Escape Artist

[StardustEcho]

Woken up in the middle of the night to my partner yelling Tia had escaped. She’d presumably leapt over the grids and ended up on the floor. Found her under the couch with no issue, but now we’re at a loss what to do with her. Putting her in the cage leads to her trying to climb out again. She’s more than content to sit on me on the couch but that’s not really a solution.

I’m pondering whether she’s being bullied by one of the other girls. Since our neutered male passed away a month ago, one of the younger girls (Berry) has been much more dominant. She’ll frequently chatter and rumble at the other pigs and occasionally chase them. I thought it would die down but it doesn’t appear to have yet. It seems the most likely cause for Tia’s escape antics (unless she really just wants to spend more time being hand fed by me ). Does this sound likely? If so, is the bond beyond saving? We have 4 girls in all, and the other two are generally pretty chill, so it’s possible pairs could work with Tia away from Berry. Tia has also been ill recently and I wonder if this may have factored in.

Right now Berry is in a carrier while Tia is with me. My plan is to put Berry in a playpen overnight and leave Tia in a carrier as I don’t want to take the risk of her escaping from anywhere. But I’m at a loss as to how to solve any of this. I could be completely off base with why Tia has suddenly decided escaping is awesome and worst case, I end up with a lone girl. I’m hopeful Tia will continue being herself for a while yet, but I’m also aware she’s very frail and we could lose her suddenly.

I’m able to create a lid for the cage in the next few days which would halt escape attempts, but I’m more concerned with why she is escaping.

Sorry for the mess, I’m a bit frazzled and have no idea what to do. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Hope Tia is OK after her little escapade!

A few quick suggestions, I should be asleep myself....
1. Make sure there's nothing close to the grids she can use as a jumping platform
2. Double height grids or fix cardboard to the grids as a wall so it's too high for her.
3. Fix grids (or cardboard or similar) horizontally to the grids on the inside so she can't jump over them

Hope this helps!

 

[Swissgreys]

How is her weight?
If she is being bullied this may be indicated by an unexplained weight loss.

Any loss of a pig will affect the cage dynamic while they settle down and sort things out again, but one pig chattering and rumbling doesn't mean she is being bullied.
I also wouldn't panic about what might simply be a one off.
Is she constantly trying to escape or is this the first time it happened?

And sometimes animals are just escape artists for no obvious reason.
We have had rabbits for years, and their set up pretty much covers our entire back garden in a series of linked hutches, tunnels and runs. In all that time we have had multiple sets of rabbits living out there, and only one has ever escaped.
Daisy would regularly get out and we would find her sitting by the hutch door asking to be let back in, or waiting by the back door expecting a treat.
We never worked out how she escaped, and the other rabbits never got out when she did.

 

[StardustEcho]

Thanks for the responses!

She's been underweight since her cagemate passed. We've been back and forth to the vet and have put it down to medical issues thus far, as the vet thinks it likely she has hyperthyroidism but they were surprised that even after a few weeks of medication and recovery food she's still struggling to maintain her weight. So it's possible it could be in part due to bullying? No idea honestly.

I'm doubting now whether it is to do with bullying at all, or if something else is causing this sudden escape desire. Once I collected myself last night I put Berry back in with the other two girls (who were utterly unphased by everything ) and made a 2x2 escape-proof pen for Tia for the night. She seemed perfectly content all night and this morning, munching on hay, drinking water and sleeping. Then I got back from work this evening to find she'd managed to escape the pen.

At least I figured out how she escaped and have remedied the solution. Since putting her back in though she hasn't stopped bar biting and trying to climb out. I've ordered more grids to expand the girls cage and make it too tall to leap out of in the hope that it'll put a stop to this, but other than that I'm not sure what to do. She just seems so unhappy when she's constantly bar biting!

I'd be less concerned (and honestly amused) if this was a normal behaviour for her, but she's an old lady who we've had for quite some time now and there's never been any excessive bar biting or escape attempts before. I do wonder if it's possible she's doing it for attention. With her having been ill recently she's been getting lots of hand feeding and snuggles and (most importantly) vet-recommended treats to try and get her weight up.

 

[Siikibam]

The other thing you could do is to add a lid. It may just be she wants to be outside free roaming. How big is their cage?

When I brought my girls home, they first lived in a ball play pen under the stairs. One of the girls would regularly (read daily) escape out through the hole on the side and have a short wander. If she saw me coming she’d dash back inside and hide!

 

[StardustEcho]

I plan to add a lid when I get the grids to do so during the week. They used to be in a 4x5, but got downgraded temporarily to a 3x4 a month and a bit ago when Mylo got ill so he could be in the same room where I worked and I could keep an eye on him. I’ve kept them there after he passed to keep an eye on Tia. I’m planning to try and reshuffle the room over the weekend to possibly fit a 3x5 or even a 3x6 so fingers crossed that helps. If not, I could always redo the 4x5 in the other room.

As a side note, you’ve reminded me of the time I was cleaning out their old room. I had them in a C&C in the hallway and had to nip out for something. When I came back I almost tripped over Mylo. He’d somehow gone wandering and was having a grand old time while the girls watched inside the pen. He didn’t even care in the slightest I’d caught him. Too busy discovering where I kept the hay.