Emergency Rescue!

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Yes I hope they are going to be! I love the idea of a homemade cloth roof for a hiding area, and a plastic stool for privacy.

Today has been so lovely watching the piggies. They're really coming out of their shells - literally and metaphorically, as I have been pleasantly surprised throughout the day to see them relaxing outside of their hidey hole. Not doing anything at all, whereas before I would only really see them out to eat hay, or run about, or drink etc. The progress they've made has been so remarkably quick - I can't believe how at ease they are after only ten days! I have seen them both in the little 'loaf' position - I thought only cats tuck their front paws in to relax!

Their fur is also markedly a lot healthier looking now, it has continued to improve from the start :)
 
Hello!

I finally got around to uploading some photos:

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Sorry for the poor quality, taken on my camera phone. Cookies my cat & Piggles (the braver of the two). Back when they were barely poking their heads out of their hidey! In the background is the bale of hay we bought. It's nearly half gone now. I've finally washed those fleeces 3 times with no fabric softener (before these guys I was a fabric softener addict) so will be making the switch tomorrow when I clean out their cage again.

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Cookies looking up curiously at Pigaloo (the more shy of the two) again back when they were still a new addition to the family. Have to say she loved having the newspaper on the floor. Cute update: the piggies definitely recognise the sound of the bag of hay rustling, because of their squeaking, and it's not just learnt from 'feeding time routine' because it happens regardless of the time of day it is!

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Pigaloo relaxing in a 'loaf' like a cat. Don't worry it's not iceburg lettuce in the bowl, but the pale inner leaves of spring greens (which were removed when I saw they weren't going anywhere! They had had their share of the dark leaves.)

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My husband added a second level to their cage a couple of days ago. The ramp is made from a spare shelf and the level & steps are from mdf we bought. In his hand is a well-nibbled Argos box which we put in maybe a day beforehand. I've found success with more compact boxes, as they seem to enjoy the added snug-ness of them!

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Piggles & Pigaloo enjoying all that extra space! This was also taken since we moved their cage up onto our coffee table and placed it beside one of our sofas. Everyone seems to be enjoying the new position much more. I love having the piggies at eye-level when I'm at my bureau writing or on the sofa on my laptop. The living room floor is free again and the best bit - Gingerman leaves them alone now!

The new level has also provided the much needed extra space whilst they go through their teenage phase. They tend to take a level each when they're relaxing.

As for diet, can report that green bell pepper was not a hit. They ate maybe half of the portion I put out for them (which isn't actually terrible). Today they were tried on celery leaves which went down much better. Basil was on the menu yesterday which was loved, I think! Tomorrow I think they shall have kale :)

Thanks all for the kind comments :) I have had to reschedule their second mite treatment/checkup for next Monday. I wish I had pictures of them when they first arrived :( Although they looked too fragile to even snap a photo of!

Random question but how much do your piggies drink? Mine seem awful thirsty, constantly suckling at the water bottle. Between them they drink maybe 1/4 bottle a day. Is this about right?
 
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Sounds and looks like two very happy boys that are settling in well and coming out fo their shell! all the best for the switch to fleece! You will need some kind of absorbent underlay.
 
Yes have got puppy pads at the ready :) It's funny because before we adopted these three I was actually in the midst of persuading DH to adopt a dog.
 
They certainly look very settled in now. They are so cute. How has the OH attached that top shelf? I wouldn't mind doing that in my indoor cage as I bring them in every night in the summer into a cage like this just for safeness.
 
Hi there. Wife says I need to type on here how I did the mezzanine for the piggies :)

Decided the easiest way to make an upper floor for them would be to use the cage itself to support it. Luckily the MDF I had was 15mm thick and the space between the bars of the cage was about 19mm or so. The only problem was going to be the upright sections of the cage getting in the way, so all i had to do was cut some little niches into the board that would allow it to sit on the horizontal sections of the cage but fit around the vertical sections.

First off I decided that I should have about 1.5 - 2cm extra on each side of the board to fit through the bars and support the board so I sat it on top of the cage with about 2cm overhang and made a rough mark for where to trim the extra off.

Then with the trimmed bit of board I just held each edge beside the cage where it would be supported and drew little lines on the board where the board would have to slot around the uprights of the cage.

Made marks on each of the 3 edges where the upright sections would fit in and cut out a good 0.5 cm wide and 2cm in from the edge for each as the markings were all very rough so I left room for plenty of moving about if i got them slightly wrong.

Once done, I put that in the cage with using the horizontal bars of the cage to support the MDF and the holes i cut allowed the board to fit around the upright sections. ( I hope this makes sense. Would prefer to just draw a picture)

With the board in place, I got another little section of wood from an old bookcase and made some very rough markings again for what I figured would be a good size ramp for the piggies and trimmed it down. Placed that in the cage up against the board and made a rough mark on it to show what i would need to cut off to make it sit flat against the mdf. Trimmed that off and then just screwed it together. (I drilled pilot holes to make screwing them together easier)

Hopefully this makes sense, if not let Gem know and I'll put some better instructions together
 
My word that's an explanation and a half! Thank you. Have you any pics of the outside parts where the floor is joined? I'm intrigued as to how it stays up when you lift the side door of the cage
 
Hi all. OH will post pictures & explain shortly.

But right now I have most exciting news. We were doing some floor time with them yesterday, which is getting to be very successful. The piggies are free to hop in and out of their cage, which we put down on the floor, but mostly do go out and explore & exercise.

Anyway so OH & I had both taken the day off so they had a good two and a half hours in one go. For the first time I saw Piggles popcorn! I remembered I had read that piggies do this when very happy. He must've been loving the floor time!

Unfortunately, my husband was on the phone at the time so couldn't take a picture/video and in fact he missed him doing it altogether. But here are some photos of their general floor time set up:

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The tea box I find works really well because although flat here it can be propped up via the lid and thus making a little tent for the piggies too!

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I find my babies are very photogenic unfortunately I am just a terrible photographer.

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Lovely, big, healthy boy now. We took them to the vets yesterday and I am pleased to report they have both gained 100 grams this month :) The vet said this was good and healthy. Not sure of their exact weight though. But I am keeping them on a well-measured diet.

Got some lap time in too. It was lovely for us but they of course remain terrified. But we had to give them their second dose of mite treatment. As you can see their fur looks completely normal now, but they have to have a second and third mite treatment.

Edit - Forgot to mention this Sunday will be our 1 month 'anniversary' of having them :)
 
They are so spoilt. Is the teddy bear for a soft landing/hop down ? They sure do look settled. Ah ha, I can see how the mezzanine floor goes now
 
The teddy bear is actually a slipper and doubled up as a soft landing, though I originally wanted the piggies to use it as a hiding spot/something to burrow in.

Have just created a new thread over in Housing to showcase husband's crazy 6 level hutch idea :|
 
Wow love the set up very lucky piggies :) there looking good x
 
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