Getting Piggies To Play?

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theoretikos

theoretikos

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As a lot of you members know my piggies can leave their cage whenever they want to wander around the house. I have noticed for a while that they aren't coming out as much as before.

They have play tunnels.
I play games with them and try to train them.
They have a teach n treat which they love.
Around 10pm they come out and start running around in circles.

I have noticed that now I have to actually remove them from bed to get them to come out! They are nice and healthy and have had vet checkups. Have they just become lazy?

Are pigs prone to have exercise at one point of the day?
 
Toby & Barney can also come out to free range in the lounge whenever they want. I have been quite surprised at how much time they still stay in the hutch. They come out every so often during the day and have a 5min wander around and then they tootle back into their hutch for a rest. I do find if there is something new for them to play with they will stay out for maybe 10minutes. They typically come out at about 17:30 and start shouting for their tea - this goes on until 19:00 when they actually get it. Then back to the hutch for a few hours and will usually have another pootle around at about 21:00-22:00.

Sometimes the pootling and tootling is interspersed with zooming - they like to have a big, long rest after zooming!
 
Mine are the same. I open their door to the rest of my room for playtime. If I do this during the day, they won't come out and prefer to eat or sleep during the day. However, they are standing at the door squeaking in the evening for a play.
 
I love the fact you guys just have piggies that come and go.... Did you do this from an early age?

I find that with ours (especially Cookie) when they are free ranging will go over to the cage and wait to be let back in.. They really their run but like to have a confined area even if it is large. Only Moo enjoyed total free range and she was blind and special so probably didn'trealise lol
 
sport_billy said:
I love the fact you guys just have piggies that come and go.... Did you do this from an early age?

I find that with ours (especially Cookie) when they are free ranging will go over to the cage and wait to be let back in.. They really their run but like to have a confined area even if it is large. Only Moo enjoyed total free range and she was blind and special so probably didn'trealise lol
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When I first got Kasper and Quinn I just gave them a few houses to hide in on the floor and hung their water bottle from the radiator (it was the summer so never got warm). I got the cage so that all their stuff could be in one place that doesn't get knocked into or broken.

They follow me into the kitchen when they think it is veggie time and try to sneak into my bedroom to leave under the bed presents grr!
 
sport_billy said:
I love the fact you guys just have piggies that come and go.... Did you do this from an early age?

I find that with ours (especially Cookie) when they are free ranging will go over to the cage and wait to be let back in.. They really their run but like to have a confined area even if it is large. Only Moo enjoyed total free range and she was blind and special so probably didn'trealise lol
Click to expand...

We just started letting Toby & Barney run free in October once they had been in the house for a few weeks. They always have their food in the run or hutch (run is permanently attached to the hutch) so that is one way to get them back in. We have never had a problem with them. We don't have any cables that they are able to chew. We have puppy pads under MrS's recliner chair because they love to sleep (and pee and poo) under there particularly when the underfloor heating is on. Just today they have learned how to move the curtain out of the way so they can get behind the sofa so I will be sorting out something to block that with. They had started to climb the stairs but haven't done that in ages - they must have realised that there is no food up there!

They are always locked away at night or when we are both out but when we are in they come and go as they please and I don't feel a need to keep an eye on them so I just get on with whatever I need to. It always makes me smile when I come downstairs to see them having a little pootle around the coffee table. And surprisingly, we never have any accidents!
 
theoretikos said:
I only get the occasional poop under the curtains or in the middle of the floor. These just get cleaned up with the normal mess :D
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They did some poops behind the sofa earlier which is why they will not be going behind there again! Naughty boys!
 
I love this.. I wish mine can be trusted but they have to make do with floor time in their piggie room. I put lino down to make it poop and wee safe but rest of my house is carpeted :(
 
My boys definitely prefer their cage to anything else. When I lay down their cuddle cups after sofa or floor time & ask "who wants to go home" they jump right in. They are not so keen when it's time to come out of the cage!

Hazelnut was alone for a few months before we got his friend Peanut Butter. When it was cage cleaning time I'd put down a few towels on the floor by the cage & Hazelnut never got off the towels. In fact he'd sit at the edge nearest the cage & gaze up as if to say"now how I can get back in there".
 
My two happily run around the house when they actually decide to come out. I think they have given me double the harassment tonight as if they knew about this thread :P
 
I'm so jealous you lot can have yours run around the house. I sneakily let them out in their room but my dad utterly hates me letting them out. v.v It doesn't matter if I make it spotless after, he still gets mad.

Nothing I can do as its not my house.
 
I've got a giant lap blanket curtsey of Cavy Couture ;)
It covers majority of the floor plus I have another 4 smaller ones. We let our roam around in the corridor and the kitchen. Patch made it up a stair :P
 
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