• PLEASE NOTE - the TEAS facebook page has been hacked, take extreme care when visiting the page, for further information visit here

Am I being cruel?

Claire W

Forum Donator 2023/24
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
36,300
Reaction score
28,435
Points
2,915
Location
Lancashire (Originally from Nottingham)
So Ellen is 4.2 years old and Edward is nearly 3.5 years old. They are both lazy piggies and when I let them have free range of the hallway, they just chill out in their hides or lie down. Because of this, I now put them in the bathtub when I’m cleaning them out and have them on the settee with me for cuddle and free roam time as they hate being apart. Now, am I being cruel or is this perfectly fine?
 
So Ellen is 4.2 years old and Edward is nearly 3.5 years old. They are both lazy piggies and when I let them have free range of the hallway, they just chill out in their hides or lie down. Because of this, I now put them in the bathtub when I’m cleaning them out and have them on the settee with me for cuddle and free roam time as they hate being apart. Now, am I being cruel or is this perfectly fine?
Take their hideys away at floor time. I do this and my two run around popcorning. I might be cruel doing this. But my pigs are confident with me
 
I'm sure you'd never be cruel to your piggies @Claire W but maybe you could get them to move around a bit more at floor time with scatter feeding or hiding veggies in paper bags and egg boxes or some new chew toys?
 
Mine free range in the hall & kitchen.
I have a hay bag on a large towel in the hall and a cardboard box with holes in.
However after a while it’s not unusual to find Priscilla having a nap under the pan stand.
 
I think some piggies are just more active than others.
For floor time I always put a mixture of different things in the pen, and it is stuff they don't usually get in their cages.
Personally I would never leave my piggies without some form of hide to retreat to, becasue even the most confident piggies can occasionally be startled and feel threatened.
But I do offer different hides at floor time (like cardboard boxes and sea grass tunnels).

Even having said all of that some days they come out and frisk around like crazy pigs, and some days they come out, eat stuff, and go to sleep.
As long as they have a good diet (which I know yours do) and a decent sized cage so they can exercise on their schedule (which I know your do) then I wouldn't worry about them too much.
I miss the baby days or manic popcorning and endless jumping around, but there is also something to be said for the chilled out older piggies too.
 
Pippin has taken to watching the tv when she goes in her run....... but i have ordered a carrot cottage so that will give her something to do lol !
 
My piggies have been having floor time on the patio. When I put their hideous near each other they just hid all the time. Now they have been spread out they are much more active and dart from hidey to hidey!
 
Ollie is spending his playpen time today taking a nap in a paper bag... I got up at 6am to get the main herd in the playpen by 7 so Ollie and Tallulah could be in there by 1 and have a nice long afternoon running round... Tallulah is running laps but Ollie heroically fought his way into a paper bag, ate the apple chunks, then he'd worn himself out :)
 
Ollie is spending his playpen time today taking a nap in a paper bag... I got up at 6am to get the main herd in the playpen by 7 so Ollie and Tallulah could be in there by 1 and have a nice long afternoon running round... Tallulah is running laps but Ollie heroically fought his way into a paper bag, ate the apple chunks, then he'd worn himself out :)

Here's Ollie's interpretation of exercise time:
20190515_142708.jpg
 
Sorry @Claire W Ollie has hijacked your thread! Ollie's hips seem fine, he can run about fine when the mood takes him and Tallulah wants to be chased around (she always wants to be chased around!) and he's taken to popcorning with all his feet off the floor and also leaping over the correx into the walk-in hay tray even though there's a 10 inch doorway he could walk through instead, we reduced his loxicom dose gradually until he's fine without it, the vet is very pleased and says for now we can keep the loxicom for just occasionally when he seems in any discomfort- but if he's leaping 4 inch high correx barriers for fun I think he's doing very well! And he's always standing on his hind legs and doing clever things with his front paws like a hamster, I think his sideways back feet give him better balance than most piggies :) he's a lovely boy, and really clever!
 
So Ellen is 4.2 years old and Edward is nearly 3.5 years old. They are both lazy piggies and when I let them have free range of the hallway, they just chill out in their hides or lie down. Because of this, I now put them in the bathtub when I’m cleaning them out and have them on the settee with me for cuddle and free roam time as they hate being apart. Now, am I being cruel or is this perfectly fine?

Older piggies become lazier, but please give them floor time and entice them to move around by you moving around and feeding veg and pellets from various locations.
You can find more tips in this guide here; it has a chapter specially dealing with this issue!
Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
Mine sit in a carrier whilst I clean them out as they're not emanoured with floor time.

I think it depends on the pig. My Jon Snow was so active at floor time, he loved it. Running around, climbing my leg for food.

Podrick is the opposite, he hates it and hides. So I don't force him. He was diagnosed recently with stress related bladder discomfort, but at the appointment the vet commented on how comfortable he is with me. He knows that I'm a safe area and I can pick him up no problem.

I wonder if it would have been different if I had forced him more to endure floor time, or would the stress issues just have appeared sooner, who knows.
 
Thank you everyone. I do worry about them. But I shall try the tips suggested and see how they get on. They have plastic domes at floor time which aren’t in their cage. I don’t really want to take them away as I know that they feel ‘safe’ having them there.

They’re out in the garden in their run at the moment. They’ve been eating grass but are now back in their hides 🤦‍♀️
 
I don't see anything wrong with it! I do the same when cleaning them out, I couldn't have them all out on the floor anywhere while I clean because they'd either be under my feet or unsupervised..and every single one of them is trouble on 4 paws when unsupervised! XD So the main herd goes in the bath and the other 4 in carriers. Then they get out for a cuddle and some time to roam around supervised in 1s, 2s or 3s depending on how much energy I have to supervise and interact with them.
 
When i clean mine out. I put them in my spare 120 base, with a fleece inside. I have to also put a carrot cottage in for Bernie.Else he climbs out and goes exploring. When i put the carrot cottage in, he loves showing his dominance by owning the house
 
Back
Top