Ok, so it seems totally bonkers for a ground-roaming creature, scared of heights, to have a pe[n]thouse with a balcony, but having made the mistake of buying a Kendal hutch-and-run combo (with steep ramp), I have had to work with that. The 4 x 2 hutch is now a 6 x 2, double-walled/ceilinged/floored, mega-insulated, double-ramped, double-mezzanined, rat-proofed pe[n]thouse with balcony, boasting stunning views into a bush, period features and commissioned portraits of the occupants.
The balcony slots firmly into the frame (on top of the wire mesh) that covers the exposed part of the run and it is removable. It is also not as mad as it sounds – the Waddle Bottoms certainly can’t jump off as inside the walls I have now secured some of the high translucent panels that made up their run in their winter quarters. It is emphatically not a sparrow-hawk landing pad as the piggies will only be allowed onto the balcony when we are standing right at the sides and directly interacting with them. This is why I have made it. We are used to having them in the shed where we can sit with them in their run, and so it has been quite a transition only being able to stick our heads in through the hutch door whilst trying to stop them from curiously going over the edge. We do also have a collapsible 6-foot run which we use but it can’t stay permanently in place because I keep misjudging its height and tripping over it as I go to the shed. This way we can just pop by and they can come out to see us if they want to.
So, here are some photos – their evening meal before I added the extra panels, and Ophelia’s reaction to the portrait of Bianca. The last photo shows the panels in place – the gap that you can see is far too thin for the Waddle Bottoms to jump through. The panels are secure, wedged against the post that joins the two sides (hence the apparent gap) and tied with garden wire.
I seem to have spent the entirety of lockdown making the guinea-pigs’ hutch as big and as safe as I can. I should actually have been doing many other things, but this is much more fun. Oh, and they really like their new extension! They went popcorning-berserk when they went into it (probably because of the new fleece floor) and do zoomies up and down the two ramps with both hutch and run encompassed in their circuits. I peered in quietly earlier today and watched Bianca do 3 little popcorns to herself (her back to me) before settling down onto a cavy-cosy. They also both choose to nap in the extension rather than one being in the sleeping area and one in the main area, as they used to. Both mezzanines, with the extra piles of hay, are used and I have often seen one on the original one and the other on the new one, at opposite ends of the property. The mezzanines are also there for them to sit under and feel safe as the Kendal hutch is so high -- too high for guinea-pigs, I think.
The balcony slots firmly into the frame (on top of the wire mesh) that covers the exposed part of the run and it is removable. It is also not as mad as it sounds – the Waddle Bottoms certainly can’t jump off as inside the walls I have now secured some of the high translucent panels that made up their run in their winter quarters. It is emphatically not a sparrow-hawk landing pad as the piggies will only be allowed onto the balcony when we are standing right at the sides and directly interacting with them. This is why I have made it. We are used to having them in the shed where we can sit with them in their run, and so it has been quite a transition only being able to stick our heads in through the hutch door whilst trying to stop them from curiously going over the edge. We do also have a collapsible 6-foot run which we use but it can’t stay permanently in place because I keep misjudging its height and tripping over it as I go to the shed. This way we can just pop by and they can come out to see us if they want to.
So, here are some photos – their evening meal before I added the extra panels, and Ophelia’s reaction to the portrait of Bianca. The last photo shows the panels in place – the gap that you can see is far too thin for the Waddle Bottoms to jump through. The panels are secure, wedged against the post that joins the two sides (hence the apparent gap) and tied with garden wire.
I seem to have spent the entirety of lockdown making the guinea-pigs’ hutch as big and as safe as I can. I should actually have been doing many other things, but this is much more fun. Oh, and they really like their new extension! They went popcorning-berserk when they went into it (probably because of the new fleece floor) and do zoomies up and down the two ramps with both hutch and run encompassed in their circuits. I peered in quietly earlier today and watched Bianca do 3 little popcorns to herself (her back to me) before settling down onto a cavy-cosy. They also both choose to nap in the extension rather than one being in the sleeping area and one in the main area, as they used to. Both mezzanines, with the extra piles of hay, are used and I have often seen one on the original one and the other on the new one, at opposite ends of the property. The mezzanines are also there for them to sit under and feel safe as the Kendal hutch is so high -- too high for guinea-pigs, I think.
)
And I'll pass on your compliment about the art to my daughter!