Do my boys need floor time?

Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato

Adult Guinea Pig
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when we first started looking at renting a house the first question we asked everyone was "are pets aloud" and we didn't even view any houses until we had received a firm yes to this question so we were as surprised as our landlord when after renting this house for 6 months and recently renewing our contract for the next 6 months they come to visit only to tell us that they had a no pets rule for all their houses and the letting agency had made a big mistake.

long story short In order to keep them and stay in this house we have to agree to NO MORE FLOOR TIME. I'm in the process of building a bigger cage currently a 2x4 C&C extending to 3x4 and I try to get them out for cuddles once a day. They don't really like floor time anyway and spend most of their time hidden in one spot only leaving to collect veggies. I was worried about whether it is OK to not let them out for floor time? or does anyone know of any sort of pen that has a built in ground sheet that I could use instead of floor time?
 
I have 2 pairs of piggies that love floor time and one pair that seem to prefer to be in a large pen, it's as if they feel safer with the grids around them. I think it's a good idea for them to come out of the cage for a change of scene if nothing else, it also makes big cage cleans easier!
The pens with built in ground sheets tend to be quite small. I'd suggest if you don't have room for a bigger permanent C&C cage to make a pen with C&C grids left open at the ends, join when in use with bull dog clips or clothes pegs. This way you can make it as big as you can accommodate and the grids will concertina up to store away when not in use. Put down a waterproof sheet underneath to protect the floor, plastic table cloth, large bag (like the ones matresses come wrapped in) or shower curtain are things I've seen suggested. I do this if I'm decorating and have to move the piggies out into the workshop. My waterproof layer is a large piece of damp proof membrane that was left over from building the workshop.
 
I have mine in the garage. They are in a 6ft x 2ft hutch double decker hutch. Every other day I keep 2 in the hutch and put the other 2 in the run the run is 16sq ft. To protect the concrete floor (and keep it a bit warmer for piggies tootsies) I have an offcut of vinyl flooring, then a waterproof mattress protector and on the top of that a piece of fleece. My piggies and I are very happy with this arrangement the run I have is this one.

Amazon.co.uk: bunny business 8 panel playpen

I like it as it fold up really small and it can go out into a square shape like this

Run in Garage 8 Betsy & Dennis.webp
 
Mine rarely get floor time now as we have moved into a house with wooden floors and it’s quite a job to set up a play pen with towels and fleeces to protect the floor.
Having a very large C&C cage this doesn’t seem to be a problem.
The cage is bigger than the play pen!
 
We extended our cage to a 7 x 2 and the other half wanted to not leave the floor run out... but this lasted 2 weeks and i got it out.. i find mine useful for when i clean the cage out.. and sometimes mine need a change of scenery.. they are currently sat there now.. watching me eat my breakfast ... wanting to go back to their cage lol.. we have loads of space tho so quite good.. am sure your landlord wouldn't find out .. defo get some lino down for protecting the floor -we have solid oak and used the same piece for 4 years.. topped with puppy pads and fleece blanket.
 
Mine get floor time twice a week on cage clean days, I have Bunny Business playpens and put down plastic mats that you can buy to go under babies high chairs with newspaper on top- they do enjoy the change of scene and a different space, but our cage for the main herd is also bigger than the playpen so its purely for entertainment not exercise! Ollie and Tallulah only have a 4x2 grid c&c cage so for them the exercise is more important, their playpen set up is 4x4. The plastic mats are very good, we have pale wood laminate flooring and it never gets any pee on it, and everything packs away afterwards but it is a bit of a faff setting up and clearing away so we only do it twice a week for about 3 hours :)
 
thanks for the advice I sill want to give them the experience but they didn't seem to be getting much out of it let alone exercise the lazy pigs that they are. I will try setting up some sort of run with the leftover grids but it may be smaller than their normal cage approx 4x2 will this still be OK to give them a change of scenery?
 
It would be worth investing in some more grids when you can afford to but you can only do what you can. If they aren't running around and loving floor time then it's not worth stressing over. Try covering the run with a blanket or towel, give them things to play with like tubes, boxes, paper bags, spread food around the pen they may eventually get to like it. Of course they may be like my pair were and never enjoy it despite trying everything I could to encourage them for 5 years! They were completely different in the garden run though, guinea pigs are funny little things, one size never fits all! A 4x2 will give them a change and keep them safe while you do complete cage cleans.
 
When we do playpen time we have a separate set of hideys we just use for that, also we give them cardboard boxes and paper bags full of meadow hay and readigrass and bits of treat veg, plus a big pile of hay and scatterfed veg in the middle of the playpen... usually keeps them interested for a couple of hours!
 
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