Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
A few months ago we were given some awesome Wiggly Balls for Beau to try out and let me tell you, they are quite awesome toys! We know how hard it can be to find passive toys for your little ones to play with, but luckily the Wiggly Balls have enough variants in them to keep Beau occupied and interested.
The sampler pack contains 3 different types of Wigglies including:
- A Standard Bouncy Ball
- A Rattle-Style Pingpong Ball
- A Rattle-Style Small Plastic Ball
The biggest perk to these toys is the fact that you can use them actively with your little one or leave them lying around the house. The feathers seem to be Beau’s favourite part and we were worried at first because he has been known to eat feathers in the past due to his Pica, however, these seem to be feathers he’d rather play with than eat! Yay!
When playing passively, Beau likes to pick the balls up by the feathers and toses them around the house. Sometimes he will even put them in his mouth by the tail and “throw them” which is such a funny thing to watch!
The Bouncy Ball
This is definitely his favourite out of all three balls. We knew this would be a great contender as Beau loves to chase regular bouncy balls around the apartment and loves to play “soccer” as my mom likes to call it. Since getting the Wigglies, we have lost the bouncy ball quite a number of times because it ends up underneath the couch (we really need to build barriers under our couch), but we know he’s getting a lot of exercise from it because at night we hear it bounce, bounce, bouncing! Because of the little tail, the ball doesn’t go too far, which is great because sometimes when we throw regular bouncy balls, Beau won’t chase after them because they roll away too fast. The tail will also cause the ball to bounce in an odd pattern which seems to catch Beau’s eyes, pouncing it and tackling it as if it’s prey. The ball is also fairly light, which is great because Beau doesn’t like to play with heavier bouncy balls.
The Rattle-Style Pingpong Ball
Although Beau doesn’t always passively play with this fellow, this is his favourite to actively play with us. We usually hold this one by its tail and he will bat at it for minutes at a time. It doesn’t make a whole lot of noise compared to the smaller plastic ball, but it sure does the trick! The main benefit to this ball is that it doesn’t get stuck under the couch! Luckily, it is big enough to get stuck, so it’s the easiest to find in the house. When thrown this ball doesn’t get that much distance (again due to the tail), but when Beau bats at it loops around because of how light it is! Definitely a winner for active toys. I think what really catches his eye about this toy is the size of it and how light it is.
The Rattle-Style Small Plastic Ball
This little guy has the best of both worlds. I would say it gets less use than the other toys, but it is fairly easy to get Beau to play with. Due to the amount of sand in it, Beau likes to bat at it and make lots of noise but oddly Beau will spend more time trying to get it in his mouth. Don’t get me wrong, he still gets plenty of exercise from it, playing with it minutes at a time, but I find it so weird that he tries to eat this one and not the bouncy ball as they are very similar in size! The ball is also fairly light and doesn’t travel a great distance when thrown.
All three balls are fairly durable. We haven’t had any feathers fall out at this point and I took my hand at trying to rip the tails off to see if they were easy to break. The glue seems to be very strong and I’m not worried about them being worn down by use so far.
I’d say the small plastic ball is the least durable as it is easy to separate by human hands, but it is just as easy to put it back together. Beau hasn’t found a way to break it so far, so I think we’re good, but a fair warning to pet parents with kitties with big enough mouths to bite this… it may open! A small amount of pressure does make the pieces come apart and it’s definitely something I would monitor if your little one is passively playing with it.
My Conclusion
I would rate these fellas a 4/5. They are one of Beau’s more commonly played with toys, but the smaller plastic ball doesn’t sit the best with me. I will definitely be following back on this as the toys get more use and Beau is off his cone completely (he’s still on his cone for the majority of the day and this may be a big factor to how much he plays with them and how aggressively he can play with them.) Together they retail $9.99 which is standard for toys of this type.