LilyandGeorge
Junior Guinea Pig
Sorry for long message, but I would love some opinions from fellow piggie people...
Lily and George are currently in a 4x2 c&c cage on top of a table in a mezzanine room upstairs. The room also serves as the kids' playroom (mostly Lego and painting etc - it's peaceful) and has a cupboard for storage. I put them up there because 1) there is a enough space 2) it is peaceful. 3) the hay mess mostly stays up there! However, in the evenings, I tend to hang out downstairs where there is internet access. I miss the piggies and would like to move them downstairs to the living room. I wonder if they feel lonely up there. It was fine in the summer as they were in the garden with us a lot of the time.
Trouble is, the cage is a bit too big for the living room and it would have to go on the floor as the table wouldn't fit. I have kept the pet shop cage which they came with. I occasionally pop them in it whilst cleaning the c&c but otherwise don't use it. Their previous family had them in it permanently in their living room. It is smaller and neater and would fit better, but it does not meet acceptable size guidelines. I wondered if it would be ok for them to spend 1 or 2 hours per evening in it, to "hang out", then they could go back upstairs to the bigger cage at bedtime. This would mean that they had 3 "homes" - the c&c, the garden run (used daily) and then the petshop cage. Is that too confusing for them? Also, is it ethical for them to be in the small cage at all? I am planning to get them out for cuddles but they rarely cuddle more than 20 mins.
Lily and George are currently in a 4x2 c&c cage on top of a table in a mezzanine room upstairs. The room also serves as the kids' playroom (mostly Lego and painting etc - it's peaceful) and has a cupboard for storage. I put them up there because 1) there is a enough space 2) it is peaceful. 3) the hay mess mostly stays up there! However, in the evenings, I tend to hang out downstairs where there is internet access. I miss the piggies and would like to move them downstairs to the living room. I wonder if they feel lonely up there. It was fine in the summer as they were in the garden with us a lot of the time.
Trouble is, the cage is a bit too big for the living room and it would have to go on the floor as the table wouldn't fit. I have kept the pet shop cage which they came with. I occasionally pop them in it whilst cleaning the c&c but otherwise don't use it. Their previous family had them in it permanently in their living room. It is smaller and neater and would fit better, but it does not meet acceptable size guidelines. I wondered if it would be ok for them to spend 1 or 2 hours per evening in it, to "hang out", then they could go back upstairs to the bigger cage at bedtime. This would mean that they had 3 "homes" - the c&c, the garden run (used daily) and then the petshop cage. Is that too confusing for them? Also, is it ethical for them to be in the small cage at all? I am planning to get them out for cuddles but they rarely cuddle more than 20 mins.
