Enrichment

[RinT]

Hello, my Boar will be getting neutered on September 5th and will be finally getting a friend on October 20th. He is a rescue boar that I got from a neglectful owner, and as far as I know he has been alone his whole life (2 years with a previous owner and 5 months with me). The only reason he has been alone with me was due to him being sickly when I got him, so I spent the last 5 months getting him healthier before getting him neutered/a friend. As there's still another 7ish weeks until he gets his friend, I was wondering what I could do for enrichment for him? As of right now he is in a 2x4 c&c cage which will be increased to a 4x10 c&c cage tomorrow, he does not like toys but does like to play with toilet paper stuffed with hay (I'm a bit nervous about these as he tends to eat the toilet paper roll as well as newspaper in his litter box), as well as getting floor time, outside time in a very secure play pen and burrowing in hay. He is also handled a a lot during the day (He enjoys this quiet a lot), will sit with me while I work/game, or take naps with me. I plan to move out early next year for my work and when I do I will be increasing the amount of piggies I have to form a small herd - 5 in total including him and the sow (1 boar 4 sows together).

If anyone has any ideas on what I can do to give him more enrichment I would appreciate it a lot

 

[Evenfall Rose]

Eating a toilet paper tube every now and then won't hurt him. My pigs like to do that too. Their digestive systems are made to digest fiber -- hay is obviously the best and should be their main source but stuff like cardboard (as long as it's safe and natural) is okay. I've read about some people who coat the toilet paper tube with banana and then roll it around in dried herbs/flowers/forage before stuffing it with hay to make a slightly more interesting toy.

If your boy is particularly adventurous during his floor time, you could try hiding small pieces of veggies in various places around the play area for him to uncover.

You can try training him some tricks too. Hold treats just out of his reach to see if you can train him to stand on his hind legs for food. Move treats around in a circle (slowly at first, then increase the speed) to get him to follow them. My super-genius Cassia is the only one I've been able to train to do the circle trick, but after a few months of work she's a pro at it! Another easy trick if you have access to carpeted stairs is stair climbing -- start at the bottom of the stairs, push gently on his bum to get him to jump to the next step, and repeat. Eventually you'll be able to put him down at the bottom and have him run up the whole flight without any encouragement. I kind of have to aptitude test my pigs before I start seriously training them to stair climb since some of them are easily distracted and/or don't understand that they need to jump up -- you're unlikely to ever make progress with those pigs. If they just sit on the step and look up, that's a good sign.

Interactive store-bought toys can be fun to try too. I have the Living World Teach 'n Treat which is made specifically for small animals like guinea pigs but you might have luck with a logic toy made for a small dog or cat too. The way these toys work is that you hide treats inside them and your pet has to figure out how to solve the puzzle in order to get to the treats. The Living World toy has multiple "levels" with either a large disc they slide around to uncover the treat-filled holes or with several individual "knobs" they can slide or pick up. Cassia likes tossing the knobs around almost as much as she likes eating the treats I put in there

Also a 4x10 C&C seems like a lot of space for just one pig. I have a 4x5 with three pigs in there right now and even that feels a bit like overkill. Maybe consider holding off on giving so much space until you get more pigs to live with him?

 

[Piggies&buns]

This guide also gives lots of ideas - Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

I do agree that a 4x10 would be too big for a single piggy and is likely just to be an overwhelming amount of open space for him. I wouldn’t increase his cage size at all while he is alone

 

[RinT]

Eating a toilet paper tube every now and then won't hurt him. My pigs like to do that too. Their digestive systems are made to digest fiber -- hay is obviously the best and should be their main source but stuff like cardboard (as long as it's safe and natural) is okay. I've read about some people who coat the toilet paper tube with banana and then roll it around in dried herbs/flowers/forage before stuffing it with hay to make a slightly more interesting toy.

If your boy is particularly adventurous during his floor time, you could try hiding small pieces of veggies in various places around the play area for him to uncover.

You can try training him some tricks too. Hold treats just out of his reach to see if you can train him to stand on his hind legs for food. Move treats around in a circle (slowly at first, then increase the speed) to get him to follow them. My super-genius Cassia is the only one I've been able to train to do the circle trick, but after a few months of work she's a pro at it! Another easy trick if you have access to carpeted stairs is stair climbing -- start at the bottom of the stairs, push gently on his bum to get him to jump to the next step, and repeat. Eventually you'll be able to put him down at the bottom and have him run up the whole flight without any encouragement. I kind of have to aptitude test my pigs before I start seriously training them to stair climb since some of them are easily distracted and/or don't understand that they need to jump up -- you're unlikely to ever make progress with those pigs. If they just sit on the step and look up, that's a good sign.

Interactive store-bought toys can be fun to try too. I have the Living World Teach 'n Treat which is made specifically for small animals like guinea pigs but you might have luck with a logic toy made for a small dog or cat too. The way these toys work is that you hide treats inside them and your pet has to figure out how to solve the puzzle in order to get to the treats. The Living World toy has multiple "levels" with either a large disc they slide around to uncover the treat-filled holes or with several individual "knobs" they can slide or pick up. Cassia likes tossing the knobs around almost as much as she likes eating the treats I put in there

Also a 4x10 C&C seems like a lot of space for just one pig. I have a 4x5 with three pigs in there right now and even that feels a bit like overkill. Maybe consider holding off on giving so much space until you get more pigs to live with him?

Thank you so much, I will 100% try this with him I have held off on the big cage and decided it might be a better idea to do that when I get a herd - for now I just keep him in a 2x4 which I will make a 2x5 when his friend gets here