The Ever Escaping Guinea Pig

**kittnkarr** · #1 06-06-06, 09:58 am

Kirie, my youngest girl pig, has decided that it would be fun to escape their cage. The current set up is they are at ground level of a shelving unit that is a 2x5.5 grids. For the past 4 days she has managed to figure out how to get out. Now my only thought and the most logical is that she is climbing her way out.

This morning before work I did my piggy count and I had one missing pig. After a few crinkles of a bag out she popped from under a shelf in the living room. She is now being housed in a quarintine cage until I can redo the cage tonight. Doodles and Little Squeaky have no interest in climbing. I will be adding a lid to the cage now to keep her from climbing out.

Right now I am scratching my head and trying to figure out why she would be climbing out? Any ideas? Could it possibly be related to her going into heat and her trying to find the boys, which are housed 1 and 2 floors above them

I don't know what their heat cycle is and I have never really noticed a change in their behavior for me to ever think that any of them would be going into heat.

Thanks for the insights.

**dextersmycutegp** · #2 06-06-06, 10:14 am

Is she a very curious piggie? She might just want to know whats going on upstairs with the boys.....

**PiggieMom** · #3 06-06-06, 10:16 am

I had a Houdini during floor time when I first got the boys. Casper is just super curious. He wants to know what everything is. He escaped every time we set up floor time for a week straight.

**kittnkarr** · #4 06-06-06, 12:46 pm

She might be curious but has never been that curious to want to escape. She has been in similar cage set ups with no tops to them and wanted nothing to do with trying to get out. This may be her new fasination or her way of saying -- "I want more floor time."

**JarBax** · #5 06-06-06, 01:11 pm

My little Marble is a bit of a climber too. 'Touch wood', she has yet to escape, but I have found her in the hay rack - which I thought was way high enough, then when I repositioned it (no access to the sides), I caught her trying to climb up the front!!! Yikes!! I have now angled it so there really cannot be a way up...

I also built a 'bunk', from one cube side curled round (as seen on this site!), which I thought might make up for her loss of hay rack clamber to bed! Will see if that works!

I'm no expert - but think it is usually the male of the species who chases after the female, so think it unlikely she's after one of the boys! However, unless her cage-mates are being really horrible to her (which is unlikely), I can only imagine, like you, that she is simply a very curious piggy! Perhaps, now she's found her way once, she is just retracing her steps as she thinks the rest of the room is just more of her space?

You could try giving her lots of bunk type tunnels to investigate to satisfy her wanderlust!

**BabyGrl** · #6 06-06-06, 09:09 pm

I have two boys that can scale the cage if they want. They get a running start and just jump over the thing.

**Sammi** · #7 06-07-06, 02:30 am

My first guinea pig, Toffee (my avatar) could somehow get over a cage one grid high. I had no idea guinea pigs could do that. He impregnanted both females i had at the time.

Gunnedah · #8 06-07-06, 04:23 am

When i was doing rabbits and guinea pigs at tafe this year, my teacher said that at the uni he works at, they have all white guinea pigs in cages with no lids. One day they went in and there was a pig missing from one cage and too many in another, they watched over several weeks to see how it was happening.

One day they witnessed it. The pig in question had taught itself to climb over the cage into the pigs next door. This pig ended up teaching the other pigs that it lives with to do the same thing.

Some of the boys we have living together plot there escape, you can see it in there faces, sort of egging each other on to be the first.

I guess some pigs are more outgoing and want to see the world and others are just happy and content to stay in there own little world.

Em

**kittnkarr** · #9 06-08-06, 09:18 am

Well we had one successful evening and night without no missing pigs. I hadn't been able to modify the cage fully but we decided to see where Kirie was escaping from. Of course since we were watching nothing happened, but I suspect she is using the bricks in the cage as a leg up the grid panels.

I had just finished rewatering the pigs, giving veggies, hay, pellets and put her in with Doodles and Little Squeaky. She never made any attempt to leave. Maybe the whole thing was because she felt that there wasn't enough food and wanted to investigate on her own. (there is always plenty of food and hay) Well we will continue to watch and see.

**fourbwabbys** · #10 06-08-06, 06:55 pm

Do you have any hidey houses near the edge of the cage? She probably jumped ontop of the house and jumped out.

**TipiDancer** · #11 06-08-06, 11:46 pm

I didn't know guinea pigs could climb over the grids??

**kittnkarr** · #12 06-09-06, 09:03 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by fourbwabbys

Do you have any hidey houses near the edge of the cage? She probably jumped ontop of the house and jumped out.

No hidey huts near any grid walls, they are placed into the middle of the cage layout but that doesn't mean they can't push them. I do have some bricks that I use to hold down the fleece which she might be using. Last night I raised the grid height from 1 high to 2 high all around the cage except for one spot. Sure enough this morning there she was running around the outside of the cage. I put additional grids in that area as well and we will see what she does now.

I have a feeling that this relates to her being in heat. She is showing all the signs of being in heat along with Little Squeaky so now I have 2 PMSing girls at one time picking on poor Doodles.

If she can find a way to climb out of a 2 grid high cage I will be amazed but I wouldn't put it past this one.

**PiggieMom** · #13 06-09-06, 10:38 am

Poor Doodles! You have quite and escape artist. I hope she doesn't get past the two grid barrier.

**JarBax** · #14 06-09-06, 12:05 pm

You'll have to set up one of those surveilence video cameras! It would be incredible if she got out over two grids!!!

**wheeker** · #15 06-09-06, 08:55 pm

WOW My piggie cant even get up on a hammock. Never mind a grid. Its amazing they can do that with their short stubby legs and their blimp like bodies. haha I would love to see a piggy climb over a grid!

**kittnkarr** · #16 06-10-06, 10:49 pm

Well we put a stop to Kirie's escaping trick. We raised the grid walls to 2 high all around and she hasn't tried getting out since then. I think that I have finally won this round for now. I have a feeling she is testing the boundries of the cage and will soon learn where the doors are. That will be her next escape trick.

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