Best layout for divided cage?

Cheekypigs

Cheekypigs

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi there,

Our brawling boars seem to be doing ok in their divided cage just now, there's a fair amount of peaceful chatting through the divider, and a fair amount of rumbling and bar-biting as well, but overall, more peaceful than not.

I just wanted to compare notes with others who have divided cages. How do you arrange the cage?

At the moment we have it arranged with the hay at the divider, to allow them to graze together, and the beds at opposite ends, so they can get away from each other to have a rest. At first I considered putting the beds at the divider but I wasn't sure if they would just disturb each other and not get proper rest.
 
I always tried to avoid putting any of their necessary items along the divider so there is no pressure for them to use that area if they don't want to.
So I would make sure they have food, water, hay and a bed well away from that area.

When I had piggies separated by a divider I found they would often lay there together and I mistakenly though this meant they were actually friends, but it turned out it was a power strategy! Complex little things.

So I wouldn't want to risk them not eating hay or using their beds because it forces them to be at the divider.
Is it possible to keep the shared wall free of obstructions and position the things elsewhere?
Or if you do have hay there, make sure you also have at least one other source elsewhere in the cage too.
 
Good point. Their water and pellets are away from the divider. At the moment they seem to have no issue eating the hay where it is but I might hang a hay bag elsewhere as well just in case. The space is rather limited (we never anticipated needing a divided cage) so I don't want to take up free floor space more than necessary.
 
piggieminder said:
I don't have anything along the divider but they do tend to spread their hay out and then pinch each other's through the bars.
Click to expand...
Ours steal each other's hay as well! It's a victimless crime, as the one being stolen from doesn't seem to care at all, but the thief feels like they've got away with something. Before I made mats to go under the hay, I put newspaper down, and they started trying to steal that too!
 
Just to add that I've read about this territorial lying-in thing before. So far ours don't seem to be doing that, though they do lie down in the hay. Here's a photo of them doing it. Is this the kind of lying-in people describe? I imagined it as literally lying side-by-side with the divider between. These guys just seem to be lounging.
 

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They like to know where the other one is! Mine often lie with bottoms against the divider like a pair of bookends, they're not looking at each other but they know the other one's there.
 
They do get very stressed if they don't know where one another are. The days between separating them and building the divided cage were heartbreaking, they were constantly squeaking for each other and trying to escape to find each other. When we put them in the new cage there were squeals of joy (quickly followed by attempting to fight through the bars).

Now if we take one out for too long, the other one starts yelling!
 
Cheekypigs said:
They do get very stressed if they don't know where one another are. The days between separating them and building the divided cage were heartbreaking, they were constantly squeaking for each other and trying to escape to find each other. When we put them in the new cage there were squeals of joy (quickly followed by attempting to fight through the bars).

Now if we take one out for too long, the other one starts yelling!
Click to expand...

Ah, the old issue of can’t live together, can’t live apart!
 
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