creative ideas pls for solving hutch problem

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catslovelycats

catslovelycats

Junior Guinea Pig
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I bought a hutch on eBay recently after much deliberation. It has 2 floors and a ramp. I know a lot of pigs don't use ramps, but my 2 babies spent the first 6 weeks of their life in one and are used to going up and down it. I hoped they would encourage my others - especially with nice food up the top.

Anyway, the hutch I bought is handmade VERY WELL and has 100% positive feedback from buyers. It is sold as a guinea pig/ferret hutch. I knew the dimension of the hutch (1 foot wide seems too narrow to me, but then I wanted to take off the front door and use the hutch as an added bit as my pigs are loose on the shed floor.

However, the ramp is far too narrow and my 4 adult pigs straddle both sides of it. Plus the hole at the top is too narrow for the adults to get through and the angle of the ramp is such that none of the pigs can get through the hole at the top anyway. The ramp also has no grip, so when I've tried coaxing the pigs up it they just sit on it and slide down again.

I should have gone with my 1st reaction and avoided buying a doubles floored hutch - but I wanted to give them a chance to have a bit mroe space.

Anyway, have emailed seller, explaining the problems with the hutch. He says the hutch has been approved bu a pig breeder. All I can say is that the breeder clearly didn't try any pigs in it and doesn't seem too worried that 2+ pigs would be in a cramped 1 foot wide hutch. Both of which are guesses on my part, of course.

Have emailed seller back saying I want to return item etc etc and haad no reply so far. Maybe the hutch would work for ferrets, but I'm not willing to lose out of the £50 this cost me to sell it cheap on friday ad etc.

I will go all the way with a paypal dispute if I need to, but, in case I don't win this, has anyone got any ideas of what I can do to the hutch?

The floor is very thick so even a manual saw won't be strong enough to cut more of the hole. The ramp is firmly glued in place. I could glue some carpet onto it for grip and try to attach a bit of wood to widen it, but if the angle is wrong, all this is not going to help.

Anyone got any ideas what I can do? I can't think of any other than selling it and putting it down to one of those things, but I know you all have great pig homes and might just have an idea for me!

Thanks
Sorry this is such a long post, but thought it better to explain things ind etail.
 
I think when you complain to paypal, you should make clear the minimum requirements for a guinea pig hutch (they dont need to knwo the piggies would be free ranging in the shed and given plenty of space) And then you with all the things wrong you could say it was miss advertised and isnt suitable for the recomended purpose. That way you should be able to get your money back. I'm pretty sure they will refund you. Is there any way to publically comment on the site to warn other piggy owners?
 
Thanks guys.

Connie: I haven't left feedback yet. Depending on how seller responds I'll either leave neg or neutral but will put it in my comment. Thanks for comment.

Raven: what a great idea! I have some cosy tunnels already (not long enough for the ramp) but that's defo worth investigating if I have no luck returning the hutch. Thank you! I agree about the hutch size. I only bought it because it was meant to act as a bed & extra play space for my pigs rather than their entire home. I told the seller they are too small when I bought it. Interestingly they have just started making a 'supreme' size - the ramp, hole and size adjustments seem to have been acknowledged - if not from me, from someone! I feel sorry for any pigs/ferrets for whom it is their sole living space. And I would love to know who the 'breeder' is that the seller spoke to. As we all know, there are breeders and breeders... I just got my 2 babies from a 'breeder' who housed the dad with a rabbit and fed all their pigs on rabbit food.@)
 
I would say, that if they were really a breeder its likely that they just blocked off the ramp and used it as seperate hutches, then they would have had no problems anyway.

I dont know if youve seen breeding "blocks" of hutches. Where they are all just built as a stack of 4 and 2 hutches wide, i expect they used it like this.
 
Yes ,but this hutch is way too small for even 1 pig to live on one floor! I think...
But, yes,you're right, maybe that's what a breeder said.
It's 1 foot wide and 4 foot long. But inside there is a thick piece of wood all around the edge so the floor space isn't even 1 foot! Lesson learned: don't buy anything on eBay that I haven't seen in real life. The photos didn't show the true picture.
 
Unfortunatly lots of breeders wouldnt even give there piggy a space that big. Ive seen 2ft by 1 ft with 3 males in it before... *shakes head in disbelief*

I think the best thing is to get your money back, or atleast ruin the reputation of the person in the process of trying. You cant sell something like that as a guinea pig hutch. Its not suitable.
 
I agree Connie. And I'm not convinced it's suitable for ferrets either - cos they're quite long aren't they, so even if they can fit through the hole, they would have such little space.

At worst I could saw off the ramp )I think it's superglued on), use the base as a bed for the pigs (fleece city!) and the top floor can be storage space for food...
If there is a way to make the floor hole bigger I thinkI'll explore the piggy tunnel angle, but as I said, the quality is good and I think it would need specialist equipment to cut through the very thick floor...

Oh well. Watch this space. Thanks for replies.
Still no reply from the seller yet.:(grrrr
 
I would go to paypal if the seller is being uncooperative. The sooner you do it, the quicker it can be sorted and you can get on with deciding how to use it, if you cant just send it back. :)

I dont know much about ferrets, so I'm not sure. sorry. :/
 
Had to go to paypal but seller did refund. Phew.
Might see if RSPCA would like the hutch for emergency homing of ferrets.
It's no good as a permanent home so I don't want to give it away/sell it to someone that will keep something in it for life.
 
Thats a good idea. It might make a good hospital home for a poorly little piggy.
 
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