Bluebell Hideaway 5 foot, 2 storey hutch, Pets st Home

[Piggies&buns]

Does anybody have this hutch? I have just ordered it (arriving tomorrow) and I am just wondering about the top floor where the ramp does down. That whole area appears to be open to the ramp and am just wondering if anyone has had any problems with it. I am thinking that it needs a barrier along the front to separate it from the living space but just wondered if anyone else has that hutch and has whether it is considered dangerous with it being so open, or whether if has been perfectly fine and the piggies know that the gap is there.

 

[Betsy]

I have a hutch with a gap in the top floor where the ramp goes down and my pigs manage OK (my hutch does have only a small gap though). If you are worried about it being a bit large (it is very large on the Bluebell hutch) you could always get a bit of wood that is wider than gap and just long enough so that you leave enough of a gap for a piggie to get through and nail it down to the floor or use no more nails. As you are going to cover the floor up anyway with newspaper and hay, puppy pads and hay or fleece or whatever your preferred substrate/cover for your flooring is going to be your piggies won't notice it anyway.

 

[Camisla]

We have this hutch. My husband added a wee banister on the top floor incase they slipped and fell onto ramp below and we also lined the ramp with a long fleece tunnel fro ziggys piggys (got two to change) as they wouldn’t go up it without the tunnel
Hope that helps

 

[Pigwhisperer]

Mine have been fine with this hutch but I did have to teach them to use the ramp by guiding them up & down it every day for at least a week before they got used to it. They are mega-suspicious of anything new but got there in the end. Lots of treats at the other end each time helped.

 

[Vanessa131]

I have this hutch, I haven’t made any alterations yet, my piggies spend daylight hours in it. One is confidently using the slope, my shy boy sometimes goes up it. I am going to add some carpet and make the upper hole smaller with a bit of plywood and some no more nails.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks all. I will be making the hole smaller or will build a rail around the hole. In the meantime I’ve found some spare c&c grids which I can try to use to make a temporary rail.
They are currently in a single hutch (which is in a shed) which my dad built many years ago. It has been fine for the summer as they have had access to run around in the shed and into the hutch but the hutch not quite big enough for them to be shut in for longer periods when it’s cold, hence the bigger hutch purchase. I am very excited for it to arrive tomorrow!

 

[Camisla]

Thanks all. I will be making the hole smaller or will build a rail around the hole. In the meantime I’ve found some spare c&c grids which I can try to use to make a temporary rail.
They are currently in a single hutch (which is in a shed) which my dad built many years ago. It has been fine for the summer as they have had access to run around in the shed and into the hutch but the hutch not quite big enough for them to be shut in for longer periods when it’s cold, hence the bigger hutch purchase. I am very excited for it to arrive tomorrow!

Oh lots of cucumber lining the ramp helped!