Inside Play Time
Beat those boredom blues!My pig gets bored EXTREMELY fast. Being a
university student and needing lots of time to concentrate on studying and not
on Dixie made me try to come up with anything to keep her occupied.
I have finally figured out that Dixie will play with anything that involves
food or that will make noise.
Toys I have tried that work with
Dixie:
- "Buster Food Cube." I found
this at Petsmart, after a suggestion by my vet. The cube is made of
plastic with several compartments inside and one hole outside. You put
dried food (or dried cereal-a treat) in the hole, shake the cube around for
the food to get in the compartments, put it on the floor, and your pig will be
rolling that bad boy around in no time trying to make the food roll out.
This is known as a type of manna ball. You can make one of your own by
taking an empty, clean container of your choice, putting holes in it big
enough for food to fall out, and putting some treats inside. You
probably want to make the holes small enough so the food won't come out
easily, but will eventually fall out.
- Laundry. As weird as this
sounds, take all your laundry and throw it on the floor. My pig likes to
root it around and cover herself with the laundry. Be careful, though,
because my pig has tried to chew buttons off of shirts.
- Blankets and sheets. I have
a futon that Dixie can climb onto. She likes to root blankets around,
snuggle under the covers, and fall asleep. You could try this tactic
with a bunch of old towels and sheets (go find some at a yard sale if you
don't have any.)
- Newspaper. Yes,
newspaper. If you read a newspaper on the floor, watch your pig.
He will come over, look at the paper, and all of a sudden bite on a corner and
run off with it. Other people have told me that their pigs have this
same fascination with newspaper; for some reason, pigs think that paper is
great fun to snatch away, shred, and chew up. I think it has to do with
the noise the paper makes in the process.
- Throw pillows. I had a
couple of old throw pillows, so I put them on the floor, thinking that Dixie
would like to lay on them. She does, but she'll also stick her nose
under them and try to toss them in the air.
- Plastic grocery bags. I am
now convinced that pigs love things that make noise. These are better
than newspaper because the pig is not as likely to eat plastic, since plastic
is harder to tear than paper. These bags are also not big enough for the
pig to get caught in and suffocate. Dixie loves nosing and pawing these
plastic bags. She will also grab them in her mouth and shake
them.
- Goodie
ships. I found these
at PetsMart. They are made of rubber and have star-shaped holes in
them. You are supposed to put food in the holes. These toys are
shaped like flying saucers and come in different sizes.
Toys I have tried that do not
work with Dixie:
- Balls. I read on someone's
pig page to take a bunch of balls (any type, as long as Dixie could not
swallow them) and put them in a closed-in space. Dixie would then like
to root the balls around. Well, after having 36 golf balls, 40 tennis
balls, and being $60 poorer, the most fun Dixie has gotten out of the
balls has been trying to rip the plastic off of the tennis ball
canister.
- Fleece toys. I bought Dixie
a squeaky fleece toy that has 5 rope legs extending from it. I
usually find it in her litter box when I come home.
