• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Chewing Housing

Status
Not open for further replies.
PatchyPog

PatchyPog

New Born Pup
Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Messages
45
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hello all,

Newbie (edit: interesting that n 0 0 b got censored...?) piggie owner. We've got a pair of adopted boars which came into our lives last weekend: Bill & Eric.

They live in a spacious C&C enclosure, which also contains a wooden arch, a "tikki hut" (for lack of better term...it's an edible brown house with a straw/hay thatched roof) and also a pill capsule-shaped plastic "pigloo".

This last is by far the most popular for both piggies, and we're thinking we may have to get a second one or replace it with a larger one. However, I'm wary about doing so as Eric, who is only 8-10 weeks old (estimated), has taken to chewing on the entry to the pigloo. All around the arch are little "scuff" marks...almost like someone's been sanding it with sandpaper. There don't appear to be any chunks torn off, but I would be concerned if such a thing were to happen...am certain it wouldn't be good for little poglet intestines.

Any thoughts/comments/advice? Am I worrying unnecessarily?

Edit: Wasn't sure whether to put this under "Behaviour", "Housing" or "Health & Illness". Admin please move if required.
 
My young boar is far worse at chewing on all sorts of things than the girls are. If your piglu is like most of minethen they dont seem to be able to get much off. Its natural behaviour for young piggies to naw on things. Providing hes not eating lots of plastic then i wouldnt worry. I had one girl whos so greedy she got to a cucumber wrapper before me and ate a huge piece of it (about 2p coin sized or more). I had a huge panic, but she was ok. Silly girl. So long as hes not eating the plastic dont worry.

x.
 
Thank you! I guess the piggies are going to be like a kid - constantly causing worry.
 
I personally like to only have wooden things so if they chew them there is no harm. They seem to prefer wood too.

I do not get what you mean by noob being edited?/
 
Haha. My boar Pete eats his cage and my girls eat their cardboard tunnels. It's compleatly fine.
 
Mine chewed some of the correx on their last cage..... I think they wanted it shaped differently :)) Strangely theyve not chewed it on their current cage though........yet.... didnt seem to cause them any problems though.... maybe they didnt eat it though
x
 
piggyfan said:
I personally like to only have wooden things so if they chew them there is no harm. They seem to prefer wood too.

I do not get what you mean by noob being edited?/
Click to expand...

I've been wondering about going all-wood. They have a wooden archway "cave" that they also like, and then there's the tikki hut which....well I'm not sure what it's made from, but it's guinea pig-friendly and edible.

They just love the pigloo so much!

Sorry for the confusion! Should never have used tech-nerd speak on a guinea pig nerd forum. I'm mixing my nerdish leanings!

I'd originally written n-zero-zero-b which is another way of writing newbie. But the forum censored it into stars (****). Felt the need to say something about it as I didn't want people to think I'd been using profanity if they happened to see the stars before I edited the post.

Well I overcomplicated that!
 
Wow -you have gone mega techi in a just a few complicated sentences:)

Hello! I am totally non-techi :{but do have 2 rescue grown-up boars (less than 2 weeks at my home) and 2 teenage boars so can relate to the worrying about everything! I am currently on pooh watch for the older boars and worrying....

The teenage boys chew absolutely everything - especially one of them Sudoku. I have gone wooden with hideys, toys, runs etc and that seems to work well - I would offer lots of alternative things to chew if you are worried about the pigloo eg hay stuffed in loo roll tube or fiddlesticks. :)
 
Thanks again to everyone. The chewing seems to have stopped nearly as quickly as I posted the query...almost as if they're doing it on purpose to make me worry. Hmmm....

Anyway, will keep an eye on everything, but the pigloo is no longer a chew-focus. Alternatively, they boys don't seem to spend a great deal of time chewing the toys we've given them either....

I've tried a paper towel roll stuffed with hay, they have a few chewable balls (wicker, wood, rope, etc.) but they tend to ignore these for the most part.

I think they're beginning to settle into their new home a bit (two weeks today!) but I do want them to be happy poggies and also to work their teeth!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top