my piggie is soaking his cage

shoshanna · Jun 30, 2006

Hi. I am new here and I am the fairly new "mommy" to Elliot, who is a young male. After he had been home a few weeks, he discovered that it was fun to grab pipe on his waterbottle with his teeth and shake it back and forth. The result is that he can drain his entire bottle into his bedding within a few hours. We tried giving him an empty bottle AND a full one (so that now he has two) but he is smart and only plays with the one that has water in it!

Because he is draining his bottle into the cage, it soaks his bedding and even though we change it as quickly as possible he ends up walking around in wet bedding for several hours. I don't want his little feet to be soggy and it is also costing us a lot of money (and time) to have to change his bedding so much.

We do have other toys in his cage and we have a wooden toy for him to chew on, but apparently the water bottle is much more fun!!!

Any help you can offer would be great. Thanks!

~Shoshanna

fourbwabbys · Jun 30, 2006

He's probably bored without a friend to play with. I bet if you adopt him a friend he will drop that habit immediately.

katiecavyNC · Jun 30, 2006

How about putting his water in a bowl - you can get a 'coop cup' that fastens onto the wire of the grids and will hold the bowl immobile and should minimize spills.

PinkGrass · Jun 30, 2006

One of my girls does something similar... she doesn't drain the water, she's just constantly playing with the spout. She's broken 2 water bottles now flopping it up and down and cracking the screw. Eek! She's got toys- barely touches them- and buddies and she still does it. I'll also try the dish thing.. I'm not sure she would know what to do, though.

But, anyway... yeah. ^_^ Get him a buddy, and maybe he'll be less bored!
Some just find it so amusing to play with the water bottle. =/

C&K · Jun 30, 2006

Welcome to the group!

How big is his cage? If it is under 7.5 to 10.5 square feet, it may be adding to his boredom. I also agree that he needs a buddy, it sounds like he is really bored and looking for attention.

In the mean time, maybe you could secure the waterbottle a little more with zip ties or twist ties? I used a garden tieback with my girls waterbottle to help hold it in place.

I think that putting a dish under the bottle may be a good idea too. Don't fill the bottle up all the way, (Maybe half?) but put a dish under the bottle to catch all the water. (These are often available at dollar stores) that has a wider base then rim, so it can't be tipped, similar to a dog dish, but much smaller. I have a round one that has a profile like this: /__ \

That way, he can "drain it" and most should be in the bowl. I am sure that by not letting him accomplish much, he will tire of the game! Just make sure to clean out the bowl a couple times a day.

shoshanna · Jul 1, 2006

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. His cage is definitely too small and we're planning on getting him a bigger one asap. Once we get a bigger cage, we also plan to find him a friend. Hopefully those will help a little. I will also look into the other ideas people mentioned for the meantime (and also to use if having a friend and bigger cage does not stop him from enjoying his water bottle game). I appreciate all of your help!

cavyinhawaii · Jul 2, 2006

I got a mirror (made for birds) at walmart for .82 cents. Both my pigs are crazy about it. It might temporarly make him think there is a new pig in the cage.

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my piggie is soaking his cage

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