Pig Proofing

[fresian.m]

I pig proofed my room today! I think I covered everything.
I blocked off the door so if anyone was to accidentally leave my door open, I wouldn't have to worry about piggies escaping.
I made a little towels area with some hideys so they could relax there. I'm hoping that most of their poops will end up there.
I also put fleece under the little table in the corner, because it's nice and dark back there and I know that'll be a favorite spot.
I blocked off all the openings to get under my desk with grids and shelving.
Finally, I tidied up the storage area so they don't chew on something or raid the pellet container

Does it look good? Did I miss anything? I put the electrical wires out of reach. I did everything I could think of. I just have to HOPE they don't poop and pee TOO much while exploring. The littertraining will come with time. The only thing I have to do now is make a ramp from the cage to the floor and see what happens.

[Shauna&Kerri]

It looks to me like a pretty good set up. This is similary to what we have set up in my son's room for their floortime. I would like to point out that most of the poop/pee will porbably NOT end up on the towel, but in the corners of the room. They will find their favorite potty spot right away, so I would watch them and then place the towels in that spot. They also might make a few favorite spots and you just have to keep an eye out...

Also don't forget to place their water, food and tons of hay in there with them. They will probably love being in there!

Just out of curiosity can I ask if this is their free-range cage or just for floor time?

[fresian.m]

It will be connected to their cage, so they will have constant access to food and water. I set this up to TRY to do a permanent free range, but still have a cage there if they feel uncomfortable. (: I know they will go in corners. I'm going to towel down some more corners, like underneath the cage etc. I don't really expect much poop to go where I want it. I'll get the dark corners and hope for the best!

[MaggieMae]

I've never piggie proofed a room but I just wanna state my prediction now for giggles.

I predict that underneath the table you are going to find a ginormous heap of piggie poops.

Also, is that a bed they can get under? If they can I predict the same outcome.

Good luck! Looks like you have covered all the bases I can think of.

[fresian.m]

Well my bed is just a top bunk, hten under the top bunk is my cage (two grids high) and under that is storage space. I'm putting some towels and fleece in the storage space since it's darker under there.

Heh heh thank you for your predictions. They will both come true.

[Shauna&Kerri]

Cool! I would love to be able to give mine free-range, but I would worry about their safety in a house with 2 teenage boys, a preteen girl and all their friends...and all the places that would have to be piggy-proofed. So for now they have a really big cage and they get let out for many hours each day in my son's room!

[fresian.m]

Yeah I"m SUPER excited. Tomorrow I'll probably have time to let them out! I just gotta figure out the ramp... I'm hopeless with ramps. Especially an external one.

[fresian.m]

I made the ramp from the cage to the floor. It's been almost five hours and they're ignoring it. All their veggies were on the ramp. Pippin climbed on for half of a second, grabbed all the veggies, and got off. Merry didn't get any veggies, and no one has actually been down the ramp. I tried leading them down with veggies, they stopped at the entrance to the ramp. So much for exploring today!

[Shauna&Kerri]

I would give it time and consider keeping water, hay & food on both levels in case one of them goes down and doesn't want to go back up.

How high and steep is the ramp and is it covered? If they can't see how far up they are and if it isn't too steep, then they are more likely to use the ramp. My two were really nervous on the ramp when they could see how high they were. I made a ramp that is covered on the sides, and the top of the highest part of the ramp and it isn't steep at all, and they love running up and down the ramp now!

[Shauna&Kerri]

Could you post a pic of the ramp? Then we could make better and more specific suggestions on what might make them more likely to use it.

[davidk]

Wow, it seems to me that you did a great job. I think your pig's will love it. You will find out quickly what their favorite "potty" place is. After that, you can make the proper adjustments.

[fresian.m]

Ok well tomorrow I'm going to lower the cage to one grid high so the ramp won't have to be so long, and it won't be so steep. I think they'll feel more comfortable then.
But anyway, I skipped waiting for them to go down the ramp, and just put them on the floor. I am SO HAPPY! They adapted the toweled down spot under my top bunk as their home base almost IMMEDIATELY! It's been about a hour, and I've only picked up 2 poops off hte carpet! They make a tour around the room, then stop at the toweled spot. Pippin's been laying down back there a lot, and that's where most of their poops have ended up. They look VERY happy. They've been running around and chasing each other, and I think I even saw a couple popcorns!
I don't think they quite get the "go up the ramp to get to the cage" thing, so I've got a water bottle down there, and I"m about to put some hay down there.
I know it hasn't even been that long, but I just have this feeling this is gonna succeed. It just feels so natural to have them running around my room, free. I love the openness. That they're not blocked off in one section. I think they're going to become a lot more social and happy, and I'm so happy I tried this.

We'll see how it goes for the next couple days (I'm keeping a close eye one them, picking up poops immediately and looking out for pee.. I have a feeling I'll be up all night watching them), and if all goes well (Fingers crossed!) this will be permanent.

[fresian.m]

Another hour passed. Only 1 more poo on the carpet. I think if there is any pee it went on a toweled area. I'm so proud of my little guys! They're just munching away on hay.

I know this will help their relationship with me a lot. Catching them out of the cage was kinda an ordeal. Now I can just sit on the floor of my room. I am currently laying on the floor keeping an eye on them and both of them climbed up on my leg! I can hardly believe it! They were always so shy... I never dreamed this would work so well.

[zebraXqueen]

Now just gotta be careful where you step!
That sounds amazing, I really hope it works out!

[fresian.m]

Yeah.. haha. I'm just surprised! I've been scouring the room like every 20 minutes, and have to scoop up barely any poopies! It's amazing how quickly they caught on!

[Shauna&Kerri]

Just walk very carefully around your room. Tonight we had an incident while the girls were in my son's room having floor time. My 11 year old daughter went to go sit on the floor in there (we all do this and we play with the piggies all the time) and Kerri darted right out from behind one of the hideys and under her foot. Usually they run away when we come in the room, especially Kerri. Shauna will run up to me sometimes, because she thinks I have food for her, but Kerri always runs away, and then slowly comes to see what I have.

Fortunately Kerri is not hurt, but she did loose a patch of hair on her butt where my daughter stepped on her. I picked her up and checked her entire body, held her for more than 15 minutes, and then rechecked her about 20 minutes later after making sure she was able to run/walk/eat/poop, etc. She is walking, running and eating like normal, but I will have to watch her very closely and if I see any signs of injury I will take her immediately to the vet.

My daughter FREAKED out! She came screaming and crying into the living room and said she stepped on Kerri! I can't even get her to go in the room with the piggies now. She is terrified that it will happen again! She cried in her room for about an hour and then went to bed. I tried to calm her down, but she is still freaked out about it.

My daughter is always careful around the girls, we all are, but Kerri has been acting weird today. Hiding most of the day, she seemed way more scared today of everyone, even more than normal (she has always been the shy one). She would come out to eat, and then go and hide again. But normally she will come eat out of my hand, and today she wouldn't I had to put the food up to the hidey and she would poke her head out, grab the food and pull it in with her. And this was all before the getting stepped on incident. Fortunately my daughters foot only skimmed the back side of her butt and was on her hair, which got pulled out when she ran.

Very scary incident. So my long story is really just a "be very careful" warning...

[fresian.m]

Aww I'm glad she's ok!!
I'll be sure to watch my step.

They're so tired from their adventure! Both sleeping on their fleece like the good little piggles they are.

[JaneLiz]

Looks really good! I think my room is too unsuitable to piggy proof, but it's a good idea if you can!

[fresian.m]

Wow... I just stayed up all night just to keep an eye on the piggers!