Cardboard Boxes?

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Bella123

Bella123

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Ever since I've had my piggies, I have been reluctant to use left over cardboard boxes as hideys.

I would like to know if it is as bad to use these or not.

I read a review on amazon about in this case a rabbit being rushed to an emergency due to the cardboard he comsumed from a carrot cottage. It put me of using cardboard.

But recently reading, - they might be ok to use as someone said they can be used for fibre in piggies with diarrhoea. It helps to bulk it up so to speak.

So what are your thoughts on this, what about plastic igloos as well?
 
IMG_1055.webp I liked using cardboard boxes as I found they were cooler in summer and my guineas chewed on them but they seemed not to swallow the cardboard I don't know why. They also loved tossing them around as quite frequently the boxes ended up upside down. I think they are good as you can cut as many windows or doors in them, I don't think they harmed Ruby or TItch, here's Ruby's friend in hers
 
I've used cardboard boxes for years without any issue. I haven't tried a carrot cottage though. Not becauss I'm worried but I'm note sure what the covering would do to my delicate tummed boar.

My boys like to renovate them by making the doors and windows different shapes and sizes but they don't eat them excessively.

They do sometimes have a plastic house or a stool but that depends on the pig and how much they try to chew it. I don't like them having plastic in their stomach.

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My lot all love cardboard boxes in various shapes and sizes.
The only thing I avoid is boxes with bright colours or a shiny finish on them, but otherwise my piggies get a couple a week.
I find they don't last long as they usually get tipped over and piddled on after a day or two, but as they are free it doesn't really matter!

As for a rabbit getting ill from a carrot cottage, I suppose it could happen, but as many piggies on this forum have destroyed many carrot cottages, I imagine this is the exception rather then the rule.
 
My lot love cardboard boxes, so much so that my hairdresser keeps cardboard rolls and boxes just for me!

I remove labels, sticky tape and I don't use the really tough ones with staples in. I cut a couple of small doors, and they renovate the rest themselves.
 
I am using a cardbox during their floor time; they sometimes nibble the entrance of the box, but not that much. They have eaten also some plastic from the tunnel, when they started building a fire exit from it (!). I think that the pig you are referring, the one rushed to the vet after eating card box, didn't fall ill because of the card itself, but maybe for a big piece of something swallowen in a wrong way, this can happen also with a piece of veg. Moreover, a carrot cottage is more appetizing than a card box. I definitely would not worry of card boxes...
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Thanks for everyones replies, it seems ok then to use them then, which is great news!

I have few amazon boxes, one of which is currently sitting in the cage.

Fifi and flash simply love running in and out of it. Here they are chillin, at the moment.....

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Aww the guinea on the right I don't know it's name, looks like it's drying it's nail varnish. I love it when they do that I wonder why they put their feet like that :love:
 
I wouldn't use plastic igloos, or if I did it'd only be in my waking hours when I could keep an eye on them, because I've had a pig that ate his way through a plastic bowl once. It somehow didn't cause him any harm, but I basically woke up one morning to find the bowl missing. He'd eaten the whole thing. So yeah, not amazingly fond of plastic.

Cardboard boxes though, they're the next best thing after paper bags :)) I'm surprised at the rabbit incident, although I'll point out that nothing is 100% fool proof. My two aren't big cardboard eaters, they've had munches on the carrot cottages but I've noticed Blitzen in particular doesn't actually eat it, just rips it off, chews it then spits it out again. They've also had the same carrot cottages since December, the only difference now being they can't both fit into the same one.
 
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I use carboard boxes for floor time, both inside and out. I fill them with hay. So they eat the hay and it tends to keep poo picking to a minimum too.
 
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