does anyone have a free-running house-pig?

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sarahp

sarahp

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Just asking because I'm sure my boar Colin really wants to be one. He lives in the lounge and has recently learnt to jump in and out of his cage when the lid is open. He loves walking round my flat having a nose at everything. I'm teaching him to go back into his cage every 10 or 15 minutes for a wee and, believe it or not, I think he is very gradually learning...! He gets in a bad mood when I make him go back in his cage and starts squeaking and chewing at the bars. And if I put any sort of fencing around his cage to limit his space, he always manages to push it out of the way :D

My other two boys Leroy and Malcolm come out on the floor with him too sometimes but they tend to just sit and wee a lot and start humping him so I prefer to let them out separately.

I don't think I'd ever leave Colin alone around the flat because although he is v well behaved, I'd be scared of him biting through cables etc. - just thought I'd see if anyone has ever had a pig that is permanently running around the house?!

Sarah x

(PS. I know some of you think pigs shouldn't live on their own but Colin was rescued that way and his cage is v next to the other two boys' cage... just want to make it clear...)
 
Aw, Leroy and Malcom's pic is on the Forum Calendar isn't it? :smitten:

Dylan and Blaze would be free range constantly - yeah, in their dreams! Blaze is the most fearless animal I have ever come across, and just needs to be everywhere or anywhere! Dylan turned into master escapologist last year when he discovered how to climb the bars of the pen and get out ::) not bad for a stroke piggie left with a tilted head! ;D

Not sure I would have a house pig, although I would love it for them, there are just too many wires in our place and I wouldn't trust the piggies to be able to get past barriers whilst unsupervised. I would hate to think of the state of the carpet as well, ewww! ;)
 
I leave mine out a lot while I'm out. Pookie has always been a good boy, he justs snoozes under my bed! But he's 5 now so he just has 'a once round the room' while I clean him out night and morning. Bully has about 1/2 hour morning and night but he just goes mad for about 10mins then collapses in a heap!
Cubby and Golly stay out much more now as Cubby is such a big boy (rex) I feel sorry for him in the cage so he likes to come out and just lay around, Golly races round the room like a horse! I have lots of toys and beds under my bed, so thats where they usually head for. I don't leave any out whilst I am at work but if I go out in the evening for a meal or whatever I leave them out then becuase I feel guilty just letting them out for 5 mins while I clean the cage. I had a mass clean out, bathing and cage scrubbing yesterday so Cubby and Golly were out most of the day, with brief interludes for Pookie and Bully!
None of them chew wires, more likely my handbag and sides of cabinets!
 
Yes, Colin is v good at not chewing wires too! I think i'll try and let him stay out more often. He's a big boy and although he has a big cage I still feel bad when he's shut in there.

You may have read from another post yesterday that I've discovered all three have lice :( and so I'm getting some shampoo from the Gorgeous Guineas website. Do you think it's still ok to let him out for a run or should I keep him in the cage more until they are all better? I know the lice can't get transferred to humans but I just wonder if he should be running around all over the place when he has them... might be a silly question, not sure!
 
Yes of course he can still run around! If you have towels around like I do just change them everytime! When I had the mass bathing yesterday I had to change towels, furry tunnels and stuff to make it all nice and clean for them, but yeah let him out, running around will take his mind of sitting and scratching!
 
My Pigs are always supervised when they are out of their cage because I'm worried about chewing on electrical cords and falling down the stairs. And YES I do know that cavies have very good depth perception!
 
i always wondered how people let their pigs run around freely with no supervision. If i did that there would be poo and wee EVERYWHERE and chewed up things and what not. My boyfriend got upset when our piggy decided he'd like a little nibble of his daddys brand new electric guitar
 
Riffy would love to be a house guinea :smitten:

Just too worried about wires and other nasties he could hurt himself on
 
Cor I can only imagine the chaos my two would cause if they were out 24/7. I suspect they would eventually take up residence in the kitchen right outside the fridge! ;D
 
i think my boys would also love to be free range. ive let them run round the house a few times, i learned my lesson not to let them run round the living room though when it came to catching them and putting them back! weaving in and out under the sofa everytime we tried to grab them!

bob was easy to catch as hes pretty slow, plus hes huge! but munchie is so fast it took ages to catch him :D
 
i let mine run about under supervision, although since they pee'd on my mums brand new wood flooring they can go in the lounge or our hall lol she wasnt very impressed! shakey likes running up the stairs he goes up quicker than i do! lol i have to carry duke up though he never caught on to what he had to do to get up lol
 
Two of mine are pretty much free running piggies, I leave the cage open all day, even when I am out as I have piggie proofed the lounge now :) When they got on, they ran around together but spent most of the time under the couch snoozing, but since they fell out, I put up a grid partition and they have their seperate areas with tubes and they go in and out of their cages to pee and munch ;D

The other two have a huge c & c cage on top of Lennies and Timmys, so I have to lift them down and they get hours of floor time at the weekend. It seems to work quite well for me :)
 
I used to let 2 of mine out most of the time I was in. I hid all electrical cables but forgot about the thin cables connecting our speakers for the surround sound system - chomp, chomp, chomp. :embarassed:
 
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