Punk Went Up The Ramp But Won't Come Down - Help!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Smitherling

Smitherling

New Born Pup
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
8
Reaction score
3
Points
0
Hi there!

My partner and I adopted two guinea pigs, Barney and Punk, on Saturday and they seem to be settling in well, they eat out of our hands and once we FINALLY pick them up they seem to be happy for a cuddle, but Punk takes a lot longer to calm down than Barney.

Punk is definitely the boss, he will chase Barney around the cage when he wants to, so Barney quickly figured out the ramp of the c&c cage (base is 4 x 2, loft is 1 x 2) with a little help from a trail of cucumber. Upstairs was Barney's place until this morning when my partner found Punk up in the loft - he had managed to learn how to use the ramp in the dark, it was rather impressive! But he won't come down and has been up there for more than 7 hours. I put some water in a bowl for him and have fed him a bit from my hand but have put most food on the ramp to try and get him down. Barney went up to see him once but has decided to take over Punk's box instead. They both seem rather sleepy today so he may just be comfy but I'm a bit concerned that he doesn't seem to want to go near the ramp. He seems to rather eat his poo than venture down to the food bowl and the veggies.

Does anyone have any tips for enticing piggies? If he managed to get up there surely he can get down? He's not being territorial over the loft as he is with his box (he will chatter teeth at you and Barney rarely gets to be in the box) but he just seems a bit shy today. I have no issue with him being up there, I just want to know that he can get down by himself! The loft has a roof so it's pretty tricky to reach in to pick him up (which he wouldn't like much anyway!).

They are a bonded pair of pigs (according to the lady we adopted them from) and they are friends a lot of the time.

Cheers,
Becca
 
You could try covering the ramp if possible and see if he will use it then? My ramp has a tunnel on it and now all 3 pigs will zoom up and down, whereas before only one would.
 
Thank you :) I think I will look into that for the future, although they haven't quite gotten used to tubes yet, Barney will go in but Punk won't.

I caved in the end and snipped off the cable ties holding the roof on and lifted him out. He didn't run away from me so I think he realised the only way to get down besides the ramp (he spent a lot of time looking at the ramp and running away) was to get the human to do the work for him! He's back in his box and has booted Barney out with a firm message of "you can have upstairs" I think. They are both back to normal now. Maybe Punk is scared of heights.
 
Haha, yeah he probably went up and thought 'oh that wasn't so bad' and then had a look down and got scared! I tried putting one of my girls upstairs to see if she would go down herself and start using it, but she just stayed up there as well until I gave up and helped her down again. As soon as I had put the fabric tunnel on the ramp though they were all over it! They even sleep in there quite often. My male will be blocking the whole thing and the girls will be standing behind him squeaking loudly until he finally moves :))
 
Haha, yep I bet that's what happened! I'll give it a go with the fabric if your lot took to it. Punk likes to pretend that he's all brave and bossy when really he's the scaredy-pig, Barney has no worries exploring!

Thanks for your help!
 
Oh yeah, my male likes to pretend he's the king of the castle as well rumbling everywhere, but as soon as the girls just look at him he runs off! I got my tunnel online.
 
What is the ramp made from & is the surface slippy. If you get a cheap thin door mat the type that's similar to carpet tiles. Then cut a strip & fasten it the ramp. Piggies don't like getting on to ramps if they feel their front feet sliding away.
 
The ramp is a piece of wood with carpet attached, I've just updated my pic to show the piggies and the end of the ramp is on the left. Barney has no problem running up and down it, he has now reclaimed his spot in the loft!

Thanks for the link garfieldette!
 
When Maple and Pecan lived in a hutch we had quite a steep ramp which led to bottom half of the hutch. Maple went up and down the ramp fine. Pecan however only ever go up.

OH thought he would try and 'help' Pecan down the ramp. She ended up getting poked and fell off... Was not impressed as I think it traumatised her a little.

She quite happily uses the ramp in the layout without any problems.

Covering the ramp in fabric and covering with tunnels could help :)
 
Punk can now use the ramp to go both up AND down! He kept going up there but was still too scared to get down (cue lots of teeth chattering as Barney wanted his space back but Punk wouldn't leave) so I made a crude cover for the tunnel out of fleece, paper clips and draping it over the pillow that makes under the ramp a hidey spot. The boys chased each other up there but abbey stood firm so Punk attempted the ramp, tried it a few times and has spent the past 10 minutes running round the cage and up and down the ramp, popcorning and squeaking away! Thank you all for your help!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top