Does my loft need a guard rail?

[VoodooJoint]

The title says it all. Does it? The loft is 1 foot above the cage floor. The floor of the loft is a little slippery because of the vinyl tile...I may put fleece on it but so far my girls don't seem to mind the slick floor up there and it's so easy to clean!

However, I am afraid that if they are running they may slip and fall. While the drop is small they could land on a tube or the pigloo.

Right now, to be safe, I put an extra piece of shelving across the loft edge. I hate how it looks though. I know I have some 6 inch wire shelves out in the shed so if I should have a railing can I use the 6 inch instead?

[Slap Maxwell]

I put one on mine because I noticed the pigs would push each other around and come close to stepping off the edge,

[Ly&Pigs]

Voodoo if you look in my gallery, my first cages had lofts that were 14" above the cage and I never had grids on the inside. My pigs never fell off, jumped off and were never pushed off either. What you can do is try it without railing of some sort and see if they fall or jump, etc. If that happens then you can put up a railing. My girls knew there was an edge there and while they loved to look over the edge they just weren't interested in going down that way.

[VoodooJoint]

Thanks guys.

I think I will try it without the guard rail and see what happens.

[Sabriel]

I think it all depends on your pigs. My boar is a big ditz. I wouldn't trust him not to fall off. He can't even get a drink of water without making a huge mess.

[thundermuse]

One of my pigs accidentally knocked his cagemate off of the loft when turning around. He's a really big pig, and he has a hard time keeping track of what his rear end is hitting. So both of my lofts now have guard rails. I used regular grids for one, and mini grids for the other. My ramps are made out of mini grids, so I had some left over. They blend in with the rest of the cage nicely.

[AuroraBorealis]

I would put a guard rail on the loft. Maybe they won't push each other off on purpose, but accidents happen. I know my guard rail has saved my pigs from falling down on many occasions.

[TurboPiggy]

You could do like what my husband did to ours, just put half grids up so they won't fall off but you can still reach them easily.

[Furkidsmommy]

I have to agree with adding a rail of some sort. when my cages had upper levels I had a rail because piggies do not always think when getting excited. I know I wouldn't have been able to live with myself had they got injured. Even a small drop could cause an injury if they landed the wrong way.

[VoodooJoint]

Bummer....have to put the rail back up again. I think I will be using a 6 inch rail though. That should be enough to keep them from popcorning off.

[Furkidsmommy]

Fyi I just did a search on Guinealynx and found this http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19459&postdays=0&postorder=asc&hig hlight=fell+upper&start=40
I think the general opinion was 6" or less without rail ok higher than that use a rail.

[littlebear]

I put one on mines because my pigs like to play up there and they push each other around like slap_maxwell said. Also because I wanted to be safe!

[guineapiglvr14]

I would. Because if they do fall they could get really hurt.

[littlebear]

Yes I agree what if they fall on there backs too that can be a hard impact and that most likley could badly hurt them.