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C and C hayloft queries

Athena'sSlave

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Hi everyone! :nod:

We are currently considering getting a hay loft for our 2 sows. They are in a 4 x 2 c and c cage, and we want to get a 2 x 2 hay loft.

We want to get it from 2x2 Loft Kit with correx, grids, support bars and ramp - C and C Guinea Pig Cages, which is the same place we got the 4 x 2 from. However, in the photo on their website, it shows a gap here:

hayloft.PNG

Could the pigs potentially jump/ fall over here? Is there anyone who has this?


2nd question: how would you encourage the pigs to use the ramp/ hayloft?


3rd question: how would you line the ramp, to help grip and soak up pee? (I'm thinking a cut up towel attached with velcro?)

Thanks in advance!

Athena, Biscuits, and slave
 
Hi again, I’ve just thought of another question! :)

For the hayloft itself, would newspaper then hay be absorbent enough to soak up pee (I use fleece in the ground level of the cage)? If not, what do other people use?
:)
 
I have used this loft kit.

Yes there is a gap where you have indicated. They technically could get over but you could always bend a grid in half and tie it in to cover that gap

Using a ramp is something which they have to learn, some do it easily, some won’t. You can use food as encouragement to go up there.

What I would say is that I found the gradient of the ramp quite steep and had to put a brick underneath it as my boys were struggling with. The thing is, that the ramp in their hutch is the same gradient and they have no trouble with that one. (My boys live in my shed so they have a hutch in there but the area is fenced off with a c&c cage). The only thing which is different is that the ramp for the loft has a sandpaper type of grip already on it where my hutch ramp has vetbed clipped to it. My piggies didn’t seem to like the sandpaper grip. After about two weeks they stopped using the ramp and wouldn’t go up to the loft any more. I therefore took the loft down and won’t bother with a loft again (this is the second time I’ve attempted it and both times they stopped being interested in going up there.

Newspaper with hay will be fine. It would need replacing fairly often but you would need to replace any wet hay daily anyway. I use newspaper and hay in my hutch.
 
I have used this loft kit.

Yes there is a gap where you have indicated. They technically could get over but you could always bend a grid in half and tie it in to cover that gap

Using a ramp is something which they have to learn, some do it easily, some won’t. You can use food as encouragement to go up there.

What I would say is that I found the gradient of the ramp quite steep and had to put a brick underneath it as my boys were struggling with. The thing is, that the ramp in their hutch is the same gradient and they have no trouble with that one. (My boys live in my shed so they have a hutch in there but the area is fenced off with a c&c cage). The only thing which is different is that the ramp for the loft has a sandpaper type of grip already on it where my hutch ramp has vetbed clipped to it. My piggies didn’t seem to like the sandpaper grip. After about two weeks they stopped using the ramp and wouldn’t go up to the loft any more. I therefore took the loft down and won’t bother with a loft again (this is the second time I’ve attempted it and both times they stopped being interested in going up there.

Newspaper with hay will be fine. It would need replacing fairly often but you would need to replace any wet hay daily anyway. I use newspaper and hay in my hutch.

Hi @Piggies&buns, thank you so much for that helpful information! It’s a great idea of bending over a grid in half
:)
 
image.jpgOut C&C is DIYdoesn’t have the big gap but I made a fabric door frame to stop
Them from falling down. We just use a bath mat over the top of ours. one thing I would say it the 2X2 loft is really big and could be a pain to clean the far corners so I would think about if you really need it, ours is 1X2 and is plenty big enough for them to much on some hay!
We just have a fleece lined up their and a cat litter tray full of hay!
 
View attachment 150831Out C&C is DIYdoesn’t have the big gap but I made a fabric door frame to stop
Them from falling down. We just use a bath mat over the top of ours. one thing I would say it the 2X2 loft is really big and could be a pain to clean the far corners so I would think about if you really need it, ours is 1X2 and is plenty big enough for them to much on some hay!
We just have a fleece lined up their and a cat litter tray full of hay!

A fabric door frame also sounds like a great idea!

If it’s a pain to clean, I think we’ll go with a 2 x 1.

Thanks for your helpful advice :)
 
I've overlapped 2 grids and cable tied together to make them the right size to fill the gap, they are cabled tied to the floor grids of the loft and then clipped together at the top to the side grid so the whole thing opens for cleaning. I line lofts with newspaper or puppy pads, some of my lofts have hay trays some just have loose hay on the paper.
 
I've overlapped 2 grids and cable tied together to make them the right size to fill the gap, they are cabled tied to the floor grids of the loft and then clipped together at the top to the side grid so the whole thing opens for cleaning. I line lofts with newspaper or puppy pads, some of my lofts have hay trays some just have loose hay on the paper.

Thank you, that is very helpful! I like the idea of overlapping the grids.:)
 
Hi everyone! :)
After lots of consideration, we have ordered a 2 x 2 loft, on the basis that if it is too hard to clean, then we could always change it to a 2 x 1.
There are some excited piggies here!
 
Hi everyone! :)
After lots of consideration, we have ordered a 2 x 2 loft, on the basis that if it is too hard to clean, then we could always change it to a 2 x 1.
There are some excited piggies here!
That’s super exciting I’m sure they will love it!
 
View attachment 150831Out C&C is DIYdoesn’t have the big gap but I made a fabric door frame to stop
Them from falling down. We just use a bath mat over the top of ours. one thing I would say it the 2X2 loft is really big and could be a pain to clean the far corners so I would think about if you really need it, ours is 1X2 and is plenty big enough for them to much on some hay!
We just have a fleece lined up their and a cat litter tray full of hay!
Hi love the look of your cage. I'm interested in making a ramp like yours. Did you just bend grids if so how many? And did you put correx on this and was this secure? And then put carpet over the top? How easy was this for the guinea pigs to use and did it wobble atall? Many thanks 😊
 
Hi love the look of your cage. I'm interested in making a ramp like yours. Did you just bend grids if so how many? And did you put correx on this and was this secure? And then put carpet over the top? How easy was this for the guinea pigs to use and did it wobble atall? Many thanks 😊
Hi, yes we just bent two grids, and attached some correx to it and then zip tired it to the loft! We didn’t have carpet on it i just draped a bath mat over the top and it worked for us! Our pigs loved running up and down it and we didn’t have any issues with wobbling!
we don’t have a C&C anymore so don’t have a loft but had no trouble with it when we did!
 
Hi, yes we just bent two grids, and attached some correx to it and then zip tired it to the loft! We didn’t have carpet on it i just draped a bath mat over the top and it worked for us! Our pigs loved running up and down it and we didn’t have any issues with wobbling!
we don’t have a C&C anymore so don’t have a loft but had no trouble with it when we did!
Thank you! :) Did you have to ziptie the correx to the grids atall? Or did it just stay on there? As I have 7 now I'm just trying to create some extra space :)
 
Thank you! :) Did you have to ziptie the correx to the grids atall? Or did it just stay on there? As I have 7 now I'm just trying to create some extra space :)
Yes we had to cut slits in the bottom so it stayed put!
 
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