Thinking of Getting Rid of Cages Altogether...

Cherish · Mar 9, 2008

My boys have a very large cage that we made for them, but they are only confined to it at night or when my husband and I are both out (which isn't very often, as I am a writer and work from home).

Most of the time, we just leave the door open and let them have the run of most of the flat; they are all house-trained, we don't have any exposed wires anywhere, and they love being able to run anywhere they please.

However, they all wheek to be let out sometimes, as they're used to being allowed to run in a bigger space, and one in particular chews the bars, and has already broken his top teeth on the bars twice.

My husband and I will be moving into a larger house in a couple of months time, and the house we are currently looking into has a box room, big enough for a small bedroom, and we were thinking of just letting this room be a "guinea pig" room.
We're thinking about getting rid of cages altogether, and just letting them have the run of that room at night and when we're not home.
(Plus the extra space will mean that we might be able to try adopting some more boys into the herd!)

It sounds ideal in theory, but is this practical?
Has anyone here ever tried anything like this before?

newpiggiemommy · Mar 9, 2008

I have heard of people having a room just for the guinea pigs. They get free range in that room, but I don't know if it will be the same to them as free range in the whole flat. They are going to want to be where they can hear and see you! Keep that in mind!

Jennicat · Mar 9, 2008

We actually had a pair of adopters who free ranged their guinea pigs in their entire, two story house. The pigs tended to stay in the living room vicinity, but they had plenty of litterboxes, and they'd meticulously "pig-proofed" the house (protecting the wires, etc).

Cherish · Mar 10, 2008

newpiggiemommy said:
I have heard of people having a room just for the guinea pigs. They get free range in that room, but I don't know if it will be the same to them as free range in the whole flat. They are going to want to be where they can hear and see you! Keep that in mind!

Our current flat isn't very big, they know their way around it really well, and I find that they never have any trouble finding me.
I just wonder if a bigger house would confuse them?
They tend to prefer to stay in the living room, unless they decide to follow me around like furry little ducklings for a while.
Until, of course, they hear the fridge door open and they all come waddling into the kitchen, wheeking for food!

Oh, and do you know what they used to cover the floor in the guinea pig room?
It's currently polished floorboards, but I'm thinking possibly some kind of linolium, with areas with lots of fleece?

Jennicat said:
We actually had a pair of adopters who free ranged their guinea pigs in their entire, two story house. The pigs tended to stay in the living room vicinity, but they had plenty of litterboxes, and they'd meticulously "pig-proofed" the house (protecting the wires, etc).

I've been meaning to ask, if they're alright with stairs?
The room we'll be giving them will be downstairs, along with the living room and kitchen, but there is an upstairs to the house.
Will we need to block off the stairs, in case they try to climb them?

Jennicat · Mar 10, 2008

Their pigs didn't seem to have problems negotiating the stairs, though they didn't do it very often. It was a slow process, and it seemed to frustrate the pigs, hee.

Cherish · Mar 11, 2008

Jennicat said:
Their pigs didn't seem to have problems negotiating the stairs, though they didn't do it very often. It was a slow process, and it seemed to frustrate the pigs, hee.

Haha, well, they shouldn't need to go up the stairs, but as long as we don't get any tumbling piggies if they do decide to explore, I'm happy!

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Thinking of Getting Rid of Cages Altogether...

Cherish

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newpiggiemommy

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Jennicat

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Cherish

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Jennicat

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Cherish

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