Upper Levels How to get pigs up

Put food and water on both levels until they are comfortable with the ramp.

Can you describe your ramp? How long/steep is it? Does it have sides or a top? What material is the surface?

My pigs' favorite food, hands down, is grapes. I chopped a grape in small chunks and made a trail down the ramp. Once was all it took. I'm sure the first pig up got all the grapes lol, but once went up and down, the other one did too.

Can you show us a picture of the ramp? I just put a ramp in my boys' cage a few days ago. At first it was just the coroplast ramp lined with fleece and they wouldn't use it Then I attached a bent grid over the top to make sort of a tunnel, but they still wouldn't use it. Next, I inserted a fleece tunnel (or you could just drape a small towel over the grid) and they love it now. I think the key is to make them feel as secure as possible and give them some time to adjust. Good luck! Here's a pic of mine so you can see what I'm talking about.

akstrohm said:

Put food and water on both levels until they are comfortable with the ramp.

Can you describe your ramp? How long/steep is it? Does it have sides or a top? What material is the surface?

Click to expand...

My ramp has sides on it and is made out of coroplast. Its 38" long. I also put down a textured rubber mat so they dont slip.

I tried the grape idea last night before I put them up there and it didnt work. I also tried putting down hay and making a hay trail going up. Right now , I put a lettuce trail but no luck as of yet.

I am taking pics now of it.

Will they eventually go up?

Here are some pics of the ramp. I made the lettuce trail as you can see and the hay trail. I put there veggies down on the first floor today.

Looks like you did a great job, I would just suggest attaching a bent grid over the top and give that a try!
PS-how do you get your pics to show up that big? I can't figure out why mine are always so small?

Thanks, unfortunately the pigs dont think so. I am getting a baby next week and made this cage for them. Hopefully after quarentine the baby will use the ramp and make my 2 adults realize what it is. Hopefully

I was wondering why your pic was so small too. I just added those pics on as an attachment and they came out big.

Is that a coroplast ramp? If so, or is made of another smooth material, it's probably too slick for them to get any traction. Try clipping some fleece or a towel to it and see if they'll use it. If so, you can figure out a way to make it more permanent. But not too permanent, as they'll pee and poop on it and you'll have to clean it.

Theres a textured rubber mat on it, so they wont slip. It black too, so it blends in. They dont slip I made sure of it when trying to get them to go up. Then they just back down.

UPDATE: I am jumping with joy right now. I put fleece down as suggested and put one of the pigs up top. She went down with no problem. I guess they do feel secure when something is on there feet other than rubber matting.
Hopefully this will keep improving. Just have to work on them going up now.

Mine didn't like rubber mats either. I had some on top of hideys, thinking they'd be more comfortable that way. Wrong....

I'm glad they've started going down!

You could put the ramp so it ends on top of a hidey, making it less steep. After a week or so when they are more used to the ramp, you can then return it to where it is now.

My ramp has a rubber mat on it, and it works just fine. Once they are used to it with fleece, you can then switch it to just rubber if that is what you prefer.

If I put the hidey on the end of the ramp, how would they get onto the ramp? They would have to jump onto the hidey right?
I dont think they would ever do that.
So far, today they are taking little walks up the ramp trying to get the hay. The one realizes that there is a water bottle and food up there, but my other hasnt figured that out yet and is still eating from the bottom level. She will get to the hay half way up the ramp then turn around and go back down. I have been trying to train them all day long. I think they are exhausted.

Try putting a fleece or towel pad on top of the hideys. Mine wouldn't get on them at all until I did that, and now they're like hurdlers -- barely touching the tops as they go flying over. Unless they're napping on top of them, that is. Didn't matter what kind of hidey it was -- shoebox, fiddlesticks, wooden hut, plastic container -- they only got in them until I put pads on. Now they perch on all of them.

It depends what kind of hidey you have. Mine jump onto their hidey's all the time.

It will probably take a few days for them to use the ramp reliably.

Mine never jump on there hideys. I have pigloos and timber hide a way. I also have cuddle cups.

My pigs did that for a week. They would muster up the courage to go up there and I would come home from school and they would be there from the morning. I picked them up and sort of dusted their feet on the ramp so they could get the feel of it. I would put food up there, and then when they got up put some more at the bottom. Now both my pigs are comfortable with it! It'll take a week or two but one pig will follow the other and vice versa.

Nothing as of yet. I am still putting the hay on the ramp, and they are eating the hay that is at the beginning of the ramp and stretching there entire bodies to get the hay that is actually on the ramp.
There food is still on the lower level along with all the water bottles. Until I see that they are going up then I will move the water bottles up. On the upper level I do have some pellets though.
I guess I just have to give them more time and be patient.

I second the recommendation for putting a bent-grid cover (possibly with washcloths or fleece over top of it) over the ramp to make it more like a tunnel, at least initially. Some pigs are worried about doing anything new when they feel exposed to the sky.

Good luck!