We brought our piggies home yesterday!! And now I have more questions...

NEprairiemom · Jan 8, 2013

First off, let me say that Smores and Peanut are safe an sound in a C&C, fleece lined cage...after sitting in a tote for about 5 hours. The cage builiding/reconstructing took much longer than expected. The previous owner had a C&C cage, but the coroplast was cut for the OUTSIDE of the cubes...not the inside and I didn't know that until after I took her liner, and added more to it to make a bigger cage, went to put the liner inside the cubes and it was too big...GRRRRRR...she also put hers together with duct tape...not the way the instructions here are posted. So, anyway...that was annoying. But we finally got it figured it. And they spent the night in a nice cage.

But anyway, here are a few quesitions I have:

1) I want to build a hay rack, but I am uncertain as to how to attatch it to the cage...please help.

2) the former owner put together her C&C cage with duct tape...and there is some that is exposed to the piggies and they chew on it....is that ok? Is that any different than chewing on the coroplast or the igloo hidey?

3) how do you keep one pig from taking all of the fresh veggies from the other one?

4) do they like to be in a lightened room at night...or is the darkness ok?

5) their nails need to be clipped...but I don't want to do it too soon...when should I try?

6) my 3 kids sat next to the cage last evening ...can they attempt to pick up the piggies today...or should we wait a few more days? What is the best plan of attack here...the piggies are 2-3 years old...if that matters.

7)I have plans to make a loft for the piggies...do your love yours...or is it a wasted space? If you do have one, how is your ramp made?

thanks so much for your help.

Kathy

KaileighRussell · Jan 8, 2013

Hi Kathy! I used a bent grid that was attached to the side of the cage with zip ties. I have used duct tape on my cage, but ONLY on the outside (underside of coroplast) of the cage - never where a piggy would ever have access.

I spread my veggies out and around - that way each piggy can go to a different pile - on opposite sides of the cage. I have my girls in my bedroom - so at night it's dark, during the day it's light - I would avoid direct sunlight for large chunks of time. As for nails, try handling their feet a bit first - see how that goes. Then try trimming one paw one day, then the another paw another day until you get all four done.

I did have a loft with a ramp and my girls hated it - I would put them in the loft and they would sit at the top and squeak at me until I put them down. That's my girls though, a lot of them love it - you have to try it out and see. C&C grids bent and wood for the base - with some carpet covering it make great ramps - but make sure they aren't open. Piggies can fall off of them!

KaileighRussell · Jan 8, 2013

Sorry - the first bent grid was the hay rack - honestly I have pre-coffee brain this morning!

Chritazy · Jan 8, 2013

Congrats on your new piggies! I've heard that duct tape is not good for the piggies to chew on. Zip ties/cable ties are a must-have. You can use them to put your grids together and connect your hay rack to the cage. I made my hay rack by bending a grid and zip tied it at the bottom very tightly and it stayed that way with the top open for refilling it.

You might try dividing up the veggies so they each have their own bowl/plate.

I made a kitchen loft just this weekend and wasn't sure how my girls would take to it, but they're doing fine. I put down a trail of carrots going up the ramp and put them on the upper level several times and by the end of the day they were going up and down on their own. To make the ramp, I used bent grids lined with coroplast and cut some carpet to put on top of that for traction. The top half of the ramp in enclosed (another bent grid). At first the ramp was just coroplast and the carpet, but the first time Sophia went down the ramp she stopped halfway down and jumped over the side...so I added the grids. Thankfully she didn't hurt herself.

My girls do just fine in the dark at night. They're by a window which has a solar screen, so I leave the blinds pointed down and they have plenty of light during the day.

I haven't had to trim their nails (I'm dreading it) because they were just trimmed when I got them and it isn't time yet.

Here's a pic of the entire cage and another of the kitchen. They hay rack in the second pick is tilted up, but usually lays down against the grid that encloses the top.

NEprairiemom · Jan 8, 2013

is it hard to bend the wire grid? What is best way to do this?

What do i do about the duct tape? I mean....it covers all of the seams...and without the tape, the coroplast will fall apart becasue she didn't leave one side of the coroplast attatched. (did that make sense?)....and I can't really afford to buy a whole new sheet...not to mention that I don't live close to any place that sells them. I want to do the right thing and not hurt our new pet, so what should I do? thanks for your help.

KaileighRussell · Jan 8, 2013

I ended up kneeling on a pillow that was over the grid and just bending it upwards. Depending on the type of grid they bend rather easily. Get gloves if your hands get sore easily - the pillow is definitely a life-saver though!

Get fleece that is long enough to go up and over the sides of the coroplast and use binder clips (the black ones from staples) to clip the fleece to the side of the coroplast. That way it covers the sides of the coroplast where they could get to the duct tape. I did that with my girls because they were facsinated with the corners and chewing the crap out of the corners of my cage.

And yes! Zip ties/cable ties are worth their weight in gold!

Chritazy · Jan 8, 2013

You should be able to tape the coroplast on the outside where the piggies can't get to it. What kind of bedding do you use? If you you fleece and towels/U-Haul blanket they shouldn't be able to get to the duct tape at the bottom. Or you may be able to poke holes in the coroplast and use zip ties to hold it together. Don't know how that would do tho.

Chritazy · Jan 8, 2013

I used wood and kneeled on it to bend the grids. I didn't think about using a pillow...that probably easier on the knees.

KaileighRussell · Jan 8, 2013

Chritazy said:
I used wood and kneeled on it to bend the grids. I didn't think about using a pillow...that probably easier on the knees.

It came from attempting to bend them without a pillow! And finding out that coroplast was in fact my nemesis - oh I like new C&C Cages, but lordy do I hate working with coroplast!

NEprairiemom · Jan 8, 2013

so in order to remove the duct tape I will have to remove the piggies from their cage again...is that really a good idea after what they went thorugh yesterday? What should I do???

KaileighRussell · Jan 8, 2013

If they're not paying any attention to the duct tape currently - and are just settling in, try waiting a day - cover the duct tape with a towel or peice of fleece for now until you can get them out.

Honestly, I've had duct tape on the outside of the cage, as long as you cover it with fleece, they can't get to it.

Brandi0509 · Jan 8, 2013

I just wanted to chime in on the loft. My girls do great with their loft. I have a large cage (2x6 main floor with a 2x5 loft for 4 girls) so I have the kitchen and sleeping area (pigloos and cuddle cups) in the loft and the main floor has fleece forests and tunnels for running around and playing. It works out great for us! Our ramp is made from grids bent into a U shape (so it has sides) with a small piece of coro cut to fit zip tied to the bottom part. On top of the coro we hot glued popcicle sticks (landscape) for a ladder like effect (for traction) and then put fleece over that. We did have to extend our ramp so it wasn't very steep because we adopted an adult and she was not very good at going up and down the ramp. Our babies are much more agile and didn't care how steep the ramp was. Thankfully our main floor is large so we were able to extend it.

Our hayracks are attached to the cage using zipties. I would give them 24 hours to settle a bit before handling them. One thing that helped me tame my girls was handfeeding them. Like sitting next to the cage and holding a piece of lettuce in the cage so they come up to your hand to eat it. That really helped my pigs because previous to doing that we were only reaching in to pick them up and they hated that so they would run anytime we approached the cage. A few days after we started handfeeding their veggies, they associated our hands with veggies so they quit running away. This also helps with making sure one isn't hogging all the veggies.

2198lindsey · Jan 8, 2013

I store my hay in my garage so to avoid a huge mess throughout the house I used one of those shelf grids you get with the hooks and bent it to where the hooks hook onto the cage and I can easily take it off and outside to get hay.
I loveeee this method.

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We brought our piggies home yesterday!! And now I have more questions...

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