Piggy Shopping!

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gpeiw

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Well with the girls home coming imminent (hopefully in a week or two) I have got overexcited again and went shopping for the furry girls today.

I have realised that I had better finish the last few bits of the cage, so I have ordered the perspex for the back wall of their hayloft aka the TV lounge or Pig Brothers Diary Room. That should turn up sometime next week. Now all I need to do is move my ramp door to the other side of the cage so they can get straight into their corrall.

I also went to Wilkinsons and picked up some pyrex dishes with lids on for their veggies so I can get them ready and keep them in the fridge - awww those little piggy lips wheeking for veggies!

I have been busy bending bits of hayracks so that they will hook over the perspex - bizarrely they fit perfectly although I didn't measure up for them - the Hay Fairy must have been guiding me! :(|)

Also in Wilkinsons I picked up a roll or carpet protector for £4 that should stop any little accidents in the corrall - I will lay some inco pads and fleece on top of this to give them a nice soft area to trot around. I am hoping for piggy trains someday soon. Go Piggies! Go Piggies! :o

Most of what I have to do is sewing so I am doing my dreaded ironing today (which would be why I am on here now ;) ) so I have a couple of days for piggy sewing (and no piles of ironing in the dining room :)) ).

We have also been busy laying the idea on my partner Charlie that there may be one more piggy somewhere in the future once we have got used to these lovely ladies (that won't be hard - their sliiper have been warming on the radiator for wheeks!) He will be swamped by women! - he already has 3 to deal with. He is getting used to the idea... slowly.

Any advice from you experienced piggy slaves on how to help the furry girls settle in?

More excited than when first baby was imminent (sorry daughter number one!)
 
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I love piggy shopping! I just started sewing mine stuff too... :)

I have three piggies and all three are very different. Bo, the boar is tame enough to be picked up. Martha is tame enough to bravely demand veggies and will even let me pet her when she eats something especially yummy and Mette-Marit is tame enough to take veggies from my hand. The girls freak out about being picked up and Mette-Marit has only eaten in my lap once or twice. I've had them three months now and because I feel things are actually happening I'm just patient and let the girls be what they are :)
 
Thanks - I had a look at your post on settling in the other day - it was great advice.

We are planning on blocking off the bottom level until they have been with us a few days and are feeling a bit more secure, then opening the bottom level so they can explore down there and go out for floortime in their corrall without being picked up too much, so that they can get used to their new home.

I have some cozies on order from Pollie so that they can do laptime and feel a bit less scared as they will be able to snuggle down in them.

I also got some of those wires to hang net curtains with, and I am going to make them some fleece curtains that can be hooked onto the putside of the cage on the bottom level to give them some space to chill in as they will be in the through lounge dining room and we will be in there a lot of the time.

I thought these could also make it cosier for them at night time.

What do you think?
 
I agree skrikopanik - I feel we should let them be as they are and let them gradually get used to us.

Although I know they will need handling for health checks and nails etc, I don't want to scare them by pushing them too quickly to lots of handling. Although I will be very pleased when laptime becomes more frequent.

I think we will get a lot of pleasure from watching them interacting with each other.
 
Not being much good at sewing, I use clothes pegs to drape a piece of fleece like a curtain in one corner of my c & c run; I leave it long enough to hang across the floor a good few inches. My guinea pigs like to get between the correx (covered with fleece) and the hanging curtain. They go to sleep under there and peep out at me.
Sounds like you've got pretty much all bases covered. Pollie's cozies are great for handling nervous piggies. Now that my girls have got used to them, I take the other hideys out of the run when I want to get them out, pop the cozy in and they come over and jump in ready to be picked up (works almost every time even if I have to wait a couple of minutes. I don't have to chase them round the run now, much less stressful for all of us!
I'm quite excited about your new piggies too. I've been following your threads on building your palace, it's very impressive. Can't wait to see it in action with genuine piggies, lol. :)
 
I am getting ridiculously excited!

I couldn't resist starting to make the corrall tonight! - I am using 2 rolls of carpet protector that are long enough to do a 4 grid long run with and overlap to give a 3 grid wide area. It will be like having another level to the cage - a patio! :))

I am wrapping some gardening wire (again from Wilkinsons) round with the sharp bits on the outside and tucked in a not so no-one will catch themselves. I have found with runs before (I made one for my friends piggies) that if I used cable ties they tended to snap after a bit of folding and unfolding.

:(|):(|):(|)

I also liked the curtains that people made out of fleece that are cut into strips so the piggies can run through them - they looked fun and gave them some shelter too that they could run to quickly.

I might do one of those for the run and do a canopy that they could hide under at the far end. it would be a bit like a tent - maybe they would be more encouraged to go out if they had a base to hide in and it wouldn't cut down on the laps they could run.
 
Hi

I also get bits and bobs for the house and the piggies from Wilkinsons.... I get this tissue roll which is great for wiping down the cleaning spray stuff, the roll is huge and lasts ages and is thick - But I wouldn't recommend the Wilkos cage cleaner stuff, I found that it is over powering and made me cough like crazy! Really caught in the back of my throat.

Bet you are soooooo excited! I too have been following your thread and am incredibly jealous of your cage! Can't wait to see some piggies running about in there!
 
Yahoo - I have finished the corrall - will get daughter number 1 to do pictures on her phone tomorrow - but I think I will take it to a 3 x 5 if I can get some more of the carpet protector from somewhere to stick at the end - the bits I have got are slightly longer than a 4 grid but not long enough for five.

I think they could do with somewhere a little longer than their normal cage so that they can get a bit of speed up!

I keep thinking - if I was a guinea pig I think I would like a bit more space!

I have put the new mobile hayrack in and it looks like a little bird cage because there is no hay in yet!

Need to go to bed now - the corral took ages to wire together and me fingers hurt now 8... . However I am very happy with the result.

I have also moved the ramp door to the end where the corrall is attached and put another door in the front so we can clean there easily with the hoover. Once the ramp door is folded down to the floor they can just shoot out into their corrall.

Now the cage and corrall takes up half the dining room lengthways!

Just the bedspreads to do now - they should be done by the end of Monday and then I will stick the pictures of the finished cage up - after that the next pictures should be of the girls! Woohoooo :(|)
 
The corrall is now 3 x 5! It looks a lot better - they have more room to run around in now.

The human girls have been in the run and love it - it is bigger than a single bed!

I have got three inco pads layered underneath it and there is a big length of fleece in there to see what it looks like.
I should get a picture up later - just waiting for daughter number 1's phone to charge.
 
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