Switching Cages

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Nicola_

Nicola_

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It looks like we're (hopefully) getting close to having our roof fixed soon. However, I live in the attic room and the guinea pigs are right under the sloping roof. I'm worried that they might get overwhelmed and upset by all the noise. We did have building work going on when they firat arrived and they were fine with it but I think the roof work is going to be a lot noisier and closer to them.

So I've come up with 3 possible options of what to do -

1. Leave them in their cage and hope they cope ok

2. Get a 120 cage for downstairs for them to go in during the day and then back in their normal cage for evenings and weekends when there's no building work going on

3. Keep them in the 120 cage downstairs for the duration of the roof work

Personally I feel inclined towards the 2nd option as I'd feel rotten reducing their cage size for so long. My concern is that they may end up more stressed at being constantly swapped between cages. I doubt the reduction in cage size would affect their bond as they are very close and are past the hormonal teenage stage.

Any advice is much appreciated. I should point out that there is no way their cage can be moved downstairs and the maximum space we can create is 120 (it would mean moving all sorts of furniture and causing a fair bit of disruption as it is but mum said it's ok just for the build)

Thanks
 
personally i would be inclined to see how they deal with it. I was worried when i moved in with my partner and moved to the kitchen that things like our old and rather loud washing machine would disturb them (as well as our music and films) but they have coped really well and even made more of their own noise to keep up! but you know your piggies best, if they seem stressed by the new noises and seem to go into their shells then perhaps move them downstairs.

I would be more inclined to make it a perminant move though, but i cant quite decide on my reasoning there.
 
I would go for the third option. Mine didn't like the noises when we did our big extension. Guinea pigs have much more sensitive ears than us. You also want them away from the dust and dirt.
 
How long will the building work be going on for? The point about them being stressed by being moved back and forth is interesting, they're going to be stressed by anything new until they've had time to get used to it. Being downstairs in a different cage is going to be somewhat stressful anyway. Similar to people putting pigs out in runs during the summer or out for free range/playpen time, if you developed a routine that the pigs were comfortable with then (e.g. them going into a box/tunnel/carrier to be transported) I don't see why they couldn't go between cages. However, if the work is only going to take a couple of weeks I'd say just leave them downstairs.
 
Thanks everyone. I've no idea how long the work is going to take - how long does it take to fix a roof?! I am imagining a couple of weeks, especially if it's the same people who did the previous building work - they were incredibly fast!

I was thinking about those piggies who go into a daytime playpen and then cage at night, and whether it would be a similar idea only kind of in reverse. However like you say, the relocation downstairs will be rather stressful for them as it will be in the hallway so might be quite busy - although I will be training my dad to not stomp about like an elephant! I don't know why but I have a feeling that they would cope well with the 2nd scenario but I don't know if it's because I know my boys well enough or just wishful thinking.

The noise in the room will be really very loud (even seagulls are really loud walking about so a group of men dropping tools and tiles will be quite unnerving) They do have a basement area to their cage which they might be happy enough to hide away during the day to get away from the noise. It's just so hard to know what to do for the best! Hopefully we'll find out soon what the timescale for the job is which might help decision making. Also - a very long shot but if it's only for a short time I may be able to convince mum to keep the pigs in her room!
 
P.s. I'm hoping there won't be any dust or dirt as it's all external work and the windows have a good seal on them.
 
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