Cage Cage suggestions/fleece help

[HeadleyMama]

Please help ~

New to posting to this site ... so I hope I don't sound lame! I am a "newish" piggy owner. Last weekend I built my first C&C cage for my daughters 2 boars. We moved them in on Sunday. Since then, they really only hide/sleep under the loft I built ... making a mess under there and it's hard to reach. I am debating on taking it out *sigh* and just giving them more hides. I am open to suggestions -PLEASE!! Their "kitchen" is to the right ... but I've had to cover it with fleece or they won't go in there. I haven't sewn their fleece yet .. it's something I will be working on throughout the rest of this week.

A week ago, I rescued two females (my oldest daughter is a vet tech, so we rescue a LOT of animals) once which had emergency surgery (spay). Opinions on how I can build onto this for the girls? My girls are currently in a smaller cage and I need to get them out as soon as possible.

Next question ... also attached is a close up of the fleece. Does it typically get this dirty this quickly? I feel like they are just smearing poops around (and yes, I swept it up last night). I do plan on changing their kitchen up with a litterbox and some begging instead of just the fleece. Maybe that will entice them to potty in there more.

I feel so lost. I've been searching this site, Pinterest, the internet .. everything to give these piggy's the best life. I love them so much (even though they belong to my 9 year old).

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Piggies generally love wide open, flat spaces and though some pigs do seem to like a loft, most will never miss is. If they don't use it, it will generally just make it more difficult for you to clean and be in the way..


As far as the fleece getting dirty quickly...........yes. Spot cleaning in my piggie abode is done several times a day, and a full bedding change is done every 48 hours. My pigs pee and poop a LOT, as I'm sure everyone elses do. My little men tend to soak a corner badly so I just change it all out every 48.

Just a word before you get too frustrated. You can't really train pigs to pee and poop in one area. If you get REALLY lucky, they'll do most of their business in one place and you can adapt to that but otherwise you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. They go wherever, whenever.

As far as expansion goes, you've got a great start. You could expand a little bit more at the far end into an "L" shaped cage which would give them plenty of room, while still being easy enough for you to reach in and clean.

 

[HeadleyMama]

OK thank you. I did post another thread yesterday about the boys marking a lot. The smell was REAL bad at first (I think that's part of the dirty marks on the fleece), but dissipated throughout the day I have yet to see them jump onto their loft (mind you it's been 2 whole days), instead they are hiding under it and making a mess that's hard for me to reach. I do love the fleece forest for them, I just need to think of another way to provide that if I remove the loft area.

I need to figure out how to add a portion for the girls. I can't give the girls a 2x4 because then we won't be able to access the boys on the bottom. I am not sure how to go about this one.

 

[bpatters]

@HeadleyMama, there are jillions of pictures in the Photo Gallery about cage arrangements where you can get ideas.

You can get by without changing all the fleece every couple of days if you make some small pads and put them in places where they pee and poop the most. The pads can be changed more often than the larger pieces of fleece. But your best bet is to buy fleece with a busy pattern and dark colors and just pretend you don't see all those dirty marks!

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

@HeadleyMama Yes, piggies love to poop! I have to spot clean twice a day. I had the same issue with my pigs doing their business everywhere, and it was crazy having to clean out food bowls because they would poop in them. I have a packing blanket on both my cages, and I bought 2 car mats, washed them, and spread carefresh on it, and set it in my feeding station. Make sure you put some droppings on the bedding. I think the bedding absorbs urine better than the blanket. They also seemed to think it was more comfortable, and I change the bedding everyday. It made the process so much easier.