Ideal piggy cage set up?

[longdiling]

We are hoping to get a couple of piggies from a rescue and I know saw dust is frowned upon...we used wooden cat litter tray pellets with the last pigs we had but I used to worry it wasn't very comfy on their feet!! I'm debating puppy pads and hay this time around. Does anyone else do this or will they shred the puppy pad?! Thanks

Hi and Welcome new piggies to be

Puppy pads- some pigs will chew them and they have plastic sealing the edges of the ones I bought last. My ladies are a bit vandal~ey , the boars never touched them.

My pigs have just gone out today into their Pighouse for 24 hour living (they were indoors at night time from Guy Fawkes til now).
I used those wooden cat litter pellets ( they are recommended for small furries) they absorb well and crumble into a bran like texture. I just put a few layers of newspaper on top then the hay. Roll it up, take out any manky patches with a scoop, and remake with fresh paper.

I buy it from The Range , big bag lasts months. (Some wood litter stinks )
Megazorb (an equine bedding) is popular, it's light and absorbant but dust free. I bought some cardboard equine bedding (it's in small squares, I bought three huge bags from an equine supplies shop) .

We've tried everything - fleece,newspaper,towels,shredded paper, various equine beddings.

the wood pellets/newspaper/hay cookies for indoors worked well (less messy than loose hay)
outdoors- rubber carboot liners, cardboard, newspaper, equine bedding on the floor and deep hay in their hay box.

Boxes (two doors) , tunnels, Primark bags (without handles) - keep them busy .

Ah ok. So you put paper on top of the pellets? Maybe I could try that. I used to do it the other way round. We havettunnels and naice hay and evena kind of guinea pig tent for them to hide in! Soon as our new cage arrives we hope to pay the rescue a visit. Just got to decide which gorgeous pair of piggies we want!

Oh and thank you!

I saw rabbits on the wood based pellets and they made nice comfy little hollows to lard about in....but bunnies will use a toilet area so the pellets stay nice.

My pigs especially the sows pee everywhere so if they were directly on the pellets I'd be changing the entire lot daily.
With the newspaper they get the comfort and absorbtion but most of their waste is in the paper ( a small amount of the wood pellets get scooped out )

Have you got your "ideal pigs" in mind or are you just going to see who catches your eye?
Boys/girls
Adult/Baby
Smooth/rough/long

Pink claws
Enjoy !

The rescue is bursting at the seams with gorgeous guineas! I can't decide. I've only ever had sows before so I quite fancy boars this time. They have some lovely long haired pigs but I'm not sure how much work that would be?

New piggies - very exciting. Boars have quite big pigonalities and are very entertaining. They are also usually harder for a rescue to rehome. The rescue I got my baby from recently had quite a few boar pairs waiting for homes but very few sows.

Pink claws are preferable for your sanity, but in reality you'll fall in love with a pig and all practicalities will be forgotten. I didn't want long hair but my new baby is showing dangerous signs of long hair. At the moment he's sporting a bit of a mullet.

Mullet I'd love a piggy with a mullet! Hadn't thought about pink claws but one of our last piggies had black and white feet and I was in mortal terror cutting her nails.

My judgey Himmy has one pink toe (so she'd get disqualified from Shows. Like she cares ) Little nightmare to cut her nails, we do two paws at a time. Unlike 99% of other pigs she can be a bit toothy , not a bite, a warning.
Baby pig fur is lovely, smells lovely and it is great to see them blossom and grow into proper adults . (Mullets or otherwise )

Sows do smell a bit nicer than boars but IME they are messier (could just be my pair though)
Boars are lovely and huggy, bit lardier, needs more consideration with space .

But YY , there are loads out there waiting.

Seriously though, how am I meant to choose?! piggies

All so gorgeous. Just go along, one of them will catch your attention with a hard stare or a happy popcorn and you'll be hooked.

If you're really not bothered about age/hair etc, then why not take their longest staying residents.

I'm currently going through this process too - though I haven't had piggies before.

I have been in contact with my local rescue, and been down to see the lady that runs it. I was there a good 2 hrs I think in the end, talking and then meeting all the piggies! I really struggled to decide as I blinking loved them all! I have whittled it down to 2 pairs, 1 pair of young boars who are adorable with amazing names that I doubt I would change, and 1 pair of sows slightly older (about a year I think) who were very cute, one of which I particularly love.

I am struggling to choose between the two and taking the kids tomorrow so they can meet them, and we'll hopefully decide together - plus need to make sure no allergies for them!
I think the boys will be amazing - but the kids will need to wait longer for cuddles whilst we tame them (only 12 ish weeks), and theres the inkling of worry - what if they squabble when they reach maturity?
The girls are adorable and the kids would be able to have cuddles pretty quickly too, but I've heard they are messier and pee loads more = more cleaning

ARGH!

The grey and whites are the boys and the ginger / pale are the girls - thoughts?!

Gorgeous MrDarcy! I wouldn't be able to decide either. I'd be happy to have some of the longer term residents but, certainly when we adopted our cat, they usually weren't suitable for busy homes with loads of kids. Usually they've been there a while cos they have ishooos. I definitely wouldn't rule any of them out though! Apparently my cage is being delivered this afternoon so I can email the rescue soon as I get it and arrange a time to visit!

oh how exciting! you'll have to keep us posted, and I'll check in with my updates!

Boars are more likely to stay in Rescue because people think they're more awkward or smelly.
They need more space but once you get the accomodation sorted they are lovely
Girls can go into bigger groups or get put with a neutered boar.

The piggies are gorgeous, you will have a hard time choosing but the little gingery one (either a Rex or a Teddy? ) you need to make sure your DC aren't allergic . (My DD is fine with smooths,fine with Abbys, allergic to Rex )

And my sows are much messier / pee more tha our boars ever were

Ah thanks for the heads up re: allergies. They aren't allergic to anything at the moment and we do have a cat but it would be sod's law that we chose a piggie that they end up allergic to!

We're used to sows so mess doesn't worry me but they do have a lot of boars and I wondered if they were less popular.

Unfortunately Yodel have lost our cage which was supposed to be delivered today. It's showing as having been delivered a couple of hours ago but no-one has been. They're looking into it but it could take a couple of days. Sigh. I was so hopeful that I'd be emailing the rescue tonight with a picture of our set up so we could arrange a visit!

ooh forgot this thread!

We chose the girls! I was sad for the boys, but the rescue lady said problems (squabbles) normally show between 12 weeks and a year so she made it clear it would be better for them to stay with her longer to make sure they bonded.

Anyhoo - the kids loved them and no sign of allergies whilst we were there

All being well the piggies are moving in this afternoon! Rescue lady is giving them a bath and clipping toenails this morning then coming over with them to home check this afternoon - if she is happy they stay!

Cage all set up minus hay/ veg / water - want it as fresh as possible so will do the rest just before she's due... there are pellets and readigrass in there good to go