step further, you can hide little treats around the room we forage in. Take some stray pellets and hide them under chairs, in paper bags that have been tilted on their side (so we can crawl in) and we will make it our personal mission to sniff them out!

If you're concerned that we will pee and poop all over your nice carpet, have no fear! We are conditioned to only go in our cage, so just leave the cage open and we will return when nature calls. The exception to this is if there are covered areas that we have access to, such as under bookcases, or under tables, in which case we will designate these areas as our personal bathroom spots, so make sure you block these off beforehand.

One more thing: we need to be supervised during floor time because as gnawing animals we will chew on any and all things you leave on the floor: papers, shoelaces, etc. So keep a eye on us to keep us safe!

What do your piggies like to do when you give them floor time? Tell us in the comments!

Ask A Guinea Pig: Is Floor Time Necessary?

Katrina VanZandt asks: "How necessary is the floor time you mention? Every time we take Sugar and Cinnamon out they poo on the carpet."

Floor time fun! 

Answer: As we've mentioned before in our floor time post, floor time is lots of fun, although you need to keep an eye on us to make sure so we don't eat anything we shouldn't. Floor time provides mental stimulation and exercise for your piggies, so we'd say it's pretty important. If you have a small cage (less than 10.5 square feet), floor time is even more important. Even if you have a large cage, it's still better to give us regular opportunities to explore new environments and run around, and shouldn't be treated as optional.

If you are concerned about your piggies using your carpet as a bathroom, you can put down newspapers or bath mats for easy cleanup. If you have additional concerns about your piggies running loose in your home (pooping under furniture where it's difficult to clean, areas where your piggies could get stuck or hurt, etc.), you might consider getting the largest pet exercise pens you can find and use it for floor time. Alternatively, you might consider using a room of your house that does not have carpet, such as your kitchen or bathroom, for floor time.

Guinea Pig Ate Lily - What To Do

Lola here. I've had a particularly rough week. It started on Tuesday, when I rattled my cage bars until one of the humans let me out. Nice, I thought. An excuse to run around and have some floor time.

The human was busy cleaning and had placed one of those yummy looking houseplants they have on the floor for a moment to dust the small table they usually keep it on. I've been wanting to try that plant for the longest time, but those stingy humans don't want to share, so they keep it high above the floor when me and the other guinea pigs can't get to it.

Lilies

I waited until the human's back was turned and ran over to the plant. I quickly devoured one of the leaves, but before I could eat any more, the human saw me and ran towards me screaming. What's your problem, human? Why are you freaking out-

Oh. Ugh. Wait a minute.

I don't feel so well.

Maybe there's a reason the humans have been keeping me away from house plants. The human scooped me up and put me back in my cage, gave me fresh water, and immediately called the vet.

From what I could gather, I had eaten a poisonous houseplant called a Calla Lily. The vet suggested that the human call the ASPCA's animal poison control number (888-426-4435) to try to determine how bad my situation was. The phone consultation cost $65 and they told the human that based on a variety of factors (my age, weight, symptoms, amount of lily I had consumed) I would probably be okay. They told the human to watch me for the next 24 hours and if I showed any signs (diarrhea, not eating, not drinking water, drinking water constantly, winching in pain when belly is touched, or becoming lethargic), they should take me to the vet ASAP. They also said that a small amount of yogurt (1/4 teaspoon) would help relieve my oral discomfort but that yogurt should not be a regular food since it's not all that good for us.

Calla Lilies can be deadly to guinea pigs.

I coughed a bit and stuck my tongue out a few times but otherwise had no symptoms. Within a day, I was back to normal. The humans took me to the vet just in case but as far as they could tell, I got lucky and will be fine.

Humans, please learn from my stupid human's mistake: Lily houseplants, such as Calla Lilies and Peace Lily, can be deadly to guinea pigs. If you accidentally see us eating it, you need to call the animal poison number listed above to determine your course of action. Never, ever let us near any house plants unless you know they are safe. Even though I'm feeling better, I still risked kidney damage and death by nibbling on that calla lily.

Guinea Pig Social Hour

The other day, the humans decided to try having us play together on the striped carpet. Up until now, the humans have always put us on the colorful square carpet when the three of us are together. Nobody has "claimed" the colorful squares carpet, mainly because it is rare that any of us are brave enough to venture over to the other room (but also because the colorful square carpet is ugly and none of us really want to be seen on it). So the colorful square carpet, being neutral and disliked all around, is where the humans have let us interact when we're all out having floor time together.

We've been getting along so well lately, with fewer incidents of nipping, burring and other general unpleasantries, so the humans let us all out on the striped carpet. Now, Lola and I really enjoy the striped carpet. It is in the same room as our cage, and it's huge. We love running around on it, and up until now, we thought it was reserved exclusively for our use. It turns out Broccoli has been allowed to roam the striped carpet when we are secure in our cage. So the issue has arisen that now none of us know who exactly owns the striped carpet territory. When the humans released all three of us from our cage the other day and let us out on the striped carpet, it was battle royal:

Luckily, nobody was hurt. I'm telling you, if the human hadn't been giving Lola the "I'm watching you, missy!" look, I'm pretty sure she would have showed Broccoli who's boss.

Games To Play With Your Guinea Pig

We love inventing games to play with our humans (such as our favorite, "Capture The Receipt"), but this post is dedicated to games humans can play with us. Perhaps you've read that you can put objects in your pig's cage to enrich their environment, such as empty tissue paper boxes. But there are more interactive games you can play with us, too.

One such game is "Sniff Out The Treats", and it is our absolute new favorite game. Here's how it goes: you, the humans, place a favorite treat in strategic places around the room. Then, let us out of our cage and watch as we forage to sniff out the good stuff! Just be sure that there aren't any hazards in the room, such as cords, wires, or papers. We might nibble at those, too, if they're available.

Why do we love this game so much? We guinea pigs love to forage. It's an intense instinct that we have. There's no sport in finding food in our cages, but when you hide it around the room and let is find it, it's great fun and good exercise.

Today was the first day that the humans played this game with us. We are let out of our cage for about an hour each day to get exercise, and we always use this time to explore and forage for anything on the floor that the humans might have missed. You can't imagine our joy when we manage to find a stray piece of hay under a chair or desk.

So when we were let out to roam today, we we so pleased to discover that the humans had hid four piles of CareFresh Complete guinea pig food around the room!

It didn't take us long to find them all and eat them.

Interacting with the Humans: A How To Guide for Guinea Pigs

Buffy and I decided to do a post on our relationship with our non-furry friends, the humans. Although much of this blog is dedicated to guinea pig toys and foods, we can't ignore the fact that sometimes the humans are more than just food providers. Here are our thoughts on human-guinea pig interactions:

Lola:

While I hate being picked up, I usually don't mind if the humans reach into the cage to pet my head. Sometimes, they'll want to pick me up and hold me in their lap for a while and pet me. I don't mind it when they do this, because I can just flatten out in total relaxation and go to sleep. I mean, I don't have to worry about predators if I'm in the hands of a fearsome giant, right?

I also sometimes get needy for human attention. It's so boring being stuck in the cage with Buffy; whenever I try to play with her or initiate a game of tag, she hops on top of a pigloo and glares down at me. But the humans are always up for fun. Sometimes I'll create games to play with the humans. I know they hate it when I touch their shoelaces, so I'll try to sneak up on them and see how long it takes them to shoo me away.

Another game I enjoy is "Capture the Receipt". The humans keep a plastic container of important receipts on the floor. Sometimes, during floor time, I'll jump into the container and fish out a receipt. If they catch me doing it, then I'll run away with the receipt in my mouth until they manage to stop me and retrieve the receipt. What fun!

Buffy:

I just want to be left alone bu humans and guinea pigs alike. I hate it when anyone bothers me. I hate it when Lola kicks me out of my pigloo, I hate it when a human hand approaches the cage, and I especially hate being held. Being held feels like being captured to me. I burr and I burr to let the humans know I hate it, but sometimes they don't care and will insist on petting me. I'm not a cat, humans! Just because I sound like I'm purring doesn't mean I'm happy.

Well, there you have it. How much a guinea pig enjoys interacting with their humans varies from pig to pig.

A New Place to Store Timothy Hay

The newest shipment of timothy hay came in last week from Hayloft! Last time, we had the humans order 15lbs of second cut timothy hay to see if we would like it. 15 lbs lasted us nearly three months, and we liked it so much that this time we ordered 25lbs! That's half a year's supply for around $50, which, if you compare with pet store prices, is very cheap.

So the package arrived and the humans decided that they needed a place to store this giant bale of hay. Rather than have the massive cardboard shipping box sit in the middle of the living room (which doubles as our spot for floor time), they invested in a wicker hamper from World Market. Check it out:

It takes up much less floor space, which means we'll have more room to run around.