Paper Bag Fun

Pinni and a new bag
After 8 hours and after 24 hours

In case you didn't know, paper bags stuffed with hay are the ultimate toy.  At least that's what my pigs have told me over the last decade.  I like to joke about it:  you can go in the bag, around the bag, on top of the bag.  You can eat the hay, pull out the hay, stuff yourself in the bag and lay on the hay.  You can eat the bag or drag it all around the cage.  Endless possibilities with just a single paper bag!  Oh, joy!

Generally, a single bag of hay survives only a few days of attention.  I think its transience is part of the appeal.  For Pinni and Bertie, the goal is to destroy it in the shortest span of time.  As soon as I placed the bag in the cage, Pinni began to clean out the hay as Bertie nibbled the edges.  I didn't see the work that went into it after that, so I'm not sure if it was accomplished by a single pig, tag-team or a joint effort.  However, this latest one was disassembled (and yet spotlessly clean) in less than 24 hours.  That's a record in this household. 

The joys of a paper bag filled with hay

Every pig I've owned has had a unique pattern of annihilating a hay bag.  Pinni and Bertie like to snip off all the edges, so the bag will open up flat.  Athena and Victoria would chew out a large hole in the bottom and side of the bag, so it became a tunnel.  They liked to run through it and it was Athena's favorite place to sleep.  Pippin had a thing about the top edge and the bottom corners, and would occasionally tear strips from it.  Willow tended not to chew apart the bag (except for a small hole in a bottom corner), but would sleep, eat and pee in it, so the bag would simply disintegrate.

Regardless of their demolition methods, every pig gets excited when they hear me pull out and open a new paper bag and the rustle of hay being stuffed into it.  Huzzah!  It's the hay bag!