Floor Time Advice....

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JulieG

JulieG

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My 3 young females are in a c&c cage (5x2 with loft). I have been trying to give them floor time in the room where they live (dining room). This involves rolling up the rug, blocking off small spaces where they might get stuck and then afterwards sweeping and mopping the floorboards which are covered in wee and poo (particularly in the awkward corners!). They are also very difficult to catch! I have thought about getting a playpen/indoor run to contain them more successfully but actually this wouldn't give them any more space than staying in their cage. I plan to run them in the garden when spring comes. Any advice is welcome! Is floor time something they need? How do other people do it successfully? Thank you!
 
I got Edward a play pen and the other day he climbed out so for the last few days I have given him floor time in the bathroom,this works well for me I just move everything that might hurt him into the bath,put a fleece blanket on the floor and sit and read and chat to him this has definitely helped him bond with me and after I just wipe the floor.Not sure yet where I am going to put him when I clean him out as I dare not leave him alone in the bathroom as he trys to chew the pipes lol
 
Is Edward easy to catch to get in and out of his cage? I have terrible trouble catching my 3!
 
I tend to let mine play in the hallway or the room they are in. Mine are easy to catch except one so I tend to open his cage up and wait for him to walk in it then shut it behind him. He seems to prefer this.

Btw, your username, JulieG keeps making me think its me posting when I see it. I use JulieG a lot as my name too. xD;
 
Hi Julesie! How do you deal with the mess of floor time in different rooms? Our cage is on a table but we're planning to get a big board to sit it on so we can lift it down from the table more easily and maybe then the gps will come out (and in again!) of their own accord if we take off a panel of the c&c and put in a ramp. That won't solve the problem of messes in awkward corners though!
 
I lay puppy pads in the corners they tend to pee in the most. Although I have the advantage of not giving two hoots about my carpet as it's at the end of it's life anyway! The only areas I feel the need for the puppy pads is where the boys pee against the furniture!
 
I lay out some kitchen towel in the corners. As for catching them, try sitting on the floor with some parsley and when they come over for a nibble just scoop then up, have a cuddle and put them back in. I tend to leave mine out for a couple of hours so they wear themselves out. Much easier when it comes to home time :tu:
 
mine dont have floor time as i have dogs that would traumatise them.They are however in a 5x3 c&c soon to be extended with large loft (equivalent to 4x1half hopefully)They get cuddles on the sofa and wander round the sofa and all over us and seem quite happy.Are your c&cs done with cable ties or connectors? If cable ties you could cut a couple and make a door so they could get in and out and put a ground sheet then fleece under either a run or more c&c grids and then when you wanted them back in the main cage just herd them back into the main cage. You can get plastic coated grids on ebay for 18 pound and that is 13 grids. I use them for my enclosures and have no problems with them
 
nicky said:
......Not sure yet where I am going to put him when I clean him out as I dare not leave him alone in the bathroom as he trys to chew the pipes lol
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I bought one of those cheap high sided storage crates, and put a towel on the bottom with some hay, and that's where Oscar goes when I clean out his cage.
 
I block both ends of my hallway (wood floor) or I put them in the bathroom (tile floor) or in the lounge (wood floor) in a 120cm x 120cm dog playpen with open bottom. I put down towels or fleece on all the floors. No hard to reach corners & no wee & poop mess. As for picking them up, even though I've had my 2 boys for 3 years now they still don't like being picked up, but are fine once I have them. What I do is lure them into cuddle cups with their favourite treat, parsley, and transport them in the cups. This just makes lifting them up or putting them down so stress-free for them & myself.

Interestingly, over the years they've learned to respond to the question "who wants to go home" & immediately jump into the cuddle cups, no bribery needed. They do this whether they are having floor time, sofa lap time or are outside on the grass. I think they like their cage better than anywhere else!
 
On Amazon and zooplus you can get big playpens, especially on amazon, you can extend them, which will give plenty of floor time for the piggies. Much easier to clean up if you restrict the play area.
 
As for the catching, how about buying/making a cuddle sack! They'll love to hop into it, and you can carry them to the destination, should be easy with a bit of luring into the sack first!
Try guineatastic website for making the sack!
 
We have fleecy sacks and a fleece tunnel, the tunnel is what we use mostly for catching but they're getting wise to it and they're so quick! It can take a good while to catch the three of them for cuddles or floor time and its quite frustrating! I think I'll look into getting a big playpen. I like the idea of them learning to jump back in their cuddle cups on request!
 
I suppose what I'm also asking is how necessary is floor time when getting them in and out of the cage seems to cause them a lot of stress? They have cuddle time on laps and sofa but again catching them in their cage is an issue.
 
If you extended the cage to 3 by 6 then they would not need floor time. I made my c and c 8 by 3 so mine do not need floor time. In the meantime you can place newspapers down to collect the wee when they have floor time.
 
Wow! We've run out of space now unfortunately. 5x2 is as big as the table can cope with! The dining room has already been renamed the "guinea pig room" by the kids!
 
JulieG said:
I suppose what I'm also asking is how necessary is floor time when getting them in and out of the cage seems to cause them a lot of stress? They have cuddle time on laps and sofa but again catching them in their cage is an issue.
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As piggyfan said, you'd need a very large cage in order to not need floor time. So, floor time is important. I wouldn't worry about stressing the piggies out getting them in & out of the cage. Like most piggies, they are fine once caught & none the worse for wear. Running away is just instinctual in a prey animal. I have had to get my Peanut Butter out of his cage & off to the vet's for his dental every month for over 2 years now. Not only does it take me 20 minutes to lure him into his cuddle cup but he hates being away from Hazelnut & squeals in protest once he is away from him. If he was really over stressed by this, he's been overstressed for a long time!
 
This may sound weird but I use my daughters old paddling pool as floor time. It had been languishing in the garage looking sorry for itself so I took it out, blew it up and cleaned it. My 4 love it, all contained and safe. I've put lots of cardboard tubes and opened up cereal boxes in it from Alice's junk modelling cupboard and they spend all their time running through them and popcorning. They have floor time 4 times a week, otherwise my 3 girls are in a 6x3 hutch and my boy's in 3x2 hutch.
 
Catherine Johnson said:
This may sound weird but I use my daughters old paddling pool as floor time. It had been languishing in the garage looking sorry for itself so I took it out, blew it up and cleaned it. My 4 love it, all contained and safe. I've put lots of cardboard tubes and opened up cereal boxes in it from Alice's junk modelling cupboard and they spend all their time running through them and popcorning. They have floor time 4 times a week, otherwise my 3 girls are in a 6x3 hutch and my boy's in 3x2 hutch.
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Catherine, I am liking the paddling pool idea! I have two new piggies and have been wondering how to go about doing floor time as I am in rented accommodation and so very conscious of not damaging the carpets. But if the boys were in a pool then the plastic would protect carpet and they could be in the lounge with me for their floor time. How big is your pool? Am wondering how big a pool I need to buy. Thanks :)
 
You can buy storage units on eBay for 17 quid and that gives you 23 panels.You could then put a shower curtain then fleece on the floor.If you use cable ties to connect t :(email it will fold up when not in use.Also if you have trouble catching them you can just fold the pen up a bit to.make the space smaller then they will be easier to catch.Their wee can mark the floor.The storage units are vanhaus interlocking storage units.I use these as my main cages and love them
 
Ours have the run of the living room and now the kitchen when we are not looking. The cage is usually left open when we are home. As for mess, its a toss up between the piggies and the MIL who is 86 and incontinent.
 
Mine get floor time nearly every night for a couple of hours. I put down an old vinyl tablecloth then a towel then a fleece blanket. On top of that goes their 3 pigaloos. They get transported in a top opening cat carrier and let out to run around. They dart straight for their pigaloos but love running back and forth to the carrier. On their bedtime I lift the pigaloos and they have no option than to put themselves in their carrier ready to be taken back to their hutch. Fleece, etc gets lifted and sorted all in one hit so no mopping just the odd pellets that pop out on their travels :doh:
 
My two boys go into their pigloo and I take the pigloo out and place them on the floor then they come out. Picking them up from the floor to the cage is easy as they seem to be less skittish after playing.
 
I'm
JulieG said:
My 3 young females are in a c&c cage (5x2 with loft). I have been trying to give them floor time in the room where they live (dining room). This involves rolling up the rug, blocking off small spaces where they might get stuck and then afterwards sweeping and mopping the floorboards which are covered in wee and poo (particularly in the awkward corners!). They are also very difficult to catch! I have thought about getting a playpen/indoor run to contain them more successfully but actually this wouldn't give them any more space than staying in their cage. I plan to run them in the garden when spring comes. Any advice is welcome! Is floor time something they need? How do other people do it successfully? Thank you!
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I'm not quite sure how it happened but i leave the cage door open and they hop in for a wee/poo then hop back out. If they have no dark areas to hide they are less likely to wee.

I cant catch them. I wait for them to get in. Failing this I rustle some fresh hay or veg and they run back to the cage for it.
 
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