Behavior: Putting the Piggies back in their cage

[prettypunkchick]

Whenever I put my pigs back in their cage, they struggle and tear up my hands with their nails trying to get back in. I can't seem to get them to relax, they just desperately freak out as soon as they're being lowered down, although they are fine if I'm setting them down anywhere that isn't their cage. Is there anyway to get them to calm down as I put them back?

[PiggieMamaKelly]

I know what you mean and I taught my pigs not to do that because it becomes dangerous as they start squirming when they are still 2-3 feet above the cage. The way I handled it was I didn't put them down until they were calm. I would just hold them a few inches above the cage floor and when they relaxed I put them down. Somehow they learned.

Of course it's easy to say and hard to do when the pig is bloodying your hand but it worked for me.

[claire]

I hold mine wrapped in a towel and gently lower the whole bundle down and let them walk off. Having something constantly under their feet that they can sort of cling to during the lowering process seems to stop their urge to squirm and they do just gently stroll off the towel, none of this running away business. It's my ambition to master PiggyMamaKelly's technique though. Now my boys are tamer and used to being (wo)manhandled, I may start trying it again.

[wehowardjr]

The easiest way to put a piggy back in its cage is backwards. Hold you pigs body in one hand and support it's rear in the other. Then slowly lower him/her into the cage. Doing this keeps them from seeing their home giving them the urge to jump in. I do this all the time with mine and they rarely squirm.

[Haley0489]

I grab the cozy sak out of their cage when I'm about to put them away. They hop into the sak and I lower them down.

[fieryone]

When I hold them for lap time I usually have them on a fleece blanket or towel. I keep them wrapped up when I put them back in the cage and they don't squirm at all. I am trying to work on the technique of not putting them down while they're squirming when I don't have them wrapped up. So far it's not working very well. They never seem to stop squirming! But I'm going to keep working on it

[akstrohm]

You can also hold them backwards so they can't see the cage. They might be less likely to struggle that way.

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by akstrohm

You can also hold them backwards so they can't see the cage. They might be less likely to struggle that way.

This is what I do! It works very well for my two.

[Molli_Mayzee]

Mine two do the same thing! I also wait until they stop freaking out and they are calm until I lower them. I pet them and talk nice to them and eventually, even if it seems to take forever, they calm down. They don't seem to get it yet but they are starting to calm down a lot faster then when I first adopted them.

[iAl3X]

Two of my three pigs do this. I found the trick was to let their hind legs dangle. This gives them no leverage to kick with their hind legs meaning they will struggle a lot less.

Or, another trick I found, make sure your pig is secure while doing this though, is to put my hand over their eyes, they don't see their home until about 3-4 inches away from the ground, and they don't struggle.

Good luck getting your pigs to calm down.

Edit:
If you still have a pet store cage for whatever reason, or an enclosed C&C, open the door before you go to put your pigs in it.