Can My Piggy Live In A Grasspen?

[Courageous]

I want to build my little piggy a grass pen; a pen where the bedding is dirt and grass instead of the traditional shavings, paper or fleece. I just feel it would be a more natural setting, less mess and maintenance. Has anyone done this and if so can someone post a picture with instructions or advice?

 

[Misty]

Sorry this sounds like a bad idea because it would be harder to clean what you could do is have your normal bedding but put a grass litter tray in for a couple of hours a day. Personally natural bedding doesn't matter because they were domesticated 5000 years ago they have adapted to living with us and don't need natural bedding. Just my opinion though

 

[acapae]

The Bioactive and Naturalistic mammals setup FB group is a good resource if you're into that sort of thing.

However the general consensus is that it doesn't work for guinea pigs with their welfare as priority due to the vast amounts of waste they produce. Like it's possible, but you need a significant amount of space (akin to a paddock) and the upkeep is more than any other, not less.

 

[rome_italy]

the problem is that we cannot reproduce the real nature at home into a cage...
The risk of fungal and bacteria growth are high.

 

[Hath]

Hi, like others have said, not good idea. Actually impossible indoors. You would need huge space with very few piggies, yet still would need bedding area. My two boys can "cut down" grass in 200x100cm outdoor run in half of a day so have to constantly move it to let it recover and due to waste. You cannot clean it and would turn into mash of poop and mud soon as grass wouldn't survive leaving them dirty in their own excrements

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

The piggies at TEAS spend all day in runs, on the grass, in the summer months. During the winter, they have cut grass put into their hutches every day. I have stopped feeding from bowls and scatter a few nuggets into the hay, as I feel that is a much more natural way of living, foraging for food! I feel it keeps them more active and engaged too.

 

[rome_italy]

I try to make my piggies live in a natural way being concentrated on food; as Furryfriend says, FORAGING is the essential part of the breeding for keeping them in good health. And no bowls here, too. Unfortunately I live into a flat and my three piggies have never seen a garden and never walked on a lawn, but they are growing healthy and my only concern is that two of them are putting on weight a bit too much! eating almost exclusively hay and grass...
But maybe you have a large garden... My Nan used to have a lot of rabbits living outside, but the garden was very very large (but the mess was huge and the grass could not even grow up)