Adding a loft

[Rivervixen]

Hi all, I currently have a 6x2 for my pigs and as I can’t expand out any more (I know I don’t NEED to but I always want to give them more) would a loft be beneficial? It would be over their sleeping area so wouldn’t take away from their running area

 

[Sophie B]

If you think they’ll use it, go for it!

 

[Piggies&buns]

A loft is a bonus space, so in one way it can be beneficial to give them another area to get away from each other, or just somewhere else to play. There is an argument that the floor space the ramp takes up can interfere with their running space, but given you have a large cage anyway that doesn’t really apply.

My personal experience of lofts is not a good one! I found that given my boys have a large floor space anyway (the run of the entire shed), that they just didn’t bother going up into the loft, so I took it down.

 

[Helen82]

After only using their loft intermittently for the first year to get away from each other, my two now use it all the time - mainly as their shared sleeping area. I put their hay tray under the loft and I think they like it being a bit more secluded like that. They also like to use the bit of space left under the ramp (the cupboard under the stairs!) as a more private toilet (though they still go everywhere else too!)

 

[piggieminder]

I've always found mine love their lofts. I usually use them to put a hay tray in as with boars having at least 2 of everything even with my 3 x 5 cage I found space sometimes difficult. Caspy uses the loft as part of his zoomie routine in the evening (2 figure of 8 laps round the cage and up the ramp, popcorn and rush down again. Looking across at the cages now Caspy is in the tray in his munching hay, Brillow is sound asleep in theirs. All piggies are different so it's really a case of try it and see! With boars I've definiely found it adds another option for getting away from each other, sometimes they share the space and sometimes not. The secret to a successful loft I think is not to have it to high and have a shallow ramp. Mine use the space under the ramp as another resting hidy place. With a C&C you can attach the loft with cable ties part way up the grid rather than on the top. In this photo you can see the part height loft with a shallow ramp, I've used a cooling rack as a barrier on the loft because the cage is under a table and a C&C grid won't fit!

 

[YvonneBlue]

All three of my cages have lofts and all the piggies use them.

I mainly use them as a hay loft. I put a big plant potting tray in there lined with newspaper and just pile it full of hay.

 

[PigglePuggle]

We have a 1x2 hay loft in the main cage, only 3 out of 6 piggies ever go up there but the others do like the fact that it offers a covered area where they can chill out in the open without feeling too exposed!

 

[LunaPig72]

I have two lofts in my 6x2 C&C - a 2x1 loft set halfway up a single grid height at one end, and a 2 x 2 set about three quarters up a single grid height at the other. All four pigs use them, we have four sows - two babies and two adults - and the babies in particular love zooming up and around the 2 x 2. Definitely useful to give them additional space and time away from each other and I don’t find that the ramps take away floor roaming space too much.

Key is definitely to keep lofts fairly low and ramps shallow, provide cover for the loft spaces if you can (I got fleece ‘shade sail’ type covers custom made for my lofts which I attach with velcro) to give the guineas confidence to explore, and also think about the feel of the ramps themselves for piggie feet. We use a shredded cardboard bedding and I spread some of this over the ramps too, so other than the slight slope the ramps would feel the same as the rest of the cage. Pics attached which hopefully explain what I mean!

 

[anyar.dris]

I have a 2-floor hutch with an attached c&c. All piggies that I've had and currently have love going upstairs. It's their main bedroom and stays there the whole night (or when hubby and I are out for the day, as we recently figured out, they choose to sleep while they are left on their own). They never had problems going up and down the ramp. Although I had one piggy who had trouble getting up the hutch from the floor (Meemee, she had to "calculate" how to get up the hutch from the floor by walking backwards and forwards or left to right before jumping, and then sometimes failed and try it again after a few minutes ) and another piggy who had trouble getting down from the hutch to the floor (Prince, hence our current set up has bricks as a step ladder ).