Pigloos

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tommies Mam

Tommies Mam

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
2,034
Reaction score
3
Points
0
Location
Tyne and Wear
Just wondering what people thought of pigloos and whether they thought they were beneficial?

My last guinea had one and spent most her time in there, terrified. It was only when I removed that she came out of her shell and was a much more settled piggy. I didn't use one when I got Tommy and he has quickly settled. My new Nero 3 had one and so I left it in the cage, subsequently Tommy has been fairly happy to come out but, Sparky has just hid-I have barely seen him.

I read in one of Peter Gurneys books that he doesn't agree with the use of them. So tonight feeling very cruel I removed it. Sparky was initially very unsettled. Tommie didn't care a hoot, however Sparky quickly settled a little. So that he doesn't feel completly exposed I have attached a couple of old towels to the end of his cage so that he a shaded area 8) to rest in and when I last looked he was much more settled. I am spending lots of time at there cage stroking him and talking to him and offering him treats.

It would be interesting to hear peoples opinions on this :-\, their cage is on a stand.
 
I have pigloos in all my hutches, they give my piggies somewhere to snuggle as my hutches don't have separate bedroom compartments.
Some of my piggies will run & hide in them, others don't bother & the ones that do hide usually come out to see what i'm giving them ;D ;D
 
I think generally pigs need a place to hide.

1 of my boars never hides, he's really tame and unfazed by anything ;D But he still has 1 fiddle sticks hidey place.

I do prefer chubes to pigloos generally, but I do have a couple. I did have to remove Treacle's because after having it for 1 day she'd been nibbling at it! ::)
 
Thankd for your advice, Sparky seemes so much more settled this morning and he's happier at been picked up, He's happily sittling in the area which I have covered with towels at the minute (on second thoughts, probualy not, they've just been fed breakfast!)

Wanda
 
I think they are good I use them when they are in their runs, altho ronald and donald spend a lot of time in theirs ::) ::) I think it is good to vary what you use for them to hide in, dont always have it in there maybe try boxes and tubes as they can chew them and throw them around and some times just leave it out until night time when they want some where to hide and sleep :)
 
Ollie has a little wooden house that he loves to hide in but he will spend all day and night in there so what I tend to do is when we are around we take the house out so we see him more. He has during the day when I'm at work and when i go to bed.
 
I have two piggies in a 4ft long indoor cage and I have one pigloo at each end - they generally sit in one together during the day and at night time they each go into their own one. I like to give them somewhere to hide, I think they feel more secure. During the time I am in the room with them if they are not out of their cage they will come out and lay on the hay in the open cage - I think they must like to watch me! ;D
 
I think it is cruel not to let your guineas have a place to hide and feel safe, if you dont want a pigloo, you really should have something that serves the same purpose :)
 
Hi,

My piggys all have at least 2 each in their cages as they love to sleep and hide away and feel most comfortable in there than not having anything ~ They are wuite cheap too O0
 
Thanks for your advice. Tommie doesn't seem in anyway perturbed by the loss of his pigloo and strangely Sparky seems a much calmer piggie. I have fastened two towels one over the other to the end if the cage so that they both have a covered shaded area to sit in and they both seem happy with that haven't spent most of the day sat there.
 
I use the paper bags and the grassy hutches (they dont have a bottom) from pamperedpiggies. I fill the paperbags with hay and my piggies love them. Only got one left, they can eat them as they are safe.
 
I use tunnels and things that I can lift up easily in the day and then I put the attached nero compartment in at night...I've caught Thomas on top of it even though she always bolts off and sits in the middle innocently when I come ::)
 
Its so strange since I removed the pigloos, Sparky is a different pig. He's so much calmer and happier :). He used to simply run off when handled now he's completely calm and snuggles up to you-he peed all over my friend tonight ::) He was loopy when he had his pigloo 98) now he seems so much calmer. If I thought he was in any way distressed I would put it back.
 
I doubt Sparky has ever seen a pigloo.The cage he was in before he came to me didnt have anything in other than a pile of hay and while he was at mine he was in a hutch
 
munchie and bob love their pigloos!

i know they would give me no end of grief and squeaks if i ever thought to take them away ;D
 
We have Playstix (I think same as fiddlestix?) for all our runs and the boys all love them. But when we got our first piggies who are now sadly no longer with us, the rescue suggested no hidey places for a week or so, just a dark towel over the end of the cage so they had to 'bold up' as it were. It worked - these boys could have quite happily munched through their food with a truck going through the room they had to - they were almost unflappable! they just didn't care, rarely flinched if you made sudden movements or walked past. When we got all our other three boys we started them with the Playstix, and none of them are as casual as our two original boys and more jumpy.
 
Boureki thats what I have done with my cage, I have fixed a towel over one end, the end facing the front door so they are not suddenly spooked by a human coming blundering through the door and they both happily sit in that area.

Thank Sokel for your input, I wonder if thats why he's calmed down now?, it's so odd he's like a different piggy so much calmer anyone would think I had given him vallium or something. My friend came in tonight and picked him up for a cuddle and he settled straight down with him, last night he scarped. He said it was like handling a different guinea pig. If I felt he was in anyway distressed by the lack of pigloo it would go straight back in his cage but they both seem happier without it. There was definately a late night chat going on last night between my two boys at 2am ::)! I couldn't help but laugh, its wonderful to hear and see them so happy together.

Sokel, just to let you know I have posted some photos of him with Tommy on the photo gallery
 
Well in my experience when I brought my piggies home from the petshop I put this wooden house in for them to hide, its the type with a small hole for a door and another small hole for a window..... and hide they did. In fact everytime I came near they would dash in, and wont really come out. I read some articles on the internet that its better to give them a 3 sided hiding place so that you can both see each other properly and they will loose the tendency to dash and hide everytime they see a human.

So I turned the wooden house on its side. It was like a 180 degree change in their attitudes, suddenly they were less nervous and stoped dashing around madly when I approached. I guess to tame nervous pigs its better to give them a partial hideout, but not to completely remove it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top