[kmbchance]

Originally Posted by VoodooJoint

It looks beautiful and sturdy, seems very well built and the "footprint" certainly looks big enough. What are the inside measurements?

Are the floors lined with anything? If not I would be worried about the wood soaking up urine and moisture. You say it's waterproofed. What did you waterproof it with? I can't think of anything you would use on wood that looks like stain (as it appears to be in your pictures) that would act as a water barrier and not be toxic. I also can't think of anything that wouldn't need re-treatment fairly often to keep the water barrier in place. Urine will eat through nearly anything.

The stain I used was a water based stain. Water based stain (most) is made from dyes and water which is pretty safe. In fact, MiniWax told me that most baby crib manufacturers use this on their cribs (or their water based paint of course). Babies chew on their cribs all the time and its safe for them. It really doesn't matter though because I had extra plexiglass that I cut to fit perfectly in the floor on each level. Nothing soaks through this. When we cleaned it recently we noticed that no urine soaked through the bedding to the plexiglass. But if it ever does, we're covered. I don't think I'll ever need to re-apply the stain on the floors because of this. I originally wasn't even going to stain the floors but I figured I went that far so I might as well.


Another thing I noticed with their pigs is that they do not chew on any wood used to build the enclosure. They only chew on their toys, chew sticks and their house.This is not to say they won't do it later but that's a good thing. I was worried about that.


The inside area is almost 15 square feet. Of course if you want to take away some for the ramps you can but it is not that much. They're funny because they run so fast and dart right by the ramps like they're not even there. Plus, they just love to hide under the ramps, especially when I put hay under them.


I think I will move their "Sleeping Quarters" to the bottom level. Right now it is on the top. I figured I could use the top for a play area since the floor area is open. It does have a little hole to lead down to the middle floor but that doesn't take up as much floor space as the ramp does. This is only one of the many things I'm trying to optimize to make the cage more efficient. My wife does have a swimming pool they use for playtime and exercise.


The main thing is the pigs seem exuberant. I mean, they are pocorning and running around all the time now. At first they were a little scared. But we slowly introduced them and they got used to it fairly quickly. My favorite part is seeing them fly up and down the ramps. It is so funny to watch.