Baby gate type thing for guinea pigs?

[VenusClapTrap]

A guinea pig breeder has died leaving hundreds of guinea pigs in need of homes, and our local guinea pig rescue is involved and will be looking for local homes when they’ve all been vetted etc.

My dc are very, very keen. I’ve been making promises for years about ‘one day’ getting a shed and run built at the bottom of the garden and adopting some rescue rabbits/guinea pigs, so maybe now is the time.

As they would need to be inside for the winter anyway, I’ve got plenty of time to sort out the shed/run construction, and I’m thinking our pantry could be a good winter home for them. At the moment it’s just filled with crap and unused kid craft stuff, so a good clear out is needed. It has Lino on the floor and a secure door, so I don’t think we’d even need to buy a cage - just provide them with some snuggly boxes of hay and fleeces and tubes and things. Easy then to sweep and mop.

Does this sound like a good idea? It’s approx 1.5m square, so a reasonable size.

What I would need to sort out though, is some kind of baby gate to put across the doorway during the day so they could see and hear us in the kitchen. I’d close it at night in case the cat got any ideas - unlikely, she is elderly and not much of a hunter but you never know.

Does a small animal type baby gate thing exist? Lower than a normal baby gate, and with closer bars? Any suggestions?

I would suggest C&C grids - they're about 14" square (so too high for the piggies to climb over but you could overlapp and build higher)

We used cable ties , make sure there's no bits they can catch themselves on
You do need to line C&C , pigs cannot walk on mesh .
I put tarpaulin underneath ( to keep the hay off the carpet - Ha!) and cardboard inside which is cheap to replace .

We did have a 4x2 cage which the pigs referred to as The Hated Indoor Cage but they only slept in it and had their outdoor shed (Pighouse)
I did see a bigger rabbit cage (I think in Jolleys)

C&C can be divided , you can build a top floor (I never did mine were lazy)
We gave ours the small bedroom in winter , there's no door on that room and I put the radiator off .

Sometimes in emergencies - like if the shed had a leak or it was gale force - we used their outdoor runs ( BunnyBusiness ones) . One was over 7'x4' one was 4'x4' . We put the cages upside down (so the roof as the base) cardboard , newspaper , hay .
If they glamped in the garage they went on cardboard and heavy plastic the rightway up with a load of hay and a cover .

They are noisy , at 3am ours liked to chew cardboard and rattle the water bottle

And they do pee and pooh for Britain.

DD and I had 8 over a period of eight years , at one point we had a neutered boar and 2 sows plus another pair of sows , so had to have two large cages in the bedroom.
That's a lot of pooh

It is really sad that all these piggies have been put in this situation but great that the rescue has been able to take them

Two of our sows were part of a rescue of 240
And one of our boars came from a 60 strong rescue of boars - he was a 6 week piglet .(Breeder didn't 'like' guinea-pigs but probably happy to pocket the ££)

Another of our boars was taken to boarding.....and left there . When the owner was contacted they didn't want him.

DD and I had 8 pigs who were all from Rescues , all cherished by us and given the best life we could .

Often rescue pigs are shy but they come round with food and patience and you'll be giving them a chance of a new life . Enjoy

Very sad

@VenusClapTrap

Whereabouts in the country was this breeder?

Chichester.

Thanks, we foster Guinean pigs but that is too far away for us.

Waves at @70isaLimitNotaTarget who gives good advice as always.

Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful. I spoke to the Rescue lady yesterday and the pigs are all pregnant females and they’ve all been fostered out. She said to get back in touch in a few weeks when they will have hundreds of babies to home! The dc are beside themselves with excitement at the prospect of getting babies. They can’t believe their luck - I’ve always drilled into them the moral obligation to adopt adult rescues!

So we have some time to organise the accommodation. I’m trying to get my head round the different bedding options - fleece seems to be the thing nowadays. The lack of mess is appealing, but the washing!

This weekend we will clear out the pantry. Not looking forward to that.

Sow piglets get snapped up quickly .
You could take a couple of adult females or maybe a mum and a female piglet?
Two of our sows were young (10 month) ex breeders . They were a bit nervous but settled well and really relished their new lives of just being pets , they had Husband 1 (our GP3) then after he died , Husband 2 (our GP6)
My DD would 100% say boars are snugglier and unlike many other male rodents , they don't smell .
Hay smells . (And gets everywhere) Pigs don't smell if you keep them clean

Or if you have space , boars are lovely , you do need to give them lots of room and their own 'space' for harmony .
If they have two piglets from the same litter they're easier to bond .

Good Luck with the pantry cleaning

@VenusClapTrap

Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful. I spoke to the Rescue lady yesterday and the pigs are all pregnant females and they’ve all been fostered out. She said to get back in touch in a few weeks when they will have hundreds of babies to home! The dc are beside themselves with excitement at the prospect of getting babies. They can’t believe their luck - I’ve always drilled into them the moral obligation to adopt adult rescues!

So we have some time to organise the accommodation. I’m trying to get my head round the different bedding options - fleece seems to be the thing nowadays. The lack of mess is appealing, but the washing!

This weekend we will clear out the pantry. Not looking forward to that.

You can get washing machine sacks to wash the fleeces in, we use those. We have a lot of small square fleeces which dry really quickly, half an hour or so on the line even in winter. We have thicker ones for snuggling in.

Or if you have space , boars are lovely , you do need to give them lots of room and their own 'space' for harmony .
If they have two piglets from the same litter they're easier to bond

This is where a two storey c and c comes into its own, our two boars from the same litter have one and they are sometimes together but other times will sit on different levels, usually when one wants to sleep and the other wants to run and jump around.

If you look on Amazon /eBay there are zipped animal wash bags that you use for fleeces (because TBH it is nigh on impossible get to all the hay off them )
A rubber brush (Lakeland Brush Buddy) is great on fleeces (and now working hard getting catfur off the stairs )

I used to put a splash of unscented Ecover inside the bag with the fleeces . They need unscented , they are respiratory sensitive and their little noses are right in the fleece . Don't use fabric conditioner it stops it wicking .

Best fleeces I found were Ikea ones about £1.50 a piece and no blanket stitch on the edges (which I'd cut off anyway because you know they'll chew it and get all tangled in wool .
You do know that guinea-pigs are officially as Thick As Mince ? But so lovely with it .
Proved when our GP1 (magnificent golden agouti smooth boar) got himself caught in the handle of a Primark bag . Instead of thinking "I got in, I'll get out , or hey! it's paper I'll chew" he squawked like an undignified parrot

Given the choice our pigs voted for newspaper and hay ( puppypads underneath the paper) then we rolled up and replaced .
If you use fleece you need something absorbant underneath so the pee goes straight through (wicking) and the topside is dry . Pooh just gets brushed off when dry .

We use puppy pads under the fleece.

They are indeed as thick as mince, ours have demonstrated today that they don't recognise the fridge door. Our kitchen door squeaks but I've been leaving it open and so they don't hear the squeak. Now I can go in the kitchen and rummage through the fridge without them wheeking until I get to the cage with the goodies

You do know that guinea-pigs are officially as Thick As Mince ? But so lovely with it

Oh that did make me laugh! Yes, yes, that is my abiding memory of the guinea pigs of my childhood! I did have one unusually bright one though, who was also super affectionate and I loved him to bits. Sadly he was killed by a dog that got into the garden and broke into the hutch. Horrible memory.

Today we cleared out the pantry which was every bit the horror show of a job it promised to be. But now it is empty of long disused baby/toddler equipment, forgotten craft equipment, rotten playdoh, drifts of dust and many many cobwebs. I got Dh to dismantle the shelves (“I can’t believe I’m doing this to enable rodents” ) and we measured the space, which is not a straightforward rectangle.

I can fit a 3x3 c&c cage due to the odd shape. Would that be ok? All the set ups I’ve seen seem to be 2x something.

I’m still confused and undecided about fleece versus wood shavings.

Wood shavings smell horrible, it's a very overpowering smell even when clean and you will generate so much rubbish that you'll have to go to the dump. They also need changing more often as they get horribly wet and then it really does stink if you don't keep on top of it.

We use puppy pads (which I don't like really as they are not that environmentally friendly but it's about all we do that isn't as green as it can be) fleece and hay and it goes in the garden waste bin, I don't think we are supposed to put hay in there but when we used to take it to the dump they told us to put it in garden waste when they found out it was from guinea pigs so now it goes in the garden waste bin.

7.5 sq metres is the recommended minimum for 2 guinea pigs, 10 sq. metres is better so at 9 sq metres your C&C would be heading towards the better size. Is that all on one level or two levels? They need the space to run around so 9 sq metres on one level is enough but 9 sq metres on two levels is not so good. Some guinea pigs never go up a ramp but all of ours have - they weren't keen at first but then I put the kale upstairs and not downstairs and suddenly the ramp was their Favourite Thing after the rustling of plastic bags in the morning.

We (well my son) designed and built our own c&c cage so you can go round corners and things. Done properly they are very sturdy - DS built ours raised off the ground with c&c grids for legs, you can buy them individually as build it yourself storage units at Amazon and they are cheaper.

Excuse the clutter. This is our set up, it's cleaning out day in the morning so there's a lot of hay in there at the moment as it's freezing here.

awaits judgement from the lovely @70isaLimitNotaTarget who had the guinea pig home to rival all others.

Ha no judgement pagan but my hogs would've been "Say what now , when was this decided ?" at an upper level.

DH made GP1/GP2 a lovely haybox in the Pighouse . It was originally the carcass of an old cupboard about 3'x3' laid flat and a 'lid' that lifted up . He put carpet on the lid and a wide , shallow carpeted ramp in an L shape along the side walls to let them climb up.
The buggers never used it . If we put them on the lid they wandered down (to ground level/food level) never up .
They hid under the ramp though ....

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

Ha no judgement pagan but my hogs would've been "Say what now , when was this decided ?" at an upper level.

DH made GP1/GP2 a lovely haybox in the Pighouse . It was originally the carcass of an old cupboard about 3'x3' laid flat and a 'lid' that lifted up . He put carpet on the lid and a wide , shallow carpeted ramp in an L shape along the side walls to let them climb up.
The buggers never used it . If we put them on the lid they wandered down (to ground level/food level) never up .
They hid under the ramp though ....

Haha. Mine started out in a small cage (the emergency one we keep in the shed) as they were tiny (you've seen them) when we got them, obviously now they are fully grown (you might have spotted them both in the picture).

Ours hide under the ramp too but they also go up in the tunnel but one of them likes to sit in the bottom of it and fall asleep so when he's there his brother runs up the actual ramp with ease. They go up quite a lot now. Since they moved out of the small cage (PP they were palm of our hand sized then) into the large one it's all they've ever known.

Pig in tunnel, he will asleep in a mo

It’s 9sqm on one level. I could add another level/hayloft part above.

I’m not keen on the idea of using puppy pads. I’d rather use something I can put on the compost heap ideally. But if it’s very stinky Dh will complain, especially so close to the kitchen, so maybe that rules out shavings.

Oh he’s so cute! Your set up looks really nice.

Love the Guinea-In-The-Tunnel

We had one of the concertina ones and a Hop-Inn -ours was a three tunnel one , joins in the middle . They are water resistant for half an hour and wide enough for two lardy hogs to pass each other in the tunnel.

My Himmy would wedge herself in the plastic tunnel (she didn't like sunlight) and rage GP6 if he tried to squeeze past her .

We have a baby gate for our bunnies, one of whom managed to squeeze through bars a few cms across. We had a metal one which we put plastic netting over. She ate a hole thru it. We switched to metal which was fine but didn't look great and we didn't want it when our baby arrived as it was a bit sharp.

Now we have a wooden extending one which has two parts so we have put a sheet of Perspex in between. Works well and looks good. I know guinea pigs aren't rabbits but I assume they are similar!

@VenusClapTrap

It’s 9sqm on one level. I could add another level/hayloft part above.

I’m not keen on the idea of using puppy pads. I’d rather use something I can put on the compost heap ideally. But if it’s very stinky Dh will complain, especially so close to the kitchen, so maybe that rules out shavings.

9 sqm on one level will be fine. A hay loft would be a bonus, some pigs will love it and others will go 'what the hell is that for?' and you've know way of knowing.

I'm not a puppy pad fan either but I've consoled myself that we don't use plastic bottles and throw away approx two carrier bags of rubbish a week at most so I accept it. The wood shavings soon overwhelmed our compost bin. It's not stinky of wee (unless you don't clean them out often enough) but I hate that freshly cut wood smell.

A quick search suggests that there are biodegradable puppy pads, I'm going to have to research this some more.

Love the Guinea-In-The-Tunnel

he's grown a bit hasn't he?!

pagan are you name changing ( it doesn't take much to confuse me , for I am ancient )

Did your piggies once fit on the palm of one hand ?

I thought the top of the green tunnel was a dark rump and white shoulders but it's a cardboard tinnel
Did I mention I am ancient ( and bat like ) !

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

pagan are you name changing ( it doesn't take much to confuse me , for I am ancient )

Did your piggies once fit on the palm of one hand ?

I thought the top of the green tunnel was a dark rump and white shoulders but it's a cardboard tinnel
Did I mention I am ancient ( and bat like ) !

Yes, they were once that small.

Nope, it's a cardboard tunnel which the piggies can eat to keep their teeth in check if they were bright enough to realise that. Instead they eat the shoe box house. They've got a fabric house too which they toss up and down in the air and popcorn.

I'm also old and batlike.

I do like the idea of the tunnel going up to a second level. Did you make it or buy it?

I have just been looking on Pinterest and Etsy at cage liners and accessories. Oh my god! I can feel a spending spree coming on! Any recommended makers or things to avoid? Looks like I need liners, hides, lap pads, tray for hay, tunnels...

The green tunnel (modelled impeccably by the little golden piggy) are plastic over a wire spring type structure . So you can strech them fully or flatten to store ....and wash them , they do tend to sit in tunnels and pooh !
I got one in Jolleys (rabbit sized)

If you do a shallow pitch ramp and attach the tunnel then the piggie would sprint up .

I think my boars were too set in their ways when I got them the first ones were a year old and very much If God had wanted me to fly I'd have been born with wings ....and the food is on the floor level so that's where we'll stay types .

Guinea-pigs are basically prey animals and though they can appear bolshy noisy little mammals , if you never forget that your pig is constantly thinking something is going to swoop down and eat it , that's a good way of understanding them.