advice on set up?

piggiemummy03x

piggiemummy03x

Adult Guinea Pig
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hi all!
i was wondering if i was allowed to post pictures of my set up and ask for some ideas / things i can do better for my girlies living arrangements? i want to make it as best i possibly can for them and would appreciate you lovely piggie lovers advice!🫶🏻
 
so this is an example of my girl’s current set up.. i swap things around in their cage every 3/4 days when i change the fleece, i have corner hides, tunnels and more beds i rotate between and i normally include a carrot house or cube for them. i would like some advice on what i can do to make it better for them, things they may like or would be good enrichment. sometimes i feel theres not enough in there but i also think adding more would be too cluttered!
 

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I think it is a lovely cage and honestly struggle to see where you can improve! You are providing plenty of hay which is always fun for them, and swapping hides, carrot cottage and things to do in and out which is great!
 
picture of a little bit of cage from another set up example x
 

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Looks lovely.
I love your freestanding water bottle holder. Where did you find that? Although I suspect our boys would pull it over!
 
Piggies&buns said:
I think it is a lovely cage and honestly struggle to see where you can improve! You are providing plenty of hay which is always fun for them, and swapping hides, carrot cottage and things to do in and out which is great!
Click to expand...


oh thankyou so much i am honestly so happy to hear that! i do try my upmost best for our girls so its good to hear others think its a good set up!

we are actually wanting to extend to a 2x6 now my dad has built a table but also considering adopting a (neutered of course) boyfriend for the girls once dellas settled down and didn’t know if it was a good idea to actually set that up the first day we bring him home so its a brand new cage and neutral territory!
 
AidaB said:
Looks lovely.
I love your freestanding water bottle holder. Where did you find that? Although I suspect our boys would pull it over!
Click to expand...

thankyou so much!

i believe from facebook! would you like me to send the link? also on etsy but a little bit more if i remember correctly..
yes i was worried about it too but the weight of the water bottles really hold it down and as they are refilled so often they are always heavy enough to keep it down! my della is a tugger lol and its not been a problem, just make sure its on flat ground and it should be fine! the base is quite large :)
 
piggiemummy03x said:
oh thankyou so much i am honestly so happy to hear that! i do try my upmost best for our girls so its good to hear others think its a good set up!

we are actually wanting to extend to a 2x6 now my dad has built a table but also considering adopting a (neutered of course) boyfriend for the girls once dellas settled down and didn’t know if it was a good idea to actually set that up the first day we bring him home so its a brand new cage and neutral territory!
Click to expand...

Oh how lovely!

It won’t actually matter whether you expand now or later/on the day if arrival or a boyfriend because bonding cant be done in it anyway.
They will need to be bonded elsewhere and this cage need to be cleaned out thoroughly before they can go back into it as a trio anyway.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Oh how lovely!

It won’t actually matter whether you expand now or later/on the day if arrival or a boyfriend because bonding cant be done in it anyway.
They will need to be bonded elsewhere and this cage need to be cleaned out thoroughly before they can go back into it as a trio anyway.
Click to expand...


so the rescue we are looking at applying for actually does the bonding for you! they match your piggies with one needing a home and you take yours down for them to meet and do the initial ‘bonding’ then once its done and hopefully all gone okay you take them home to continue at home.. do you have to do multiple bondings at home too then?
 
piggiemummy03x said:
so the rescue we are looking at applying for actually does the bonding for you! they match your piggies with one needing a home and you take yours down for them to meet and do the initial ‘bonding’ then once its done and hopefully all gone okay you take them home to continue at home.. do you have to do multiple bondings at home too then?
Click to expand...

As it’s ‘speed dating’ ie your piggies will be there for just a few hours to find a boy, then you will really need to come home and put them back in neutral territory for a few more hours to finish the bonding.

The thing with speed dating is that it tends to only go through the initial acceptance phase (which doesn’t take long) - whether they like each other or not - but it doesn’t always go into the other parts of bonding which need to happen while they are still in neutral territory.
You then move them to the cage where they go through dominance and at that point it can then take two weeks to fully form the hierarchy.

It’s advised to bring them home in separate carriers in the case of speed dating (your two girls in one and the boy in another) as they will not be far enough into their relationship. A scuffle could easily happen in such a confined space.

Some rescues have your animal stay with them
for a week or so while all the bonding is done. This allows much more of the process to happen. You then come home with them in the same carrier and put them straight into their normal (but cleaned out) cage straight away .
 
Piggies&buns said:
As it’s ‘speed dating’ ie your piggies will be there for just a few hours to find a boy, then you will really need to come home and put them back in neutral territory for a few more hours to finish the bonding.

The thing with speed dating is that it tends to only go through the initial acceptance phase (which doesn’t take long) - whether they like each other or not - but it doesn’t go into the other parts of bonding which need to happen while they are still in neutral territory.
You then move them to the cage where they go through dominance and at that point it can then take two weeks to fully form the hierarchy.

It’s advised to bring them home in separate carriers in the case of speed dating (your two girls in one and the boy in another) as they will not be fed enough into their relationship. A scuffle could easily happen in such a confined space.

Some rescues have your animal stay with them
for a week or so while all the bonding is done. This allows much more of the process to happen. You then come home with them in the same carrier and put them straight into their normal (but cleaned out) cage straight away .
Click to expand...


got you! so basically they need to be for example on the floor to continue bonding for a few more hours before then putting them in fresh cage. obviously we aren’t doing this yet hence why i’ve not done a lot of research. thanks for the info, i know where to come when we are nearer the time to adopt😀
 
piggiemummy03x said:
got you! so basically they need to be for example on the floor to continue bonding for a few more hours before then putting them in fresh cage. obviously we aren’t doing this yet hence why i’ve not done a lot of research. thanks for the info, i know where to come when we are nearer the time to adopt😀
Click to expand...

Yes that’s right.
This is why it doesn’t really matter if you expand their cage now or later because either way the cage will also need to be neutral before they move into it as a trio anyway.
I guess there is certainly an argument for it to be expanded on the day boyfriend comes home because the girls also won’t be expecting it to have changed but the fact is it still means a full clean out either way.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes that’s right.
This is why it doesn’t really matter if you expand their cage now or later because either way the cage will also need to be neutral before they move into it as a trio anyway.
I guess there is certainly an argument for it to be expanded on the day boyfriend comes home because the girls also won’t be expecting it to have changed but the fact is it still means a full clean out either way.
Click to expand...

got you! thanks so much! we are very excited? just wanting to wait until we know della is definitely better to minimise stress!
 
I
piggiemummy03x said:
so this is an example of my girl’s current set up.. i swap things around in their cage every 3/4 days when i change the fleece, i have corner hides, tunnels and more beds i rotate between and i normally include a carrot house or cube for them. i would like some advice on what i can do to make it better for them, things they may like or would be good enrichment. sometimes i feel theres not enough in there but i also think adding more would be too cluttered!
Click to expand...
I'm loving the pink theme x
 
piggiemummy03x said:
thankyou so much!

i believe from facebook! would you like me to send the link? also on etsy but a little bit more if i remember correctly..
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will have a look around when I have a little bit of extra money for piggy spending. I find myself tying water bottles on the outside run with string!
 
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