Size How Many Piggies??

[KittyKatKairi]

Heyllo all! So I currently have four piggies living in an 18 square foot cage but we will soon be upgrading to a 24 square foot and I was wondering how many piggies would that appropriately house before we hit max capacity? My guess is 5 but I'm curious what the general consensus is since there isn't any listing for how much space any more than four piggies need anywhere I can easily find.

 

[bpatters]

Click on the Main tab at the top of this page -- there's a recommended cage size guide there.

It's in grids, not feet, and each grid is 14 inches square, so you'll have to do some calculating. Each pig above four needs another 2x1 grid section added to the cage.

 

[CavyTV]

Go as big as you can, then decide from there how many more piggies you can get without making it uncomfortable in the cage. That's what I would do. Also, you may need a lot more space than a 24 square foot cage because either a. you have 2+ piggies that will only be able to get along in a MASSIVE cage or b. you have all males (or 2+ males that get along in a herd of females).

 

[bpatters]

Don't put multiple males in a herd of females. It almost NEVER works, and the males will fight terribly over the females even if they're neutered.

 

[KittyKatKairi]

Oh WOW I was not expecting anyone to say eight piggies! Haha! Thank you for the responses! I don't think we'll go higher than five but I was just curious to get people's thoughts! Since people mentioned the different sexes, we will be getting another female if we upgrade to five piggies. Currently they are three girls and one boy (don't worry, he's neutered!) and I'm not sure I would be comfortable having multiple boys unless we only had two piggies in total. Thank you again though!

 

[CavyTV]

LittleAdventures (YouTuber) has 2 males living together with 3 females. I agree that most of the time adding another boar or two to a female herd with a male is not a good idea and probably won't be pretty but it CAN work, if you're lucky. Personally, I wouldn't risk it unless I knew I had 2+ boars that are very laid-back and get along with pretty much any pig. There are guinea pigs like that and some shelters even know the personalities of each guinea pig. Little Adventures had 2 girls with a male. One of those girls unexpectedly gave birth to a baby male. Obviously, the baby was neutered. The baby boar then grew up with the older boar, his mom, and another female, kind of knowing his place as he grew up and that the other boar is the leader.

I guess she got lucky; maybe the little boar just really isn't that dominant and doesn't really care for the leader role. My point is, 2+ boars CAN live with a herd of females at the same time. I would just make sure that if anyone is willing to take that risk that they have money saved up for any potential vet visits for injuries, a large cage that can be expanded if needed, and they are positive that the boars they have are in no way overly dominant or aggressive. Just laid-back, chill, get-along-with-everyone boars.

What are the genders of your 4 current piggies? I would love to see some pigtures, especially when you get the new edition(s) as well as the expanded cage!

 

[KittyKatKairi]

I've watched LittleAdventures! I love her channel! But yeah, I'm not too keen on trying to add another boar, at least not at this stage. Maybe some day if I just happened to stumble on a pair that could tolerate each other. I'm sure my baby boy appreciates me wanting to add another lady friend to the group though!

I'm trying to attach a photo of the girls but I'm on my phone so I'm not sure how to get it to work, haha. Maybe it'll show up, maybe not, but I can provide photos later!

 

[KittyKatKairi]

I got it! Haha. The ones on the left are the girls and the all white one "in" the sack is our baby boy.

Their names are Jellybean (orange & white), Pepper (black & white), Twinkie (tri-colored), and Marshmallow (white) for anyone interested in knowing.



This is how their current cage looks, though this is before Marshmallow was with us which is why you don't see him. As you can see it is a bit crowded because of all the stuff. When we expand the cage we're going to move things so that we can give them more floor space. (i.e. Putting a mount on the wall for their hay and upgrading them to houses that can't be relocated to block the middle of the cage) People keep telling me it's fine how it is but I personally just feel they should have another foot added on to ensure they have room to really zoom around if they see fit! Sometimes Marshmallow tries to and is promptly stopped by a pigloo that someone has moved to the middle of the space.

Anyhow, we will be building the new cage this weekend! I'll post progression photos if people are interested in that!

 

[CavyTV]

They're adorable! I can't wait to see the new changes.

 

[Shieme]

Besides they are so cute, those are absolutely the cutest names for all of them. I love Twinkie's colors.

 

[KittyKatKairi]

It has taken far longer than anticipated to get here but today is the day we're putting the piggies in their new 24 square foot cage!! Super super excited about it and cannot wait to see how they like the new space! Waiting for my fiancé to get home around 4:30 and then we're going to give them bubble baths before putting them in! I've attached a photo so everyone can see how it looks. There are still a few minor things we need to do. You'll notice the water bottle holder area on the right side is missing the lower wiring and then as for aesthetics the ends of the plexiglass jut out a bit further than desirable, but other than that it is ready to go!

We're going to try six hiddies and two tunnels to start and see if that's too much crowd with all four of them in there or not. May remove a tunnel. The two pads you see laid out without houses on them are where we're going to put the two wooden ones we have which they are still using in their other cage. I want to phase out the pigloo's since you can't really put pads under them (they move around too much for pads) but for now it will do! As for their hay, we attached hooks to the back board (between the two water bottle holders) to hang hay bags from. Going to be using microfiber mats to catch all the debris that will inevitably fall all over the floor. I've never used them before but I hear piggies love them!

I've been sewing like crazy the past few weeks to try and get everything ready for them, it's been fun but draining since I'm also a full time student at a film school. If we do end up getting a fifth piggie I'll post more photos of her for anyone who's interested to see! I'll snap some pics this evening once the piggies are in their new home too! So so so excited!!!

 

[bpatters]

Don't give them bubble baths. You need to get an exotic pet shampoo to use on them.

I'd also take out any hidey that has only one door, or else cut another hole in it. A pigloo is just an invitation for one pig to trap another and get its face slashed.

 

[KittyKatKairi]

"Wow, that looks great! So excited for you!" is also an acceptable response.

In all seriousness, the shampoo we have acquired for our pigs is from Gorgeous Guineas which, as you may or may not be aware, is made specifically for guinea pigs and comes highly recommended from many guinea pig owners. I personally believe that giving piggies regular baths helps to keep them clean in areas they may not be as good at cleaning themselves, such as grease glands.

Our pigs have never had any issues with the pigloos aside from just not liking them as much as other hiddes. Presumably because they are see through and so even when inside they still don't feel entirely safe. This is one of many reasons I would like to phase them out eventually. That being said, I would never pair together piggies who would harm each other. Pigloo or not. Period. Besides, the rescue I got them from wouldn't allow it even if I did.

 

[KittyKatKairi]

Update: The piggies LOVE the new cage! Definitely decided since seeing them all in it that getting a fifth piggie is probably a no-go for us. Another piggie would likely just make it feel as crowded as their old cage did. All of that being said, they definitely have a lot of space now! Marshmallow was bounding around when we initially put them in and even Pepper was popcorning! She's always a Miss. Scardey-Pig more than anyone else, so it was really great to see her excitement!

Everyone went straight for the hay.

 

[wigglemish]

That set up is gooooooooooorgeous! I love it! So glad your piggies are enjoying it too!

 

[ZiggyPig]

Update: The piggies LOVE the new cage! Definitely decided since seeing them all in it that getting a fifth piggie is probably a no-go for us. Another piggie would likely just make it feel as crowded as their old cage did. All of that being said, they definitely have a lot of space now! Marshmallow was bounding around when we initially put them in and even Pepper was popcorning! She's always a Miss. Scardey-Pig more than anyone else, so it was really great to see her excitement!

Everyone went straight for the hay.

OMG this cage is AMAZING! My piggies are jealous and they can't even see it! I want to live in it. I think you are right to leave it at four in this space, they just look so happy running around
I'd love to expand my cage and add a third piggie but I think even if I expanded my cage I would leave it for my two girls just to have more room to bumble around and sometimes get out of each other's faces. It floors me to think of guinea pigs in small cages now as I often look at my 2x4 C&C with a loft they adore and think, this is too small for two of them. lol