Grids problem!

Today I purchased the grids that will be used to make the house for my gippigs. I placed the grids outside on the grass to let the girls run around in the day time and one of the males outside of the pen. As I kept a watch on them , i noticed the boar kept trying to bite through the grids and basically ate and nibbled at the plastic covering!! I have seen them do this before at a cavy show, and was wondering what i can do to stop them from chewing at the grids because i read that if they swallow plastics or other stuff, it can be very harmful to them! I also had the same problem with one of the other males when i placed him in the same situation. How do i prevent them from chewing the plastic covered wire?

Also, i had one of my neutured boars in the pen with the girls, while one of the unneutured boars was kept outside the pen. They both got very angry and grinding their teeth, and their hair was standing on ends! I was planning to make a cage that will be in 3 partitions, with the males separated by the wire...but this does not seem to work, as i found out today...is there any advice? I noticed others placed notices on how they have separated the boars by placing the grid in between, but no one has mentioned any problems...PLease Help!

Much appreciated
Lilz!

[CavySpirit]

Well, in a new environment, it's going to take quite a while for the males to 'settle down' with the fact that there are other males and females to be 'gotten to' or 'protected.' Months.

It's quite normal and expected. After quite a while, they will eventually figure out that they can look but not touch. But, in the meantime, I've had some pigs chew on the wires of the grids to no ill effects. My common walls have no Coroplast sides, so there is no plastic base to chew--or else they surely would.

I never buy the Chrome colored grids at Costco, but someone said that they don't have the little plastic coating. If you are worried about that, you might try using those grids instead in the common wall.

Cavyspirit, is there a problem with the chrome plated cubes? I just bought several from Costco and I purposely bought them, rather than the coloured ones so there would not be a plastic or paint coating on them.

[CavySpirit]

Nothing as far I know. The only reason I never buy them is I just don't like the color! They have that industrial look to me. It's just personal preference.

I just checked my newly purchased grids (from Target) and they are powder coated, i.e., painted, not plastic coated. I had looked at the cube sets at Costco/Price Club and they seemed to be the same, though they had a different manufacturer's name on them. Those plastic attachment pieces looked the same, too. I'd be willing to bet they all come from the same plant in China.

While chrome is poisenous, I'd be really surprised in a piggy could gnaw off that electro-plating, unless it is absolutely the cheapest form of plating, where there is not a brass intermediate layer for a good bonding.

[CavySpirit]

You are right. They all do come from the same plant. I think it may be Korea, but it could have been China. Can't quite remember.

It was an easy guess for me, as the box said China. <grin> In fact, the cubes were in the furniture area of Target and I was amazed at all the various products "made in China". But that's another story.....

So, are the Target grids safe to be chewed on? I have two boars separated by the ramaining grids and I know they are both chewing on the grids. It is getting to the point where the grid is losing it's outer white plastic. Is this dangerous? I purchased my grids at Target and I know it is not chrome.

Fixing a mistake. The grid is losing it's outer white "durable epoxy," as quoted from the box. Is this safe?

Teresa,

The gray (chrome-colored) grids have a similar coating as the white ones. The color just fools you because it looks like the natural color of the metal. The grids are actually made from a darker metal that's covered up.

All my grids come from Costco, so I don't know about the ones from Target.

Scott

[CavySpirit]

Good to know. I didn't think there was really anything different about them, but someone had posted that previously.

As far as I know in the US, at least on the West Coast, Costco is the only one that sells the different color options. Seems all the office supply stores and Target stick with black.