Individual feeding “stations”? Pictures of your feeding areas please!

[Nyanzai]

(Sorry, me again, i’ve obviously been thinking too much about everything).

I was wondering what the ideal set up regarding feeding would be. I’ve been reading on here and Many have some kind of tray for the hay or a tray underneath a hay rack.
Would you ideally have a hay rack and tray per piggie? How about water bottle? One each or one between 2 or 3?
If you were considering a rack and tray each, how big ideally would the tray be?

Am I crazy to think of using a earthenware casserole dish for the tray? Around 30cm or so long by 20cm or so wide. Have one for each pig. I feel they would be resistant to bites and not be able to be tipped over whilst also able to be washed easily. Put a small hay rack above each and probably pellet/vegetable bowls added only when feeding then taken away again.

We probably will go with female piggies but are open to a male couple if we can find a pair already bonded. The enclosure we are planning to use is 90cm x 180cm so should be okay for either.

Can I see pictures of the hay/food areas in your set ups? That would really help me decide.
Do you use little tables/stools as shelters for the piggies to eat under and feel safe? I was thinking of using my children’s old table as it is tiny (only 35cm tall) but it is made from Japanese cypress and that is toxic for guinea pigs. I want to add something similar though so they can eat in peace.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I use corner litter trays in my boys hutch (theirs is a two storey hutch so one tray upstairs and one downstairs. When their hutch door is opened and they get access to the shed, then there is another large hay pile just on the floor. The corner hay tray is big enough for a piggy to get in. I Don’t have hay racks any more, the hay goes straight in the tray and they sit in amongst the hay to eat.

I don’t use food bowls for pellets and veg. Their pellets and veg get scattered around for them to search for.

I have one water bottle on each level of the hutch, plus another in the shed itself

I have log huts, a plastic pigloo, a fleece hut and a couple more fleece tunnels on order for my two

 

[Piggies&buns]

This is how my boys live. You can see their corner hay tray in the hutch downstairs as demonstrated by Popcorn pig! (The hay tray upstairs is the tray fashioned from a cardboard box in the upstairs left corner of their hutch - I managed to crack their other one so made that one until I can replace it with another corner tray!)

Dexter is demonstrating the scattering of pellets (unfortunately this mornings throw didn’t quite work out and there aren’t as many pellets within the hay to the left that I normally have - they normally spend a little while searching through that hay pile for them!)

 

[Nyanzai]

This is how my boys live. You can see their corner hay tray in the hutch downstairs as demonstrated by Popcorn pig! (The hay tray upstairs is the tray fashioned from a cardboard box in the upstairs left corner of their hutch - I managed to crack their other one so made that one until I can replace it with another corner tray!)

Dexter is demonstrating the scattering of pellets (unfortunately this mornings throw didn’t quite work out and there aren’t as many pellets within the hay to the left that I normally have - they normally spend a little while searching through that hay pile for them!)

Oh that looks lovely! I read there was a lot of waste with putting the hay directly in a tray and that the piggies often wee there as well as drag the hay about, but I also read that its the safest and most natural way to store the hay.

We are going to use an (outside) rabbit run indoors as their enclosure as there are absolutely no suitable sized cages available in Japan even for rabbits (though we can get c&c so that is an option but I wanted a top as I have young children). I’ll need to make some kind of shelter for them to eat under.

As for sleeping, do they prefer to sleep next to each other or alone?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hay will be wasted, there’s no getting around that however you do it. When i used to use hay racks, they just pulled it out while they were eating it and still some got pee’d on anyway. With them being in trays, they bury themselves right in it, sleep in it, have fun in it as well as getting through loads while eating it - I fill those trays probably four times a day. Watching them be in amongst the hay to eat is so nice and more natural then attempting get it from a rack. I just prefer it to racks now.
They need hay, mine and bedded on hay upstairs year round with fleece downstairs in the summer but hay downstairs all winter - the hay usage is large!

It’s good you can use the rabbit run as a cage to get the size right.
Any kind of hut you can put in will be great for them, and the more the better - I always go for more hidey huts than piggies as you can see I have many! Why do you feel they need to eat under a shelter? (Perhaps I’m misunderstanding!)

My two never sleep in the same bed. That’s why there are four beds in their hutch and another three log huts in the shed - they have more than enough places to go to keep away from each other if they want to - being boys that’s important

 

[Nyanzai]

Oh I just heard they feel safer eating that way. Is that wrong? Like they feel more like they can relax? If they don’t need that, it would actually be easier. I have plenty of hideys picked out already maybe 4 　

 

[Piggies&buns]

Oh I just heard they feel safer eating that way. Is that wrong? Like they feel more like they can relax? If they don’t need that, it would actually be easier. I have plenty of hideys picked out already maybe 4 　

The will feel safe having hidey huts to retreat to and to begin with yours may feel safer to eat under shelter of some sort, but as you can see my boys are happy to eat in the open! What I would suggest for new, shy piggies to give them security is to simply throw a blanket over part of their cage roof

 

[Nyanzai]

The will feel safe having hidey huts to retreat to and to begin with yours may feel safer to eat under shelter of some sort, but as you can see my boys are happy to eat in the open! What I would suggest for new, shy piggies to give them security is to simply throw a blanket over part of their cage roof

Thats a much cheaper and easier option!

 

[anyar.dris]

This is my piggies' living area (they actually occupy the living room). There is hay in different hay racks (2 screwed racks on 2nd flr of hutch, 1 on bottom floor), and there is also hay on the fleece under that Amazon box ( the hay is on top of puppy pads). At the other area, there is hay under the chair and hay in a rack hanging at the other side of the chair. Everywhere my piggies turn, there will be hay.

 

[Zanzan]

When I feed veg it is put near one of the hideys and my slightly nervous boy comes out, takes what he wants and then eats it inside if he is having a shy day or if he's feeling brave he has the choice to eat out. Here he is in the middle on a brave day.