Strawberry Treat Balls

My first attempt with the cardboard treat balls were met with mild interest.  Both pigs got bored quickly and failed to remove all of the treats.  I kept trying.  Lo and behold, strawberries did the trick.

Boadicea had the biggest learning curve.  She kept rolling the cardboard balls around expecting the treats to pop out, just like the egg-cersizer.  The strawberries were enough incentive enough to keep trying.  Her favorite move was to grab a flap and shake it up and down.  Wedgwood preferred to chew the flaps until she could reach in and pull out the strawberry top.

Hey - whatever works!

All the Toys

I recently posted about the cardboard treat balls I made up for Boadicea and Wedgwood.  It included a video of Boadicea opening one of the balls.  What I didn't show you was Wedgwood being an unmitigated pee-face. 

Several times Boadi contemplated going elsewhere, but obviously really wanted to play wit the new toys.  Equally apparent - Wedgie wanted all of the treat balls to herself, even if she couldn't get into them.  She actually abandons two of them to chase Boadi away from a third.  Really?  You're that greedy??

What a rotten little rodent.

On a side note - who knew guinea pigs could move that fast in reverse?

Cardboard Treat Balls

We saw a home-made toy demonstration at the Pig-a-Palooza in May.  I liked the toilet paper tubes filled with treats.  They look like a smaller version of the egg-cersizer.  I gave them a try last week.

Making them was easy.  First, you need a piece of toilet paper tube, cut to about thee inches long.  Then you cut four evenly-spaced slots on one end.  The other end also gets four slots, but staggered from the first four (so they don't line up across the tube).  Fold in the one end, tucking the flaps under/over each other.  Flip it over, fill it with something good to eat, then fold the flaps on the other end.

Space

Last year I started feeling guilty that the guinea pigs weren't getting much floor time.  I remember years ago watching Eclair and Teddi running laps around the living room.  I loved watching them bound around.  I've yet to have other guinea pigs that run around like that.

Floor setup was time consuming, with food and the water bottle, home base and grids.  My three level setup allowed my sows to have space away from each other, but not really enough for them to get up and go full tilt.

So last November I started the ramp experiment.  It turned out to be a lot of fun for everyone in the household.  The results were surprising, as well.

Tomato Treats

Can you see the tomato?  We  know it's here somewhere....

All those tomatoes we've been preparing for sauce resulted in quite a pile of parings.  The bruised and spoiled bits went straight to the compost.  However, all of the bits near the stem were saved for the guinea pigs.

Boadicea is not highly motivated for tomato pieces.  She'd rather have corn husk or bits of cucumber.  But if there's tomatoes right there in front of her, she won't say no.

Wedgwood his far more enthused and will eat whatever tomato is closest to her, even if it's the piece Boadi currently has.  They ended up in a brief standoff when Wedgie figured it would be easier to take from Boadi than to figure out how to manipulate the toy.  Very similar to Boadi's old "wouldn't you like to share that with me?"

Going in Circles

It's funny.  I had created the free-range ramp in an effort to keep Boadicea from getting bored.  But it was Cannoli that used the ramp constantly when the gate was opened.  Boadi only came out if she thought she was missing out.

Then, when she was by herself, she had little reason to come to the floor.

Nowadays, she mostly comes down for the treats.  As she and Wedgwood continue to get along better, there have been forays to the floor just to explore.  But Boadi knows -  floor time is best when there's goodies.  She can clear the Teach'N'Treat in record time, often before Wedgie even gets near it.  They both take turns with the Egg-cersizer.  Neither of them developed Cannoli's knack of reaching out and dragging it back to the fleece.  Wedg is the only one to go after it if it rolls on the hardwood floor.  I got a laugh the other day when Boadi managed to roll it in a circle.  She had made several laps before I thought to grab the camera.

Can You Find the Pepper?

I've used the Teach N Treat cups to create the guinea pig version of the shell game.  In this case, there's a prize under every cup; for a guinea pig that can still be a real challenge.

Their first instinct is to nudge the cup until it tips over.  The Teach N Treat works like that, it's also true when placed on fleece.  But when the cups are on the hard wood floor, they slide!  Cannoli has figured it out.  I have seen her try to lift the sliding cover off the Teach N Treat, so I knew it wouldn't take her long to pick up the cups.  It's pretty funny - she gets so focused on the cups, she misses the fact she's uncovered the pepper!  What a dope.

Speaking of dopes, Boadicea has not figured out the lifting part.  So she ends up chasing the cup around.  And yet, Boadi managed to get as much pepper as Noli did.  These two are a winning combination.

Play Time

Cannoli and Boadicea continue to have lots floor time.  I open the free-range gate most days.  Their treat schedule changes a bit on free-range days.  Breakfast lettuce is still served in the cage.  Bell pepper, though, is cut up into small pieces and divvied between the Teach N Treat and Egg-cersizer.  They have to work for it.

Where the Egg Ends Up

I've been putting the egg-cersizer in the cage a few times a week and it gets batted around like a soccer ball.  Bertie and Pinniped would immediately face off like opposing teams.  Even now, Pinni comes running over and noses it over as soon as I place it on the floor.

What I find entertaining is where the egg-cersizer winds up at the end of the day.  After it's emptied, I find it stuffed in a corner or wedged behind the brick under the water bottle.  My favorite is the one time it was slam-dunked into the nearly-empty food dish.  How did they manage that? 

Once the girls wedge it into these spots could they ever get the egg out again?  The spot behind the water bottle isn't very accessible.  The egg-cersizer is usually empty when I find it in jammed in a corner, so there's not a whole lot of motivation to dig it out.  Was it tucked out of the way on purpose?  Perhaps they were putting their toy away, the game having ended when it ran out of cranberries.  I suspect it's sheer luck that it gets wedged in these spots after it's empty.  On the other hand, knowing guinea pigs, it's more likely a message for me to refill it.

Teach N Treat - Level 3

The girls have been mastering the first two levels of Teach 'N Treat.  I had a chance to try the remaining challenge with them today.  This level keeps the four covers used in level 2, but locks them onto the board.  This allows the covers to be pushed around, but they cannot be picked up.

Having watched Bertie and Pinniped play with this toy over the last couple of months, I figured this level would be a non-event.  And this was true.  Pinni walked over, immediately nosed over the first cover she encountered, picked out the melon piece and took off to enjoy it.  The two of them had no problems maneuvering the pieces.  Their biggest frustration was their inability to lift up the covers or knock them over.  You can see Pinni tries several times to pick them up to move them.

Teach N Treat - Level 2

It was the fifth or sixth time trying the Teach 'N Treat on Level 1 that I saw Pinniped systematically moving the disk and checking the reservoirs for bits of tomato.  Finally - a recognition of cause and effect.  I moved the disk over a few of the pieces she uncovered, and she purposely shoved the disk far over to one corner, and started to check for uncovered tomatoes.  I did not see Bertie do the same, but if Pinni has figured it out, Bertie can't be far behind.

I figured it was time to try Level 2.  This level has four plugs that cover any four holes.  They need to picked up out or knocked over to get to the treat underneath.

Apple Streamers

Whenever I make apple pie or something that involves peeling apples, I give the peels to the girls.  I try to make a game of it.  Since the peelings are long and thin, I can easily wrap them through the grids on the third level.  They dangle like streamers.  It's pretty funny watching the pigs trying to catch the ends to pull them down.  When they get too short to reach, sometimes they're smart enough to head upstairs and grab what's left. 

Bertie and Pinni managed to pull these apple peelings down pretty easily.  Normally they have to work at it for a while.  It can be like watching a kid bob for apples or try to hit a piñata.  It's good to make those pigs work for their treats!

Teach N Treat - Level 1

I broke out the Teach 'N Treat this weekend to see how well Pinniped and Bertie would do with it.  This puzzle is intended for guinea pigs, rabbits and other small animals.  It has eight depressions to put bits of food in, and three different levels of complexity to get to the prize.

I set it up for the easiest level.  The goal is to move a large disk away to expose the treats.  They managed to pull out the first two tomatoes within seconds.  I was shocked that Pinniped accomplished this so quickly (it took her several tries to work the egg-cersizer).  But it was obvious that neither pig had a clue how the tomatoes suddenly became available.  Bertie kept testing if she could bite through the plastic, and tried to pick up the disk.  At one point, she successfully shoved away the disk, but was so focused on it that she missed the fact she had uncovered two tomatoes.  Then Pinni attempted to steal what was left of Bertie's tomato, completely oblivious of the one in the hole she was standing over.  Silly pigs.

Egg-Cersizer

Guinea pigs are not known for their vast intelligence.  I've had more than one owner admit their pig's bulb burns pretty dim.  However, I like to engage their brainpower when I can.  Many pigs are very curious and some are actually pretty good at puzzling things out.  So I decided to get a couple of pet puzzles/games for my girls to try out.

The first to arrive is a toy for cats, not guinea pigs, called the Egg-Cersizer.  It's an egg-shaped plastic container about the size of my fist with holes in it that allow food to fall out as the egg rolls around.  It can be adjusted to allow 1, 2 or 3 holes to be open.  Seemed pretty simple and for under $10, it was certainly worth a try.  Guinea pigs won't bat it around like a kitty would, but I'm sure they could grasp the concept of rolling it around for food.

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. 

A Piggy Present

Unstoppable Bertie vs an immovable tunnel

A fellow guinea pig slave and member of the pignic Pig Patrol came to my Tea last week.  She arrived with her version of Bad Pig Stew (cavy-free, of course) in one hand and a piggy present in the other.  I may need to invite her over to my house more often....

Pinni and Bertie had just survived a loud and exciting evening with the Girls Next Door.  (The twins were thrilled I waited to clean the cage until they were available and the pigs were being silly, so loud outbursts ensued, much to the Newbie's dismay.)  I imagine Pinni and Bertie were not pleased that the house was invaded by more people only 16 hours later.  The two of them were shier than usual.