[Purdy Piggies]

Going back to the topic of safe playtime outside of the cage, I have a suggestion that has worked out great for me. At the beginning of this summer I bought my daughter one of those big plastic kiddy pools because she was too timid to go in our real pool. Well, she got over that quickly and was actually too big for the kiddy pool. One day when it hit me...what a great safe place for my piggies to play! I just throw down some old towels to cover the bottom so they don't slip around (and to soak up their pee so that it doesn't get their undersides all wet), put in a few tubes, toys, and veggies and they have a blast! After playtime is over, I just take the pool outside, rinse it out, and store it on the side of the house for next time. It provides a big space for them to play and gives me the peace of mind that they aren't going to get into something that could hurt them...And the best part about it is that it is super easy to clean up after and I don't have to worry about them going "potty" on the floor. The pool is about 5 feet or so around and about 14 inches deep. They can't climb up the sides or jump out so they are safe while I'm cleaning out their cage. I bring the pool into my living room for now because it's much too hot in Texas right now to let them play in it outside, but maybe when it cools off I can take them out for some fresh air.

Anyway, I thought I would share this suggestion because it is a very inexpensive, safe, and low maintenance way for our piggies to get out and play. I bought one of those fence playpen things from the pet store for $17 bucks and it’s too small in my opinion and it doesn't have a bottom on it so you still have to worry about protecting your floor. I don't use it anymore (my daughter uses it as a "corral" for her toy horses) and found it to be a waste of my money. The plastic pool was about $12 at the beginning of summer for the largest one they sold. Smaller ones were between $7 and $10, but now that it's off season, I'm sure they're even less. I got mine at my local grocery store and have also seen them in places like Wal-mart and Target. Make sure that it is a plastic pool and not a vinyl pool because their little nails might pierce it. The only problem I had with it was getting it home since it was so big and my car isn't. I have a Mazda 3 hatchback, which fortunately I was able to squeeze it in by folding down half of the seats and folding it in. In hindsight I should have left my daughter at home and taken her car seat out so that I could have folded all of the backseats down, but since the pool was for her she didn't mind the tight squeeze for the short drive home.

I hope that this suggestion is helpful to anyone who is looking for a cleaner, safer way for their guinea pigs to play. I love how everyone on this website gets together and helps each other out with great information and suggestions from their own experiences and I wanted to join in and help out anyway that I could/can.

Have a great day!