piggies are taking over!

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jay3ttp

jay3ttp

Junior Guinea Pig
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Rothwell Northamptonshire
Hi everyone just a quick question, how many of you have piggies indoors? If so where inside do you keep them? Mine are in the dining room and they take up nearly half the availayble space in there! I have no problem with this but the amount of negative comments i get from friends and family does my head in. I get told repeatedly that they should be outside and that they make the house smell! They don't make the house smell but you can smell the hay, which is not a bad smell!
So i need some reassurance that I am not mad, where do you keep yours? Do you have any pics as I need some inspiration to help me organise mine a little tidier. x

Jaylie
 
Our dining room joins onto our kitchen and we keep ours on a table in a corner. They also have free run of about half the living room when we're at home. None of our family members complain despite the constant WATCH THE GUINEA PIGS warnings. They respect that it is our house and it is up to us how we use it. If they have any negative comments then they keep them to themselves! I would explain nicely that it is your decision where you put the guinea pigs and they should respect this. If you feel that you need to be tidier I find stacking storage boxes under the tables, or using spare cupboards keeps everything out of sight and tidy.
 
I have 9 quineapigs in our spare room indoors, no one has ever complained about a smell, and like you said, we can only smell the hay and ready grass, which is quite a fresh smell :) we are currently getting new windows and as soon as their room is redecorated i will post pics for you :)
Like pipandpop says, storage boxes are great for hiding messy bits and bobs.
I would think if anyone was to complain or say something would be a non pet lover person to be honest, or the people that think guinea pigs and other small animals are vermin! i would ignore them personally :)
 
Mine are all over the place, we have a herd of 12 free range in the living room (with C & C areas and hay kitchens, plus a sow pair in a C & C in the corner (one of them will not bond with the herd), then in the bedroom we have a boar and spayed sow pair and from tonight we are fostering an unneutered boar for a week and he is in the bedroom too but the other side of the room. We do spot cleans and complete hay clears every day and have an air purifier so it always smells fresh. We always keep the top windows open too as it lets the air flow through and helps to prevent fungal.
 
I have 19 boys and I have one group downstairs and one up, no ones ever said the house smells only off hay, I have the windows open to allow airflow and I spot clean and regularly change the bedding to keep it fresh :) The only negative I get off family is wow your mad 19 but like I said to the last person I bet they are half the trouble your child is :)) Mine are in C&C cages and the pairs are in 120cm cages at the moment and I store the hay in storage boxes :)
 
I have 3 piggies in my living room. And I want more. You can see them as soon as you open the door. And my apartment is two bedroom small but comfortable for my self and my boys. And my apartment doesn't smell at all. People come and tell me that my house smell wonderful and they can't tell by the smell that I have piggies. My piggies are family and if people don't like them. Well they should stop visiting my house or keep the comment to them selves. The well being of my piggies is my priority and inside the house is the best for them.
 
Thank you everyone, i feel better now although i do think I am slightly mad lol. I have a total of 10 piggies of my own, 2 foster girlies, 4 degus, six rats and 2 gerbils inside and two rabbits outside lol. So any piccies, would love to see all your setups, mainly cause i am nosey and love looking at other peoples pics (plus I have looked at the galleries so much i have bored myself haha). Thanks again x
 
Jay3ttp, I am quite overwhelmed at how many pets you have, and 12 guineas altogether, wow!
We've got our 4 piggies in our living room - we were lucky enough to buy a house with quite a big living room, so we could create a sort of "guinea pig corner", but we couldn't have done that in our old house without getting rid of something fairly vital, like the sofa or the dining table! (We had them in a sort of extension / utility room then, which wasn't ideal, but best we could manage at the time).
Anyway, I think having the piggies indoors is brilliant, for owner and pets! They really become part of the family, and get so bold and confident, while it's much easier to keep an eye on them, and spot any signs of possible illness more quickly. The only thing is that sometimes I might try to avoid coming into the living room, because I'm just going to get browbeaten into giving them more food, the naughty little things!
Fortunately my family seem to quite like guinea pigs, although my mother in law does not approve. When other people come round, I tend not to mention the pigs, unless they do (although you can't exactly miss them), and if they say nothing, I usually assume they don't really like them, but well, not everyone will. Love me, love my squeakers, that's what I say!
 
My sitting area is separate in my small house. They huge cage is in there too. Besides that, the pigs have 1/3 of the available cabinets in my tiny house, it has even been up to half once, lol.
 
We have 20 piggies who we share the lounge with :) :)
My partner is a whizz at building pens so they have home made ones along one wall of the room which leaves us a lot of 'hooman' living space...
We moved from a flat in May into a house and the biggest worry was the piggy pens but we managed to get them done in a whole day.
Some pics to give you an idea but we've added more piggy bits since these were taken, name plaques, pictures etc. Will be adding a roof for the winter so I can cover the fronts with fleece and their fairy lights :)
The pairs of piggies have 5.5 x 2.5ft pens, groups have 6.5 x 3ft:





The piggies don't smell rolleyes are all on vet bed and I wouldn't have them anywhere else but in the lounge :)
 
Guinea pig slave said:
We have 20 piggies who we share the lounge with :) :)
My partner is a whizz at building pens so they have home made ones along one wall of the room which leaves us a lot of 'hooman' living space...
We moved from a flat in May into a house and the biggest worry was the piggy pens but we managed to get them done in a whole day.
Some pics to give you an idea but we've added more piggy bits since these were taken, name plaques, pictures etc. Will be adding a roof for the winter so I can cover the fronts with fleece and their fairy lights :)
The pairs of piggies have 5.5 x 2.5ft pens, groups have 6.5 x 3ft:





The piggies don't smell rolleyes are all on vet bed and I wouldn't have them anywhere else but in the lounge :)
Click to expand...

That's an amazing set up, thinking of something like that for my downstairs pairs. Very inspirational, love it. DO you have any problems of them hanging over the wires though? One of mine has his paws on top of a normal sized grid so it would be my only worry :)
 
Thank you x>> We cut the grids down to less than half of the original size and just make sure there's nothing they can climb onto near the fronts i.e. chubes, cosies etc.
They all line up with their paws on the tops to say hello, great for nose tickles etc. then shout at me when they're hungry. I swear this has helped the nervous piggies we've had as there's a lot of interaction with them as they now race over for a fuss. My computer is next to the pens too so am constantly chatting to them :x
I love open pens and as piggies have heavy back ends and short legs, aren't the best jumpers. Ours have lived in open pens for three years and never had one make an effort to escape...;)
We have used full size grids for any babies as the popcorning made me nervous (the mesh ones as mini pigs can get their heads through the spaces :...) and the youngest we have are almost 5 months now and don't bother :))
Glad you can get some ideas from the pics - have great storage underneath too :)
 
My piggy pens take up a third of the living room (i.e. the former dining room area). Working from home, they are welcome company.

Anybody, who is not comfy with it or allergic to them, can sit in our kitchen diner... it's a nicer room anyway! And to any family who still haven't caught on, I make clear that I am keeping my piggies to a high standard of care and do they wish to read through the relevant literature? Most friends ooh and aah over them anyway, and if they are bothered by the smell, then that is their problem! ANY pet smells. ;)

 
Guinea pig slave said:
Thank you x>> We cut the grids down to less than half of the original size and just make sure there's nothing they can climb onto near the fronts i.e. chubes, cosies etc.
They all line up with their paws on the tops to say hello, great for nose tickles etc. then shout at me when they're hungry. I swear this has helped the nervous piggies we've had as there's a lot of interaction with them as they now race over for a fuss. My computer is next to the pens too so am constantly chatting to them :x
I love open pens and as piggies have heavy back ends and short legs, aren't the best jumpers. Ours have lived in open pens for three years and never had one make an effort to escape...;)
We have used full size grids for any babies as the popcorning made me nervous (the mesh ones as mini pigs can get their heads through the spaces :...) and the youngest we have are almost 5 months now and don't bother :))
Glad you can get some ideas from the pics - have great storage underneath too :)
Click to expand...

I have some piggies who climb up the c&c grids so always been worried anything lower and they would be out :)) Your set up has inspired me a lot as large pens but not taking up the floor space complete C&C's do :)
 
I used to have pigs upstairs in my spare room and then a couple in the hall under the stairs (it is open stairs which face the kitchen). Hay gets EVERYWHERE, theres poop in the kitchen from when I clean the cage and miss a bit or too, and the guinea veg/meds area takes up a 6th of the available counter space. My housemates are very tolerant though I'm sure I was a nuisance to start. Just let them see how deeply happy they make you and make it obvious you are doing your best to keep the house in general tidy. I'm sure it will make them feel a bit silly for making a stinky fuss!
 
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I think non animal people will always make comments about pretty much any indoor animal. Sad really.

I am staying at my mums til early next year & my boys are in the bedroom with me. When I move (hopefully) I will have a spare room they can stay in because I refuse to put them outside.
 
Thanks everyone, I think you all sound like wonderful dedicatedpiggy owners. I loved the piccies too i have showed them to my partner who has had orders lol. Will do pics when I am sorted x
 
I don’t have as many piggies as some other people on here i only have 3 but i still get similar comments when people see how much of me and my boyfriends room is taken up by their cage! They always assume when i say that i have pigs in my room that it will be some sort of small hamster like cage, but now it’s the size of a 2x5 but split in to two separate cages a 2x4 and 2x2, just over lapping each other, we’ve had to throw out furniture just so we could fit a double bed and the pigs in the room haha, i’ve never had anyone say anything negative and as other people have said, most of my friends are always paying more attention to the pigs running around than anything else ! I think my cage quite suits the lack of space i have though as it has alot of storage underneath, although i’ll honest this isn’t even half of their stuff, most of it is on top and inside the wardrobe !

 
My piggies are in the living room, c and c cage takes up about a third of the floor space. I get a few negative comments about having spoiled piggies which I just don't understand, people should praise us for being kind and caring to our pets!
 
My two piggies are in my bedroom. I wouldn't have it any other way. It means they are protected from the cold, they receive constant interaction, and if anything should happen to them, it's very quickly noticed. :)
 
We have four and they are kept in the dinning/kitchen area during the summers and when winter hits they are being moved in the bedroom because it is warmer and we turn the heat on.
 
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