Do you use a house inside your indoor cages?

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I am geting 2 gorgeous guinea pigs in 2 days time and I cannot wait! :smitten: :smitten: I have been reading a Peter Gurney book and he says that it isn't a good idea to put houses inside cages as they will always run into them and only feel secure in them ....what do other people feel? 98)
 
I usedto have houses in all my cages but 1 boar , Colin , was very timid & I wasn't making much progress with him, he wouldn't even accept food off me , then I read on another forum about taking out the houses & I can't believe the difference it made . He's a much more confident , friendly piggie. Happily accepts food & is 1st upto the bars when he sees me . I do put in alot of boxes & tunnels in their pens when its floor time as they all love to run in & out of them all. ;D
 
Oh never thought of taking the houses out of the cages, thanks for the tip :) My youngest boar Zagazoo is very timid and hard to catch for floor time, think I am going to try them without. What do you have in the cages then apart from hay/hayrack, food and water?
 
I always have somewhere where they can run and hide if they feel scared especially if they are new. once they get use to the noises and people walking passed they will come out more and not worry.
All my indoor piggies sit on top of their house now or just sleep where ever the mound of hay is they arent bothered by the dogs or anything.

Peter didnt need hidey holes as his flat was just one big piggy playpen! :D
 
Thanks PP, my boys are not new, and the older piggies are ok coming out, its the younger ones that are a big jumpy. The two cages are up on top of a table so are not at ground level. Would I get away with a large chube and maybe the large fiddlesticks as hidey places? That way it would be easier to get the youngsters out for a cuddle and floor time. O0
 
oh I never thought of having no house...so would they be ok with just a pile of hay to sleep in? And what to use for hiding in to feel safe other than a house?
John Anderson certainly spends most of his time in his house when he's in his cage.
 
I don't think it's fair to not have a place for them to have some piggy privacy. It's in their nature to hide when there's a loud noise or if they get a fright and it seems a shame to not allow them to escape beady human eyes for a few hours a day if they choose to. I have 5 piggies and 3 hidey places.
 
Like I said if they are confident they will come out and lull around in open space BUT mine do have hidey places just incase something spooks them.

Log bridges, cardboard box, paper bag, chubes any of those things you can give for them to hide in- card board box being the cheapest! :)
 
My piggies do have time away from beady eyes as they have their own room , they also have hammocks which they can go under if they wish , but Colin certainly was friendlyer & more confident without the house , he certainly hasn't suffered in any way. Like I said in my post this was also a topic on another forum & other piggy owners had had the same result. I'd hate anyone to think I was cruel in taking out his house as I can assure you my piggies are very much loved & pampered.
 
my girls have a wood house, a pigloo, and large fiddlestix and various tubes.

my boys dont have a 'house' because they dont use it, they prefer to push it around the cage they are in a nero so it takes up a lot of room..nothing spooks them at all, they are very outgoing and sociable, but i do have fiddlestix/hammocks etc in their cage.
 
They should DEFINATLY have some sort of pigloo or house to hide in. They are naturally nervous animals, and if you are worried about not getting excersise, or them not gaining confidence, thats why you get them out, and put them in the run!

With very nervous piggies, try not to put your hand in through the top of the cage, as this is predatory and will scare them even more!

How would you feel if your house had no walls? ;D
 
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