Mad idea for indoor piggies

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karonus

karonus

Adult Guinea Pig
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Had a mad idea to allow our herd all year round grass time indoors.

The plan is to have half a dozen cat litter trays, then fill them with turf. Rotate on a daily basis.

In theory they should be self fertilising (based on the amount of poops I scoop each day) and self watering (do I need to draw diagrams).

By careful maintenance the turf should recover over a week ready for the next decapitating.

Any thoughts?



(This is for amusement purposes but could become a reality.....)
 
You can buy packets of grass seeds, and plant them (in containers such as you mention) on a weekly basis, and have a circulating supply. It's not such a daft idea. You would probably need to provide some water, rather than rely on total piggy self watering!
 
I've thought about this, to promote the best regrowth buy those mini plastic covers, the higher the temp the faster the grass will grow!
 
I have done this with grass and with wild bird seed (which you can keep outdoors over winter, just covered with clingfilm).

Just to warn you that two piggies can devastate a whole tray in half an hour!
 
Wiebke said:
I have done this with grass and with wild bird seed (which you can keep outdoors over winter, just covered with clingfilm).

Just to warn you that two piggies can devastate a whole tray in half an hour!
Click to expand...

It's quite disheartening when you've spent weeks lovingly tending to it..... and it disappears straight away!
 
Guinea pigs <3 said:
:)) but to see those little ears wiggling away!x)
Click to expand...

And watch the bums charging towards the trays at high speed :)) drool



I think it's a great idea Steve, be very interested to hear how you get on with it.
 
I'd reccommend using seed trays (as in ones with drainage holes in the bottom) and then standing them in a litter tray. The grass will need watering regularly and if you're using turf put a layer of compost in the bottom of the tray and rest the sod on top. The only thing is the pigs tend to decimate it very quickly (my boy can reduce a tray to earth in 10 mins :))) and so it takes longer than a week to regenerate to a decent state. Grass also likes a lot of light to grow so all your windowsills are going to be full and you may find it doesn't grow so well at this time of year due to the lack of light. It will like the warmth of being in your house so that may help (assuming your house is warmer than mine!). If you're keeping them outside don't expect them to grow that fast at all as grass is dormant in winter. And a final thing, it's best to take poops off as they tend to just rest on the surface and promote mould/bacterial growth. All that aside, the pigs do love it. :)
 
And there was I thinking it was a silly sort of idea lol. I may need to investigate further as we do have a green house.
 
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