Floor Time: Do your GPs move a lot during floor time?

[Alice]

My new piggy Patch doesn't move much I think he's nervous and he just likes to sit on the blanket at the moment. My older piggy Sandy runs up and down the room and hides under the table and other places. Try putting a tunnel and some toys around the room and hide some treats for them to find. Also if one starts to run around it might encourage the others to as with my old piggy Snowy he would just follow Sandy around.

[Reiland]

Mine runs under something and stays there. He looks at me as if to say, "I don't DO floor time!" He gets a lot of lap time instead.

[NicholsS10]

All my pigs run around like crazy! Mine range in age from 11 months to a little over 2 years old. I set up tunnels and whatnot for them to run through and set up a food area and a (non-tipping) bowl of water. They all go crazy running around in laps and doing piggy trains. I have noticed one difference in what I do to get them motivated.

At my apartment (I'm in college), my pigs' run area is an extremely large circle, where as at my parent's house (when I visit over winter, spring, and summer breaks...they have a C&C cage there too!) they take over the upstairs hallway (I close all the doors and gate off the stairs). They prefer the smaller, but LONG hallway for some reason.. maybe they think the laps are longer, I'm not sure. They also use hidey houses (that I placed at opposite ends of the hallway) to circle around.

So try a different set up for them!

[MapleOwl18]

My Linus Piggy love running and exploring.

But my Butterscotch piggy prefers to hide. I get Buttercotch out put his little bum on the floor and then let him go. He usually goes and hides. I let him and act like I'm not noticing him, and then he'll come out and start exploring, especially if he sees or smells another guinea pig, or you have a carrot.

Have both your guinea pigs out together during floor time and don't make any sudden movements, and turn any music and/or TV off. Usually they'll start chasing each other around or playing follow the leader in minutes. My piggies were always afraid of the piano and the radio.

[BellasMommy21]

Originally Posted by Shawnee

How do you prevent them from peeing all over your carpets? .

I found a pretty good suggestion online that said to lay a shower curtain liner down on the floor. This works for me because I have Bella in a large floor pen and just put it under her- she LOVES the noise her nails make on the plastic, but I thought it may scare her at first, so it may yours. I tend to wipe up any pee spots with a paper towel as soon as they happen so she's not running threw them, but the poo and hay etc.- I just use a dust pan and broom to clean off the curtain, wipe it down, let it dry and fold it up until next time! Works great!