Ramp Safety

[Cat906]

I have a two storey hutch. Up till now I have blocked off the bottom as it is too cold, but would now like my piggies to benefit from extra space to explore. At night I put a piece of wood over the hole but during the day it is open. However I am worried about the pigs falling down the hole or off the ramp. Are there any DIY aficionados who could suggest what I could do to make this safer in the day? Or am I just worrying unnecessarily?
Note, the hutch has a pull out tray to help with cleaning so I can't attach a barrier around the hole as then I won't be able to slide the tray out. Unless it folds down. Thanks for your help!

 

[Cat906]

Some pictures of the ramp

 

[adelhide]

how big is the drop?

 

[Munksmum]

We had same problem. We've used very thin Perspex.

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We used blocks to fasten it to the thin strip of wood. We're still able to block the hole and my slide out drawer still closes perfectly. Don't know if this would work for you.

Sorry about pics, clear Perspex hard to photograph

 

[Claire W]

I have a ramp in my cage and I brought a ramp tunnel from here http://www.candecosies.co.uk/ramp-tunnels/blue-white-ramp-tunnel they do various colours but the owners are currently expecting a baby so are not taking any orders but will be again soon.

They do two sizes so the tunnel will cover the entire ramp.

 

[Cat906]

Wow munksmum that looks great! I'll gave to have a play around. I can see as well that your bottom later has grass, but in another thread it looks like your hutch is on concrete? Mine is currently on paving slabs with a fake grass bottom but what have you done? It looks great.

 

[Munksmum]

Wow munksmum that looks great! I'll gave to have a play around. I can see as well that your bottom later has grass, but in another thread it looks like your hutch is on concrete? Mine is currently on paving slabs with a fake grass bottom but what have you done? It looks great.

Well we're testing something out... We've removed the paving slabs that meet the wall and dug down and planted grass... The idea is we move the hutch periodically to let the grass recover. I'm currently on the look out for a run for the garden so we can pop the piggies down there on the 'recovery weeks'.

In nice weather the pigs can go in a run in the garden and in bad weather they'll have their own personal grass.

I'm closing the upstairs ramp hatch at night and watering the grass. It gets sunlight as the sun moves around the house at various points of the day - apart from a thin strip at the very back. For the height of summer we have a large patio umbrella to keep the upstairs accommodation cooler though.

On the weeks we have good weather and use a garden run we'll move hutch off our patio grass and give it chance to breath a little.

Grass is quite hardy so we'll see how it works! I'll keep you posted!

See my post here for a better picture of downstairs: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/is-my-hutch-too-cluttered.127000/#post-1738598