Guinea Pig Chewing His Cage

[MikeSulley]

I've have my 2 boys for nearly a month now. They've settled in. Mike the smallest one loves lap time and cuddling into my dressing gown or nuzzling into my neck.

They are fed pellets in the morning with fresh veg and lunch and then about 7.30pm.
Fresh hay unlimited and fresh water every day.

I've also stuffed toilet roll tubes stuffed with hay and dandelion leaves a couple of times and they love them.

I read somewhere that cage biting can be a sign of boredom or stress with guinea pigs.
They have a 120 x 54 cm cage and "sofa time" where they explore my leather sofa (easily cleanable lol).

However fatty (Sulley) has started to gnaw at his cage. Not all the time but a few times a day.
He's the dominant one (if that makes any difference?)

So I guess my question is, what things can I make / give them for enrichment. They have a wooden bridge thing which they can hide under and climb on (although they use it for stretching on rather than climbing lol), a chube and a pigloo - which they love to rearrange themselves during their mad half hours (always 9.30-10pm! just before my bedtime lol).

 

[piggyfan]

With boars it is recommended their cage is a minimum of 140 by 60 cm. The cage you have is very small. I have a c and c cage that is 8 by 3 and my boar runs the length of it all the time. Boars do need more space then sows. I love c and c cages as they give piggies a lot more space.

 

[Maddykins]

Things that my two boars enjoy include:
Wooden tunnel like yours, they like to hide under it, sleep under it, nibble at it etc like yours
Sun-dried corn on the cobs you can buy in packs of two from P@H, they clip onto the cage you see so you can leave them hanging there and they can go eat/play with it when they want.
They have a little ball with a bell in it specially for small animals which sometimes they like to push around. They like to follow it if I push it around too as they like the jingley noise.
Plastic balls with holes in them (you can get a pack of about five from Pound shops), I stuff them with hay so they have to balance them or move about with them to heat the hay!
Toilet tubes to chew on, or stuff them with hay/forage/veg.
Empty tissue boxes I stuff with hay.
They also have a rabbit litter tray that I use as a hay tray, they like it because they can sit in it whilst they eat the hay and it's comfy and they often end up falling asleep in it. They also have a straw cosy thing which I put hay in so they sit in that to eat it/sleep and also like chewing the straw from the outside too.

Do you give them floor time too? Ours love running about our bedroom floor, I leave stuff out on purpose as they like it when there's more obstacles and things to sniff rather than being out in the open so starkly, and I take the cosy and tunnel out for them too while theyre out so they have hiding places. Also a bigger cage as the person said above, ours have a loft area so they like to sleep and wee underneath it as it's nice and snuggly and enclosed because of the loft, then they have a ramp to go up to the loft, just gives them extra interest and then a bigger floor space of the cage to bound around in when they get excited. Also I make an effort to move around their 'furniture' quite often, I read somewhere it keeps them interested in their surroundings and judging by their reactions I think it does. I keep their water bottle and food bowl in the same place always but I move around sources of hay and toys, and also usually scatter some veg around the cage/on the loft area etc so they have to move about a bit to explore and find it all.

Hope that gives you some ideas!

 

[Mamaguineapig]

Hi - I joined 2 large cages together to make a massive cage. If you buy another cheap one from eBay it's really easy to connect them by lifting one end up on each cage and connecting them with plastic security connector tape things at the roof I'm still planning on buying a c&c eventually as they look lovely but this double cage set up is getting my money's worth out of 2 large cages that were sitting doing nothing and my 2 large boys get plenty of space.Might be a cheap idea to get more space in case that is why he is gnawing. Good luck