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jac13

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Sorry to be a pain again so we have a hutch outside and today I covered the ramp so they can get upstairs which one of them loves but has stayed up there all day except once came down when I put food in when I did she ran down into same hidey as the other one and there was teeth chatters is this ok she is back upstairs now again also does anyone know what breed she is there is also more bedding upstairs now since she likes it
 

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This is all fine. Teeth chattering is mild dominance.

I would recommend you make a banister to make the ramp hole safe on the upper level. One wrong step and they could fall down that hole.
I’ve added a picture of how I solved it when I had my bluebell hutch as a two storey hutch
 

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I agree a banister is needed as soon as possible to stop them falling down the hole.
 
Please ensure your pigs aren't separated due to the ramp, when I got my first pigs many years ago one of them developed pneumonia due to me leaving them apart too long. You can make sure both pigs are comfortable going up and done by persuading them to go with your hand, but please do not force them or scare them into potentially falling.

I third adding a banister, my boys had lived in a hutch completely fine with no railing for years, but a couple weeks ago my baby fell down and he could have potentially really hurt himself. I put up a decent barrier and now they are much safer.
 
Piggies&buns said:
This is all fine. Teeth chattering is mild dominance.

I would recommend you make a banister to make the ramp hole safe on the upper level. One wrong step and they could fall down that hole.
I’ve added a picture of how I solved it when I had my bluebell hutch as a two storey hutch
Click to expand...
Yeah I was saying that to my partner how did u get the banister to stay in place please
 
jac13 said:
Yeah I was saying that to my partner how did u get the banister to stay in place please
Click to expand...

We put a piece of baton on the banister piece so it made it an L shape so we had somewhere to screw. We put a baton on the underside of the floor and then screwed the banister piece of baton through the floor into the baton on the underside of the floor
 
piggl said:
Please ensure your pigs aren't separated due to the ramp, when I got my first pigs many years ago one of them developed pneumonia due to me leaving them apart too long. You can make sure both pigs are comfortable going up and done by persuading them to go with your hand, but please do not force them or scare them into potentially falling.

I third adding a banister, my boys had lived in a hutch completely fine with no railing for years, but a couple weeks ago my baby fell down and he could have potentially really hurt himself. I put up a decent barrier and now they are much safer.
Click to expand...
They are still so skittish and fast to try to coax up I did try to tease up using food but other one has attempted yet
 
jac13 said:
They are still so skittish and fast to try to coax up I did try to tease up using food but other one has attempted yet
Click to expand...
If they are separated I would honestly even recommend you might “scare” them together. By putting your hands in one half of the hutch making them have to go upstairs or slowly moving your hands gently towards them.
In this situation I put companionship over the need to not scare your pigs into doing this/that. Avoid “chasing” them with your hands, but there is more harm than good by coercing them to make that first step if they haven’t already.

Obviously this is not recommended generally, but in my case this is a step I’ve had to take with everything new pig who enters my hutch.
Once my first pair were together they started eating and running about and he managed to make a full recovery.

You can move them together if you do not feel comfortable doing this but if they get separated again, there is a high chance they will just get in the same situation again.
 
piggl said:
If they are separated I would honestly even recommend you might “scare” them together. By putting your hands in one half of the hutch making them have to go upstairs or slowly moving your hands gently towards them.
In this situation I put companionship over the need to not scare your pigs into doing this/that. Avoid “chasing” them with your hands, but there is more harm than good by coercing them to make that first step if they haven’t already.

Obviously this is not recommended generally, but in my case this is a step I’ve had to take with everything new pig who enters my hutch.
Once my first pair were together they started eating and running about and he managed to make a full recovery.

You can move them together if you do not feel comfortable doing this but if they get separated again, there is a high chance they will just get in the same situation again.
Click to expand...
Do you feel they are separating themselves on purpose would I be better removing the ramp
 
It can take them a while to learn how to use a ramp. It’s not necessarily that they are separating themselves on purpose.
Do you have two or more hides in the hutch?

If you choose to remove the ramp then that is fine. Two storeys are not needed. Piggies prefer their living space to be single level as they are not natural climbers.
I originally had my bluebell as a two storey but blocked the hole and ramp up to make two separate hutches (I did end up getting another pair (who are no longer a pair but that is another story!)) and I personally will never keep piggies in a two storey hutch again.
When it was just one pair of piggies I actually found it much easier to keep the piggies warm in a single level hutch (I used just the top level as living space). I could really concentrate on a good thick hay layer for warm bedding and having all their heat pads spread along that single level of the hutch rather than trying to keep both levels warm (obviously I had to keep both levels warm when I got the second ‘pair’).
They had four heat pads between the two of them - with the two level hutch it was two pads upstairs and two pads downstairs but they obviously then had all four pads put in the top level which kept is much warmer
 
Thank you so much for the advise day 2 and 1 is still living upstairs my partner did say she came down for a while last night but not sure I believe him😂 seriously considering removing it yeah I have 2 and a cardboard tunnel
 
If they have been apart most of today then I would now be moving them to be together.
 
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