Little Piglets
Junior Guinea Pig
I originally bought about $50 worth of 3" white PVC (black would be ABS) connector piping sections at Lowe's, in a bunch "T" pieces, short 45 degree connectors, and cut a 5' straight section down into about 1-2 foot straight pieces and finally washed everything really good.
I laid out little piping sections (they interconnect with each other snugly and pull apart if/when needed) around the inner borders of the cages leaving the inner area usually alone to avoid too many obstructions/clutter. But every couple days or so, will move them around to different sections of the cages, or completely revamp the angles they make with varying the way they are/aren't connected to each other. The 45 degree pieces can be angle "up" in small degrees when feeding into a bunch of other ones, creating something similar to dirtbike track "whoops" which can technically get angled up a second floor if you have one by angling and run a mix of straight with them.
Early on, they were used primarily for hiding, then I noticed my female especially, started having her little daily "popcorn then run" (she's FAST) and would run through them like a sprinter on an oval runner's track. Normally, after a bedding change, the piping would go back slightly different, etc. and I noticed the female would ALWAYS go and seemingly "relearn" where the "new" piping went, often following a set path through them, several times.
As time has gone on over the past couple weeks, she's been very consistent with going and "exploring" them after a rearrangement. The last couple bedding changes, I noticed something different as well. Early on, pig would go into a smaller secondary cage during bedding change. I usually put a big bag next to the cage folding an end over the top wall, then using a plastic grocery bag as a throw a away glove (if you ever had a dog, you know how valuable these are) start scooping out bedding, from one end of the cage to the other. The last couple times I noticed no one was running and hiding when the big garbage bag was placed by the cage, so decided to scoop out bedding and watch the behavior. Low and behold, everything I'm doing is being investigated vs. running and hiding. Completely unfazed.
It would seem the rearrangements have encouraged exploration and gotten them more comfortable with the surroundings and changes therein? I know parakeets are similar in the most extreme sense as you have to desensitize them to EVERYTHING that's different. i.e. wearing a new ring on step up hand; long sleeves all of a sudden when you only wear short; wearing a hat all of a sudden; etc. all cause those guys to freak out and need gradual introduction.
Again, to be clear, piggies are past the run every chance they get routine. It's been a gradual warming up of the items being relocated, which was also done in part to help them avoid boredom. and encourage exploring vs. always hiding in a pig house, which I've gradually removed altogether as they have other things to hide in/under if need be.
I laid out little piping sections (they interconnect with each other snugly and pull apart if/when needed) around the inner borders of the cages leaving the inner area usually alone to avoid too many obstructions/clutter. But every couple days or so, will move them around to different sections of the cages, or completely revamp the angles they make with varying the way they are/aren't connected to each other. The 45 degree pieces can be angle "up" in small degrees when feeding into a bunch of other ones, creating something similar to dirtbike track "whoops" which can technically get angled up a second floor if you have one by angling and run a mix of straight with them.
Early on, they were used primarily for hiding, then I noticed my female especially, started having her little daily "popcorn then run" (she's FAST) and would run through them like a sprinter on an oval runner's track. Normally, after a bedding change, the piping would go back slightly different, etc. and I noticed the female would ALWAYS go and seemingly "relearn" where the "new" piping went, often following a set path through them, several times.
As time has gone on over the past couple weeks, she's been very consistent with going and "exploring" them after a rearrangement. The last couple bedding changes, I noticed something different as well. Early on, pig would go into a smaller secondary cage during bedding change. I usually put a big bag next to the cage folding an end over the top wall, then using a plastic grocery bag as a throw a away glove (if you ever had a dog, you know how valuable these are) start scooping out bedding, from one end of the cage to the other. The last couple times I noticed no one was running and hiding when the big garbage bag was placed by the cage, so decided to scoop out bedding and watch the behavior. Low and behold, everything I'm doing is being investigated vs. running and hiding. Completely unfazed.
It would seem the rearrangements have encouraged exploration and gotten them more comfortable with the surroundings and changes therein? I know parakeets are similar in the most extreme sense as you have to desensitize them to EVERYTHING that's different. i.e. wearing a new ring on step up hand; long sleeves all of a sudden when you only wear short; wearing a hat all of a sudden; etc. all cause those guys to freak out and need gradual introduction.
Again, to be clear, piggies are past the run every chance they get routine. It's been a gradual warming up of the items being relocated, which was also done in part to help them avoid boredom. and encourage exploring vs. always hiding in a pig house, which I've gradually removed altogether as they have other things to hide in/under if need be.
