Anyone else encountered this?

[Smithy86]

Hello piggy forum, strange question for strange situation but I'm hoping you could advise me here

I had two pigs, maverick and patch, I was utterly heartbroken to lose wee patch at two years in, he died after buying a kavee enclosure and he choked on the plastic.

Love yah patch, however I'm having another new issue with specifically one of my two new boys, got three piggies right now.

I got two new boys a few months ago, and I've been doing the integration thing, and in winning, I think - but I have an escape artist that can escape at any time of his choosing - Muppet, this one in the pic.

I got up this morning, and i did my usual, turned on the living room lights and said hello boys, and I gave them their finger boop to their nose. Only to find Muppet missing. The enclosure was intact, fully stocked with play and treats.

I have spend most of the day tearing the flat apart, the sofa, the bed, pulled the cooker out, laundry bag I have turned this place upside down trying to find Muppet. Not a care in the world given when I found him.

I've never known a gunneapig that can jump like a frog.

Where did I find him, on the window ledge, and I mean ON, the actual ledge (inside obviously) not behind the curtain, not on the floor, he may as well have had a cigar, a deckchair, sunglasses and a mojito. He was just chilling out behind the curtains, and I have no idea how he was able to get there.

When I found him, not a single care was given from my boy.

I'm not sure if I've got a gunneapig worthy of an Olympic gold or if he's just a reckless boy.

I have always never liked the idea of my pigs behind bars on all sides, that's why I picked kavee, open enclosure.

I'm not sure if there is anything such as the gunneapig Olympics, because if there is, this one defo needs to enter it!

Any fellow pig owners able to advise? How do you stop an escape artist

 

[Janey]

I’m glad you found him safe and well but without some kind of cover on your enclosure, I’m not sure there is a way of preventing him escaping. Maybe someone else might have an amazing idea. Have you considered a fabric ‘ceiling’ that could be pegged to the sides maybe?

 

[Roselina]

I have a kavee c&c and have a lid made of grids - it’s very heavy and I’ve added cable ties as extra strength. I have a 5x2 c&c but the lid is 4x2 maybe you could have something like this ? I have a 1x2 fixed lid covered with coroplast as a dark area

 

[Piggies&buns]

Things like not having any hides next to the bars can help. However it is known that some piggies can climb the bars if they become determined enough so you will definitely need to add a lid to your cage

 

[piggieminder]

I have had a bar climber. We got some plastic sheets (like perspex) from B&Q my partner cut them to size and we slotted them between the Corex tray and the grids, clipped the top to the top of the grids with a bull dog clip. I use this method for bar biters too.

 

[piggieminder]

There's something else I've seen people do. I'm having trouble explaining it, will set up an example and take a photo later!

 

[Truffolo]

There are a few videos on You Tube of guinea pigs jumping out of C&C cages in a single leap. It is quite surprising to see how high they can jump.

 

[exia]

I had two escapers. One jumped on houses and over to a box outside his cage to get out, the other one just jumper like Muppet. The jumper just wanted food, the other one zoomed around the whole apartment and made a chaos. Lids was my solution!

 

[piggieminder]

Fuzz climbed the bars like they were a ladder, one day I caught Fizz trying to copy.
I've seen some pictures of people cable tie grids round the top of the cage like this round the sides that aren't against walls.

 

[Janey]

Fuzz climbed the bars like they were a ladder, one day I caught Fizz trying to copy.
I've seen some pictures of people cable tie grids round the top of the cage like this round the sides that aren't against walls.

View attachment 276904

Oh I imagine that would prevent any escapees! Not seen anything like that before.

 

[piggieminder]

Oh I imagine that would prevent any escapees! Not seen anything like that before.

The problem I see with it is reaching over to clean but there would be ways round that using reusable cable ties on a couple of grids so you can remove them for cage cleaning.

 

[Janey]

The problem I see with it is reaching over to clean but there would be ways round that using reusable cable ties on a couple of grids so you can remove them for cage cleaning.

Ah yes, I didn’t think about that aspect of it. Wonder if a sort of hinge action could be replicated using cable ties? I’m no expert with this type of cage as I use a traditional cage.