Help! Baffling C&c Cage Escape...

[JennyYork]

Hi everybody - I'm sorry my first post here is an unfortunate one! But we got up this morning to check on our two one-year-old boys and found to our horror that one of them was missing...

Our set-up is a C&C cage, 2x4, with coroplast covered entirely by fleece, tucked and pegged down around the sides. Their cage grids are secured with cable ties at the top and the bottom - they're completely solid. Neither of our boys have ever shown themselves to be jumpers or climbers, so we're baffled as to how he got over the top. My partner wondered if he'd gotten over the coroplast and then lifted the cage grids upwards, but the whole structure is too heavy and too rigid. Even I need some effort to lift it or bend it.

In their cage last night, the only tall items/potential platforms he could have used are a wooden bridge and a pigloo. Neither of the boys have ever climbed onto these items before - I didn't think they could! They're just so bottom heavy...

The piggy who escaped is our shy, introverted piggy. It's not like him to do this. In the end we found him less than a foot away from his cage. He'd run and hidden behind a curtain I don't think he was there long, as there were only five poos with him.

He seems very shocked and upset. He will eat, though he needs some prompting, and he's reluctant to move about. I've seen him use all four of his legs okay. He just seems unwilling to do it. When we first found him, I held him a while, and he kept making little shivers - little vibrations like he was a mobile phone and he'd just received a text message.

So I guess I could do with advice on two things...

1) Is my piggy hurt? He can feel things all over his body. He seems quite twitchy.

2) ... how?! We just don't understand He's never been a jumper or a climber, never. He hadn't even investigated the hay bag or the kibble bag nearby. Just hidden and shivered.

 

[Stewybus]

There are some piggies who can climb & this is very rare. Was there something near the c&c walls that could have aided the escape, maybe a house. I think those little vibrating shivers are a scared feeling. Is your c&c on the floor or has he got out & fallen. If you have any doubt you should take him for a medical check-up. Hope he's just frightened & not hurt. If he doesn't eat when he's back with his companion then you'll need to syringe feed him mushed up pellets or similar.

 

[JennyYork]

Thank you for quick reply Stewybus - luckily their cage is on the floor, so the most he can have fallen is the height of a C&C cage grid. All I can think is he must have climbed on a house or their bridge... we haven't seen them do it in a year, but who knows? Couldn't believe it when we realised he was gone... I thought C&C was escape-proof.

 

[Harry&lloyd]

Hope he feels better soon. Lloyd loves to climb ontop of anything and last night I was pretty sure she Sussed out she could escape if she wanted. The only thing stopping her is harry (I think). I know I'm going to come thru one day and she'll be gone. I've got a blanket over the top of the cage where they sleep, and where the high things are, to try and prevent this x

 

[guineapig-al]

Hi, "harry&lloyd" it sounds like you have an exuberant escape artist little piggy pig. The general thought is that piggies are not good climbers. There are some exception: mine could climb up steep rocks with my hands around him, I would pile up cushions and quilt next to our bed, and he would climb up and down without hesitation or effort. My view is that when you have active little piggies, it's better to think of them as two year old children, always curious and explorative of the world, so always be ready to run after them at moment's notice and always keep an eye for possible danger. Since what happened with the piggy is unclear, would you consider taking him in for a check up, just in case.

 

[Briony_S]

My joel can climb c&c grids un-aided. I had to move him into a lidded cage after I stood and watch the great escape one day. At the time he was an intact male and i was worried for my girls incase he climbed in with them. I
was shocked to see if but he climbed like a hamster up the grid then when his feet were at the top he pulled his body up somehow.

It is possible your boy did this too! the vibration ive seen before too after a bath from a cross pig. It's likely he scared himself after the great escape when he couldnt get back into his cage.

if you have and spare grids I would suggest you build a lid to prevent this happening again. Otherwise try pegging a fleece over top

 

[Lilly]

My Peanut Butter can jump 14 inches & grab the top edge of the laundry sink he gets his baths in with his front paws. He then tries to scramble up the sides of the sink with his back paws. Only the fact that it is stainless steel & therefore slippery prevents him from getting out. Therefore I have always had cages with a lid. Bath time remains a nervous time for me though! Thankfully he rarely needs one.