November 22, 2021
A house just doesn’t feel like a home without the right meaningful personal touches. One fun and beneficial way to add character to your pet’s living space is to design and accessorize with enrichment in mind. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how you can elevate your pet’s habitat or living space (and support their mental and physical health) by adding opportunities for daily enrichment.
Steps for making your pet’s habitat fun and enriching include:
The first and most important step in setting up a fun and enriching habitat for your small pet is to select and prepare a space that is safe and spacious. Every pet’s space will be unique and the appropriate size and location will vary by species. Tips to consider when enriching your pet’s habitat include:
All forms of enrichment involve physical activity, so it’s important to provide as much space as possible for your pet to explore throughout the day. If your pet roams freely, this is a great time to double-check that you’ve created a safe, free room environment.
If your pet spends dedicated time in their habitat during the day, here are some tips for creating ample space for your enrichment haven:
Once you’ve selected an enrichment space you select for your pet, take extra steps to ensure your pet’s safety. Make sure the area is clean and a safe distance away from any objects that could pose a threat to your pet’s health (including plants, cords, and any objects that could fall from nearby shelves.)
If you’re new to interacting with your pet outside the habitat, we recommend checking out our article on how to safely hold small pets. If you have specific questions about how to make sure your pet’s exercise/enrichment space is safe, don’t hesitate to ask your trusted veterinarian.
All small pets are wired to instinctively engage in a number of enriching behaviors daily, including playing, chewing, hiding, and exploring. When planning your pet’s enrichment space, it’s essential to thoughtfully map out the space with accessories and activities that support each of these activities.
If you already provide daily enrichment for your pets, here are some tips for taking enrichment to the next level in relation to each instinctual behavior:
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: regular chewing is essential to your pet’s dental health. It’s true! For animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, and chinchillas, champion-level chewing is necessary to keep their ever-growing teeth worn and healthy.
One easy way to build your pet’s enrichment space while supporting their dental health in the process is to offer multiple chews and rearrange and replace them regularly. This activity helps keep your animals interested and engaged with their chews over time.
Provide a variety of materials. Oxbow’s Enriched Life natural chews are made with a wide variety of materials to provide different textures and chewing experiences for pets. Some examples of these safe chewing materials include:
With more than 60 Enriched Life Natural Chews to choose from, it’s easy to keep your pets constantly interested in keeping up on their dental maintenance.
Want to learn more about small pet dental health? Check out our handy Dental Health Checklist!
Raise your hand if you miss recess! Us too. The good news for our pets is that playtime can be anytime. Small pets are playful by nature and love interacting in fun and enriching ways with their surroundings. Supporting your pet’s play instincts provides endless opportunities for fun and creativity and is a great way to build your bond.
Here are some fun tips for decking your pet’s space out to stimulate play throughout the day:
You know not to take it personally when your small pet hides away for a little rest and relaxation. As a prey species, the hiding instinct is important for both your pet’s mental and physical health.
Unlike more visibly active forms of enrichment, it’s sometimes easy to overlook hiding as an important activity for small pets. Quite to the contrary, hiding is an essential instinct for all small pets. The good news is that supporting this behavior is easy.
Offer at least one dedicated hideout for your pets. Depending on the size of your pet’s space, offering multiple options through the space is even better. Great hideout options for small pets include:
Like all great explorers before them, your pet will benefit from a little encouragement in their conquests. That’s where you come in.
There are endless options for encouraging your pet’s exploration instincts, but some of our favorite tips include:
Learn more about exploring basics in our All About Exploring article.
If you’re an active member of small pet communities on social media, you already know that Pinterest and Instagram can be a source of endless inspiration for awe-inspiring themes pet habitats and play spaces. And while the sky’s the limit for decking out your pet’s enriching domain, the good news is you don’t need to be an A-list Instagram influencer to personalize your pet’s enrichment habitat.
Here are some fun, safe ways to make your pet’s space their own:
It’s just a fact of life that most of us have don’t have unlimited space for our families and pets. Even if you have a free roam environment for your little ones, you likely find yourself wishing you had more real estate for accessories and enrichment. The good news is that limited living quarters should not be a deterrent for creating a full enrichment experience for your little loved ones.
As we’ve discussed, hiding away for rest and relaxation throughout the day is an instinctual behavior for all prey species. One way to make the most of your enriched habitat space is to make a habit of placing your pet’s favorite chew toys in their hideouts.
Most pets enjoy exploring vertical spaces within their habitats. One great way to encourage your little loved one to stretch his or her legs is to incorporate enrichment accessories that are designed to be hung or attached to the walls of a habitat or exercise pen. Some of our favorite items that are custom made to inspire pets to “get vertical” include:
Here are some species-specific considerations to keep in mind with supporting your pet’s vertical play instincts:
We don’t need to tell you how smart your pet is. If you’re like most pet parents, you probably already gush to everyone you know about what a smart cookie your pet is. In addition to being fully supportive of bragging on your pets (they are amazing), we’re here to validate what you already knew: small animals are highly intelligent and greatly benefit from mental stimulation each day.
Offering basic chew toys and play accessories is a great way to help your pet flex their mental muscles, but there are some additional ways to further stimulate your pet mentally.
It comes as a surprise to some pet parents that rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, and many other small pet species actually love to work for their food. Promoting foraging is easy and fun for you and your pet alike. Check out our Top 10 Foraging Accessories for Small Pets!
Brain teasers aren’t just for humans! Small pets are highly intelligent creatures and benefit from mental stimulation in the form of puzzles and games. The good news is that there are numerous great items that are specifically designed to engage your little Einstein’s gray matter. Some of our favorites include:
All forms of enrichment are more enjoyable when interactively enjoyed with your pet. There are a number of ways to engage in fun, interactive play with your pets. Some of our favorites can be found in our Games with Pets handout.