Toys for Small Exotics: Not just a chew stick!

In this article I want to focus on small exotic mammals and birds. As many owners of these types of animals can tell you these species need toys for a multitude of reason and each species may have a specific type of toy it prefers. Unlike the predatory tendencies of cats and dogs; chinchillas, degus, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and most birds are hard-wired the other way as they are prey species. Compared to cats and dogs most of these animals have less "fight" in them and are more easily stressed. This makes stress management in the form of play time with toys, all the more important to their well-being.

Not all small exotics enjoy the same type of toys so you may have to try a variety before finding the one that's right for your pet. There are several types of toys to choose from such as; burrowing/digging, tossing, chewing, hitting/batting, or rolling toys and each one provides your pet with a different sense of enjoyment. Toys can also be made of many different types of materials; many of which you may already have laying around the house. What is for certain is that without challenging activities your exotic pet will get bored; especially if he/she doesn't have nonhuman friends to keep her company. This could lead your pet to feel isolated, which often leads to depression and/or destructive behaviors. If you have ever had a destructive pet then you know how frustrating that can be for you, so just imagine how frustrated your pet is! 

Burrowing/Digging

Rabbits, hamsters, degus, gerbils and the occasional guinea pig love to dig, and many enjoy digging tunnels or digging out material at the end of pre-made tunnels. You can get cardboard concrete forms from building suppliers or the cardboard tubes from carpet rolls; which make great, inexpensive, chewable tunnels. You can also stuff newspaper, towels, or paper towels into one end of the tunnel, providing lots of digging opportunities. For rabbits who like to lie in, rather than dig in, a tunnel, you can buy cat tunnels made of nylon and synthetic sheepskin; however, you need to make sure your rabbit doesn't chew on these as ingesting this material will be harmful to them.

Of these animals bunnies have the potential to be the most destructive. If you have a digger on your hands, you will also need to provide them many opportunities to dig or you will find that they could take it out on your carpet or furniture! Luckily there are a lot of easy and cheap options. A cardboard box, large litter box or dishpan, or even a large untreated wicker basket; filled with hay, shredded newspapers, old magazines or junk mail or any other safe shreddable material, should do the trick. If your fluffy likes to shred its own material you can safely give them an old phone book you have ripped the covers off of or a news paper folded up and let them go to town on that.

Tossing

Some small animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and and birds enjoy tossing stuff around and some rabbits have even been known to play a game of fetch with you. Some safe and cheap toys you can provide them would be; metal bowls, hard plastic baby toys/keys, or slinky's. Some animals also like to toss around empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls. Just make sure that you monitor your pet with hard plastic toys until you know if they will try to eat them; most will not and prefer to just play with them, but some will gnaw with intent to eat. I monitor all use of plastic toys personally, with animals that can chew and reserve them for supervised playtime, just for my own peace of mind. With birds it's not as necessary as many of their toys are made with hard, thick plastic naturally.

Chewing

This is one of the most critical categories for many all of these animals. Chinchillas, degus, hamsters, gerbils, rats and guinea pigs teeth will continue to grow throughout their entire life. These animals need to have a way to wear them down constantly and toys are a constructive way to help them do this. Birds also need to wear their beaks down constantly as well; to prevent them from becoming overgrown, scissoring, or getting parrot beak. Do not give just them a chew stick! A critter who only has a stick, a log, or a piece of two-by-four to chew on, is going to be a bored fur/feather baby and a bored pet is often a naughty pet. Chewing toys are easy to make and you can be extremely creative with making your own. Cardboard and wood are generally the chewing preferences of choice for those with teeth. Keep in mind though that not all wood is safe for your small pet, as some can be toxic! Some safe types of wood are; apple, weeping willow, and kiln dried untreated pine; however, not many animals just want to chew on pine. Pine is better for building cages with or building other larger toys that you can attach smaller toys too for them to bat around or jump on. Stay away from; cherry, peach, apricot, plum and redwood, which are all toxic to small pets!

Hitting/Batting
Many small pets, like rabbits and birds, also love hitting or batting objects around. You can hang toys from their cage that can be poked, prodded, head butted and smacked around to help satisfy these needs. There are many commercial toys available to help with these; such as kabob type toys, that you often see in bird cages, these are also available for rabbits, guinea pigs and other small pets as well.

Rolling

Some small animals like rabbits or guinea pigs like toys they roll across the floor during play time. Hard plastic balls like those you give a cat, or large, rubber balls also work well; like the ones that you find in large baskets at drug/discount stores. You can also buy commercial toys that will roll that are made of wood such as willow balls or logs. There are also rolling treat/food dispensers that can keep your pet occupied for some time as well.

                                          Here is my oldest playing with a rolling treat ball

Lastly I want to point out how important play is not for just your pet, but for you as their owner.

A play-date with your fur or feathered friend is education at its finest and it's extremely useful, absorbing, and fun. If you play with your fur or feather kid often enough you will notice that play time is bonding experience for you both; but, it can also be a useful diagnostic tool. Once you’re familiar with your fluffy or feathery babies routine, you can use play time as a wellness tool to make sure your fur or feather kid is feeling ok. If you pay attention you will notice if your bun doesn't kick up his/her heels the same way or if your guinea pig isn't talking to you as much, or possibly your feathery friend isn't flapping his/her wings or strutting their stuff like usual. If you pay close attention you will learn to pick up these subtle cues to help keep your fur and feather kids happy and a happy fur/feather kid makes for a happy human!

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