question about a playball (and harnesses)

[KemsleyCrew]

I also have a ball for my guinea pigs. one of my guineas is 4 years old and was ignored in her previous home so she fights to come out. she poops and pees in her ball and cries becasue she wants out. My other one does the same thing so I don't use it. I have harnesses for both of them and I was wondering if it was ok to keep them as they come for rides in the car with us and when they go to the vet to get their nails trimmed?
Thanks for the help!

[VoodooJoint]

Sorry, but no harnesses either. See post #2 in this thread.

[papiggieluverz]

I would suggest getting a travel cage, that way you can have bedding, food, and water for them for their trips to the vet.

[sus4rabbitsnpigs]

Why don't you just get a pet carrier instead? They'd likely feel safer.

[tayspita]

Originally Posted by sus4rabbitsnpigs

Why don't you just get a pet carrier instead? They'd likely feel safer.

I have these for both of our guinea pigs.
Petsmart.com - Small Pet: Super Pet Come Along Pet Carriers

They make cage inserts for them, too...but I've never really felt the need to use a cage to go inside of them.

I take my pigs to the vet to be groomed once a month, and these work well for that purpose

[my4gps]

Tayspita - I have several of those carriers too and I was going to get the cage inserts for them but my coworker brought one in the other day and they are TINY. Way too tiny for an adolescent or adult pig. Her baby barely fit in it. She had to turn it upside down with her hand under it to get the pig out. She won't be using it anymore.

[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!

[lynning]

I love the shower curtain idea! I've been putting newspaper down on my kitchen floor - what a mess and a lot of garbage to take to the curb at the end of the week. I'm trying to be cost efficient (don't mind if it costs more up-front and saves money in the long term) and eco-friendly at the same time. Great ideas here! Thank you.

[irisheyes19782002]

Another great thing to get them moving sometimes are the little balls made for birds with the bells in them. My cavies seem to toss it to each other and run around to get it. It's like watching a small game of dodgeball LOL

[vanillapooh]

See when I bought my first GP I was going to buy a ball and the petstore girl said NO its so bad for their spines ! Im glad she told me .