Running free!

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Depends where you want to have them running free. My big herd of 14 live in a shed. There is a double storey hutch in it but I leave it open up so they have free run of the shed all the time. In the spring I will be adding an outside run and a cat flap to the side of the shed so that throughout the day they can also free range around the run and the shed. So they are contained and kept safe but still free ranging of sorts.
 
If they run free in a room in the house you have to be careful about cables etc. they can chew them and can possibly get electrocuted.
My rabbits chewed threw the phone wires countless times, luckily they didn't get an electric shock or anything.
 
I remember my rabbit when I was young chewing through the power lead of my Sega Mega Drive game console....while I was playing with it!

I still wonder to this day how he never got zapped!
 
They also need to be taught to fear your feet, so they don't get trodden on. Peter Gurney talks about his free-range piggies in his books 'All of Their Kind'; available from Ruth Gurney off eBay.
 
Yes, we do it with ours but always supervise. I open a side of their CC cage and I have a bridge that they run over so they can easily get back to their hay and water. I block off all small holes and spaces and usually create tunnels with towels and their toys.

It's lovely if you can let them run free, although mine usually dash around like crazy only for 10mins or so, then they always end up snuggling in a corner and sleeping somewhere!
 
Imagine all the safety equipment needed around the house for a baby whos just learnt to crawl. If theres a hole, there in it and If they can see it, they'll eat it lol. Piggies are just the same if not worse lol. Very inquisitive little creatures. I suppose if you have a wipeable floor in an area that was... erm.... Empty it would be 100% safe lol
 
Mine do; thankfully, they prefer to keep in the living room, although they can find their way back from the kitchen without trouble.

I have no live cables where they can get at them, corners behind the sofa and the cage are blocked off, and they have special piggy corners which are underlayed with plastic and topped with mats and bath towels. There are the odd little nibble marks on the wallpaper and the table legs, and we need to clean the carpet regularly.

It is fun watching them running up and down the living room at top speed or moving in a lovely piggy train. I usually have a welcome commity by the living room door at dinner time, so I have to be very careful when opening the door!

You have to learn to develop eyes in your back, but so far, in over five years, I have never stepped on a piggy, although we had the odd little bump when we were both moving in the same direction.

But I used to have a guinea pig that happily explored the whole house from the inside of the fridge to every single room upstairs and most of the garden completely under her own steam. Can you imagine trying to explain to the gasman that you are piggy-proofing your stairs?

Minx was more like a tiny dog than a conventional piggy, and certainly lived up to her name! She'd come to me when I called her and would follow me through the garden (although that was a bit dependent on how much fun poking around the borders was!)
 
Wiebke said:
Mine do; thankfully, they prefer to keep in the living room, although they can find their way back from the kitchen without trouble.

I have no live cables where they can get at them, corners behind the sofa and the cage are blocked off, and they have special piggy corners which are underlayed with plastic and topped with mats and bath towels. There are the odd little nibble marks on the wallpaper and the table legs, and we need to clean the carpet regularly.

It is fun watching them running up and down the living room at top speed or moving in a lovely piggy train. I usually have a welcome commity by the living room door at dinner time, so I have to be very careful when opening the door!

You have to learn to develop eyes in your back, but so far, in over five years, I have never stepped on a piggy, although we had the odd little bump when we were both moving in the same direction.

But I used to have a guinea pig that happily explored the whole house from the inside of the fridge to every single room upstairs and most of the garden completely under her own steam. Can you imagine trying to explain to the gasman that you are piggy-proofing your stairs?

Minx was more like a tiny dog than a conventional piggy, and certainly lived up to her name! She'd come to me when I called her and would follow me through the garden (although that was a bit dependent on how much fun poking around the borders was!)
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I thought someone did!
I wouldn't mind that, but i can't realy!
 
Becky92 said:
Imagine all the safety equipment needed around the house for a baby whos just learnt to crawl. If theres a hole, there in it and If they can see it, they'll eat it lol. Piggies are just the same if not worse lol. Very inquisitive little creatures. I suppose if you have a wipeable floor in an area that was... erm.... Empty it would be 100% safe lol
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Yeah, i know!
But some people do it, i'm not going to! Because it's not my house to chose!
 
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