The guinea pigs don't do any exercise

[CheesecakeAddict]

I have 2 guinea pigs, roughly about 3 months old. When I let them out on an evening, they just find somewhere to hide, like a makeshift nesting box, and stay there. If I put them in an indoor run, they just stand together squeaking. Is it normal for them to do no exercise other than rampaging around their cage when they see me heading to the fridge? They are getting quite fat 😳

Lol... yes normal. I always laugh when people talk about letting their pigs out to 'run around', ours have never run anywhere in their fat little lives, if (gently) prodded they will scuttle about a bit before, like yours, finding a suitable hiding spot and sitting there for their remaining 'exercise' time chewing on whatever tasty snack they've somehow located on the floor , and then when the coast is clear make a break back for captivity and return themselves to their cage... God, I wish I was them, what a life!

Seriously, just keep an eye on their weight, guineas are meant to be ahem, 'cuddly', but if it gets to be too much cut down their kibble/dry food - don't limit their access to hay as they need to constantly graze, though you can spread it around their cage (if they don't do that for themselves) so they at least have to move around a bit to get at it, and we always feed ours at the opposite end of the cage so they have to get out of bed for their dinner/breakfast but that's about it. In summer if you can get them out on some fresh grass in a run that would be good for them too!

Thank you! That's reassuring, given some websites I was reading was telling me to entice them with play 😅. They were not interested in that for sure.

Our boys do pretty much the same as the poster above has said. They have a 2x6 C&C cage but generally don't run around much. The only running about they do is when they've been in the kitchen while we clean the cage out then they scuttle their little piggy legs super fast back down the hallway to their cage They have just turned one and all weigh around 1.1 kg. In the summer they are much more active when out on the grass, they have a new 32 sq ft run coming in Spring which they'll love.

No they are not athletic at all, they are little stomachs on legs . They'll popcorn if they see fit which is really cute.
Our lardy adult GP1 threw some shapes round the outdoor rabbit run, I thought he'd been stung . But it was high spirits

You could give them some tunnels , big paper bags with some hay in, boxes with doors cut out . Change things round , keep them guessing .Build them a Guinea-Pig Village

I was watching some female rats swinging across the upper bars like tiny rodent Gladiators . The males just lounged in the hammocks . (Not my rats , I liked my rodents on floor level)

We have baby pigs who are a similar age, and my kids were desperate to let them run round loose. I didn’t see the point - the pigs I had when I was a child were like yours; total couch potatoes.

But this new pair have amazed me. The kids made them an assault course with tubes, boxes with holes in and a seesaw, and they bomb round it like little furry loons!

I guess it’s just down to personality. Some love running around and some don’t bother.

I’ve had several guineapigs in my lifetime and they do not exercise...they just eat and poop and are adorable creatures with their own personalities!!
We lost ours during lockdown of 2020, both girls who died within 6 months of each other and approx 7 years of age which is excellent for Guineas. They were indoor and totally loved but I can’t bring myself to have any more now.

We have 6 piggies & only one will wander around the place - she follows DD everywhere when she's out the other 5 just sit there... one will actually jump back into their cage & crawl into bed rather than be out!