Any indoor free range pigs?

[jyrenze]

My friend used to keep her guinea pig in her room. It was free range and would go back to its cage to pee and poo. Anyone else managed to do that? It sounds like an interseting idea but I'm sure my pigs would just poo and pee all over my floor, lol.

 

[MemberX]

I don't agree with free range in the house, they have to have their own areas perhaps in a large pen. Free range in a shed is fine but for hygeine reasons they shouldn't be left to do what they want in a room.

 

[sokel]

Like louise says for hygeine reasons this wouldnt work but also it would be impossible to make the house totaly piggy proof

 

[lindsay7]

Murphy lives indoors his cage is in the kitchen. We let him out when we are home and can watch him he comes out when he wants into the hall way and can get in the lounge all the other doors are shut, as Graham says piggy proofing your house is hard. We have to have things blocked off for when he is out as he is a little chewer. He is very good as he goes back to his cage for wees he does let the odd poop out but nothing much.

For Hygiene reasons i dont think it wouldnt be right to have them free ranging all the time. :smitten:

 

[Clare]

I would be so afriad they would get stamped on.(kids in the house and a clumsy hubby... and me)

 

[spudnik]

i would let mine free range, if they had a room of their own which was totally pig proof, and easily cleaned.

 

[MemberY]

For the first few months when I got Lennie and then Timmy, they were pretty much free range. The reason I did this was because I rescued Lennie from God awful conditions and he had never been out of his "box" which was in a girls bedroom, it was about 2 foot by 1 foot >
They had their hutch which was open all the time and my lounge is totally piggy proofed. I had to change that when I got my other piggies so that they all get a good amount of floor time but some of my piggies are out at various times all day and Lennie is always left to come and go as he pleases all night. I don`t find hygiene a problem at all as they have an area apart from their cage which I lay newspaper and vetbed down on and they pee and poop there or go back to their cage/hutch. They never venture out of the lounge and they only time they are kept in their housing is if I have visitors and this is for the piggies safety. We are all "piggy trained" and are super careful when they are out

 

[jnenbnb]

When I'm watching telly or downstairs i just let Ralfie go where he wants, he dosnt fit under anything like the others and isnt interested in wires at all, though i lift them all anyway, he just potters around and tends to pee or poo where i put a few sheets of newpaper, Ralfie enjoys free ranging more than the others, they all seem to just have a little mad run the find a corner and stay in it! Ralf never runs, just strolls or waddles an doesnt seem to keen on corners, he preers to just lie in the middle of the living room ;D

 

[piglover]

Mine are pretty much allowed "free range" too. Having 7 boars now is proving a bit tricky but they all get time out Cubby & Golly have the most because Cubby is HUGE and they need the space, Pookie is 6 now and really isn't that bothered, he'll do a "once round the room" and back home, Archie comes out and just lays under the bed - he doesn't do anything strenuous! Bully loves to be out and follows me EVERYWHERE round the flat, he even waits outside the bathroom for me! None of them have ever shown the slightest inclination to chew but there are no wires anyway. They have plenty of their own things to nibble on under the bed. The babies haven't been out in the room yet, they're too tiny, they have a little sectioned off area where they can stretch their paws and popcorn for Britain! All of them go home to wee but inevitably there are poops scattered over the towels etc, but they all go in the same place - which is handy!

 

[jyrenze]

Wow it all sounds so fun to have them free range under supervision, and a piggy that waits for you outside the bathroom, what a gentlepig, lol.

The last time I let my piggy out in the living room she got under the sofa which actually she was not supposed to be able to fit under, and wouldn't come out until we had to lift up the whole thing. I think I'll try that out again. She has almost doubled in size since then and probably won't fit under the furniture anymore.

 

[piglover]

and a piggy that waits for you outside the bathroom, what a gentlepig, lol.

He follows me everywhere, he almost walks to heel! lol! If I leave the room and shut the door he wheeks like mad and waits behind it, then I have to be careful as I open it - its easier to let him follow! When I'm sitting watching the telly he sits on my foot nibbling my slipper!

 

[karen354]

I have two housebuns so couldn't have free range piggie.. I do let my piggies have at least 1 1/2 hours in the conservatory it's not to bad I just have to brush the floor and mop when they go back into their cage.

 

[maisynpoppy]

mine have a huge C&C cage and get floortime in the spare room but there the only places they can go unless its lap time

 

[Jillybean]

Free range indoors is fine if you can devote a room to them. Otherwise too many hazards. My boys are in the spare bedroom. All that's in there is their pen which takes up most of the room, it's lovely and big for them and laid down to vinyl, newspaper etc. But they poo and wee everywhere. In the evening they have a run for 2 hours in another room but it's a utility room and is laid to vinyl with not much in there (2 wicker chairs which they've loved chewing :. There's no way I'd let them run round a room with carpet unless the whole lot was down to newspaper.

 

[smiler]

whats the diff between being in a small room and a big cage? I dont think theres any need for them to be 'free range'

 

[jyrenze]

Well its pretty much the same perhaps but my friend back when she was studying rented a room to stay and kept a free range piggy inside. She said it was pretty cute that he would run to the door and wheek everytime she got home, and he would follow her round the house too.

 

[smiler]

Hmmm...well maybe with rabbits, and guineas can be very responsive to humans, but only to a point...

Guineas are very nervous natured and it has been suggested they actually PREFER smaller spaces... O0

 

[piglover]

whats the diff between being in a small room and a big cage? I dont think theres any need for them to be 'free range'

To be honest theres not much difference! The cage my two new babies live in is actually bigger than the pen I put them in to clean them out! But I think they enjoy a different environment because they popcorn and run round like mad when they go in their pen!

My others are desperate to come out every evening, chomping on the bars like prisoners trying to get out of their cells!
I think its down to a "change of scenery" although I have to say when I've cleaned out their cages they are usually hovering to get home and see what they got!

I wouldn't leave them out while I was out though for their own safety.

 

[Vicky(Smudger)]

I could never let mine have free range in the house. Apart from hubby going completely mad my dogs would have a hell of a party, then there are the cats.

Nope they stay in their cages.

I do have free range girls in the shed though, they have 8ft x 6ft of space to run around in.

 

[Jane]

Guineas are very nervous natured and it has been suggested they actually PREFER smaller spaces... O0

but if they have a large area with small spaces to hide in then they get the best of both O0

 

[Vicky(Smudger)]

Guineas are very nervous natured and it has been suggested they actually PREFER smaller spaces... O0

but if they have a large area with small spaces to hide in then they get the best of both O0

Yep thats what my girls have. The shed floor area but with igloos, tubes and hidy holes.

 

[grommit]

I suppose its easier in a big cage really. Wendy gets the run of downstairs when we are here, she trots about happily but Alice doesnt like the floor (wooden) and cant be out at the same time as Wendy So she has to have floor time on a big square offcut of carpet in the hall!

 

[GPQ]

I used to have two free-rangers Creamy and Tara, they mainly stayed in their cage(under bed storeage tub) but Creamy used to like to jump out and wander around the kitchen. I have found her in the living room and bedroom, when she has been looking for me to feed her.
Sadly Creamy died earlier this year and Tara isnt to brave, neither is her new friend Delightful so they mainly hang around the cage area.

Emma x

 

[piggytoefluff]

Well, my piggers are indoors but they are not truly free range. They spend the day in their cage and then I let them out when I get home. I provide 'pit stops' for them, like shoe boxes with hay in and offcuts of vetbed on newspaper in corners and that's where they pee if they can't be bothered to go home and do it.They do always have the option of going home to eat, pee or nap so accidents aren't really an issue providing I remember those 'pit stops'. Fluffkin will, however, pee in a new place if she hasn't been there before, so if I open up an new bit of the flat I have to stategically position a new 'pit stop' and hope for the best.
The girls only really seem to make tiny puddles so if there is an accident it's not a big deal. Stray poops are easily hoovered up too.
It's only me and them in the flat so I just know where they are and look out for them when I'm walking around.