Floor Time: Need suggestions please for floortime

[theautismgirl]

I am not sure if I understand floor time. I am hoping someone can explain what to expect. I put Hot Wheels on the floor to play and he just sits and huddles. He seems happiest on my lap. Sometimes I worry about him a lot because he just doesn't seem as active as it sounds other piggies are. What should I expect? He neither runs around in his cage, nor does he run around on the floor. We did get him to run back and forth under a blanket once. As a matter of fact, he really likes the blankets as a general rule and he is most active when I have a blanket out. Today I was terrified something was wrong with him, because he just sat and snuggled for over an hour and hardly moved. I put him on the ground and he did nothing but squeak at me. So I got a paper bag and put that down with some timothy hay inside of it and he finally ran in the bag and was nibbling his hay and hanging out. Of course then he peed, so maybe that's why he was squeaking before. He squeaks often before he pees. I don't know if he needs help and what to do to help him. I know there are posts on this topic, but I'm not finding them at the moment so I'm hoping someone won't mind terribly offering suggestions. Thank you.

[Mhera]

Squeaking before he pees= bad. Might mean stones= bad. Vet visit imminent.
Also might be impaction=worse.

As for not running around and making a fool of himself, he's probably scared of the open space. Guinea pigs are near the bottom of the food chain, get eaten by many. Instinct yells run for cover at any foreign movement. Try putting/making hideys out of stuff and placing it randomly about the room, pigs enjoy exploring new areas just put enough space between the objects that he can't get squished between, also that there aren't any wires within reach.

Guinea pigs are naturally more active during dawn and dusk. Don't ask me why. This might be a reason he doesn't want to play at noon. Also, they are active for about 30 mins if they feel like exercising. If you have a nice big cage, he probably runs laps around it while you're out of the room. If in a small cage, they need much more time out of the cage.

Guinea Pigs Social Life is pretty informative.

[theautismgirl]

Oh no! I hope he is fine. Ohhhh....... I'll be calling a vet tomorrow.

He has a small cage at the moment. I get paid once a month and I'll be ordering his C/C at the end of the week. He is out of his cage a LOT. We had to compromise to putting him away for part of every hour to ensure he gets enough hay. Maybe I got him out too late and he was tired today... *sigh*

I'm trying really hard but I feel like I have so much to learn and no way to get it all in fast enough.

[theautismgirl]

The link about social life is about getting multiple piggies. I did read that page the other day and we are in process of taking in his friend. I need another temporary cage until I get Hot Wheels neutered. This other piggie is female. Her owner is currently neglecting her, so I need another cage ASAP. I was thinking of taking her in her tub, but I need a covered top as we have cats. At any rate, he has a playmate coming soon. Hopefully within the next two weeks it will all be situated with at least temporary cages while I wait for the large C&C to come my way.

[Noodles]

The first issue that needs to be addressed (besides the possible stone/urinary infection) is a larger cage. I know you're waiting for your coroplast, but is it possible to make a temporary "pen" using grids and some towels w/ maybe a tarp underneath? While it's great that you give him floor time, having a large cage is essencial for exercise and well-being.

The next issue would be getting him a play-mate, and it sounds like you're doing that already, which is GREAT. Using a large "pen" w/ grids as a temporary cage like I mentioned above will also allow you to easily separate the two pigs until Hot Wheels is neutered. I think having a friend for him will help A LOT with your problem. From my experience, piggies are much happier and more comfortable with a friend during play time. When I had only one piggy, he loved lap-time, but didn't do much during floor time. Adding a friend gave him a chance to play games and have company as he explored his surroundings. Make sure that your floor time is in a safe area and provide plenty of hiding spaces, obstacles, tunnels, and things for your piggies to do. Also, put out their food, water, and hay while they are having floor time and play hide and seek with their favorite veggies by scattering them in different areas to get them moving and munching happily.

[Geegi63]

The more often you let yor guinea pig have floor time, the more he'll get used to it, and start running around through tunnels in and out of paper bags eat vegetables on the way!

[tehdoc809]

Yeah, I would say first a vet visit because if it is stones or impaction, that could be why he isn't being active. Second, I think you'll be surprise by how much more active he will get with a cagemate. Also, toys and hidey houses are fantastic for getting them more active during floor time. Here is my set up, and my cavies absolutly love it.

My living room is hardwood floor with a carpet in the middle, which I don't remember how big it really is because the tag is faded, but its roughly the size of a 4x7 cc cage. Which works to our advantage because the piggies hate being ont he hardwood and will usually stay on the carpet. We have 3 piggies and 4 hidey houses. We put a hidey house in each corner, facing the middle, although they don't stay that way, and a little foot stool in the middle. They love to run and chase each other from one house, under the stool, to another. And Heidi really seems to enjoy just running circles around the stool. For extra protection, we some newspaper under each hidey house and the stool just incase they stop to use the potty, but typically what happens is they will go over to their cage and start chew on it when they need to potty, they'll do their business they start wheeking to let us know they are ready to come back out. usually happens once per pig, per hour they are out of the cage.

[claire]

Does he always make a noise when he urinates or just when he's on the floor or being held? Both my boys squeak to let me know they need the litter tray. They never do that when they're in the cage or have access to a litter tray without my help. Obviously, it's worth getting him checked over by a vet to be certain though.

I've had my piggers for 3 weeks now, and it took them until this week to really relax and enjoy running around. For most of the first week they sat as still as rocks when I let them out. It's just a matter of them becoming confident in their surroundings. Hideys and little bite-sized pieces of veg helped convince mine that the ouside world's actually quite nice and worth exploring.