Interstate moving

[cobalt]

I am getting ready to move from beautiful San Antonio, Texas to Ohio at the end of November and have some questions about moving with a cavy.

• Can anyone recommend a good pet carrier to keep him in for the trip? Remember it will be crammed into a minivan with me, my wife, our 11 year old son and 1 year old daughter. Space is definitely a concern.
• How can I give him excercise during rest stops? I am considering zip tieing cubes together acordian style, but during late November / early December I'm afraid it may be too cold for him to play outside during the day. We are considering putting him in the hotel bathroom at night with a baby gate across the door.
• I'm sure this is a no-brainer, but would it be ok if he were held DURING the drive instead of being locked in his carrier the whole time?

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Sierra]

There is a topic on cavy carriers in the accessories forum, check that out.

 

[CavyCrazyMom]

If you have room for it, maybe you could get a small cage just for the trip and vet trips. Small carriers propably won't work for the amount of time they will be in there. The grid and zip tie thing is a great idea, however I don't know about them in the cold as I am new to the cavy mom thing...and I'm from california, so it doesn't get that cold here! LOL But the bathroom thing is a great idea too, but be sure to cavy-proof it before you let them run around.

Here's something I have (well, I have the carrier part, not the cage part yet...)
(broken link removed)-
You need to make sure that they get a lot of leg stretching time too. That's super important. And that they have all their food and water available.

~~Cheri~~

 

[Denise]

Cobalt, where in Ohio are you moving to?

 

[cobalt]

Near Dayton.

 

[Denise]

Great! I live about 2 hours from there. Welcome to Ohio (in November)! P.S. Do you like snow?!

 

[cobalt]

I was born and raised in Colorado and have lived in San Antonio for the past 9 years. I like snow, but hate driving in it.

 

[MetallichicA]

How many days are you expecting this to take? I just transported my piggy from Illinois to California about two months ago... feel free to PM me with any questions

 

[CavySpirit]

Also, see this page for some tips: www.cavyspirit.com/moving.htm

 

[Erin8607]

The furthest I've driven pigs was 14.5 hours straight through from Ohio to Minnesota (then back). I've tried carriers, totes, and petstore cages. It really depends on the pigs for what works best, but for safety purposes a carrier is probably best just in case there is an accident - the hard plastic will somewhat protect them better than anything else and provide enough ventilation at the same time.

MAKE SURE you do not leave the pigs in the car alone! Travel with someone else, and take turns using the rest area's. It gets incredibly hot in the car, even in the middle of winter the sun can heat the inside pretty quickly.

 

[loves2travel]

how long can they be without water? i noticed the page says not to keep a water bottle in the carrier since it will just drip, so how often and how long will water breaks need to be?

 

[loves2travel]

erin, how big was your carrier?

 

[Erin8607]

I used the "critter canteen" type 4oz bottles on the carrier, they don't leave too badly. You can also load them up on some wet veggies.

I use the cat size carriers. But it really depends on how many pigs you plan to put together.

 

[ChadWPB]

My longest drive with a pig was 18+ hours each way when we took a pair of pigs on AB's (wanted to administer meds myself). We drove from South Florida to Pittsburgh, PA.

Since I did all the driving, my wife worked with the piggies, holding and feeding them. We used wet veggies, but having a second person, she was able to give water from a 16 oz. bottle that was stored in a cooler to keep it fresh.

We stopped overnight on the way up since we lost a lot of time picking up a third pig for my MIL. We drove straight through on the way back. The pigs were kept in a box, except the rescue piggie we picked up, she was in a cozy carrier.

The pigs got through the trip and made it home in good shape. During our vacation, our pigs lived in a luxurious 2x5 C&C and my MIL's piggie found a new home in a 2x4.

 

[MetallichicA]

Again... how long is the trip going to take you? This is only going to be about a two-day drive probably, right?

 

[cobalt]

I'm not sure how long it's going to take. It could be 2-4 days depending on how many stops we make. Especially when you consider my wife and I are traveling with an 11 year old a 14 month old, a dog, and guinea pig. We definitely don't plan on making record time.

 

[cobalt]

Well, we made it to Ohio and Gog managed the trip ok. I wasn't able to find a cage so I improvised and made my own. It didn't have a lot of space, but it fit the cramped space in the van ok. When we got here we were in temporary quarters for a week and the dog carrier was modified to accomodate the piggy. Needless to say, the first level of his cage was set up soon after we got into our house. When I get a chance, I'll post pictures of the redesigned cage (build in progress) and the travel cage.

Now to change my location in my profile

 

[Denise]

Welcome to Ohio. You made it just in time for a snow storm!

 

[cobalt]

No kidding! We got 13 inches!

 

[Katie]

Welcome to Ohio! I'm in Akron.