Plywood for guinea pig hide? Opinions? Also what type of food bowl is easy not to tip over? Anything you can make at home?

Sarah Jane

Sarah Jane

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My beautiful boar boy Flynn loves to knock his hide over every chance he gets. I mean every chance. If I correct it, 3 mins tops until he knocks it over again. This would be fine; except my little lady Piglet enjoys her hides so ultimately, it's not working in her favour.
I looked on the internet for wooden housing as I know that wood would be harder to tip over (current material is a type of plastic), but it's a minimum of $60 plus P+H. It could work out to be well over $100 and I just do not have that kind of money at the moment. I am looking to make a wooden hide from home! I have just gotten back from the local hardware store in Australia and managed to get everything I need, but the only wood I could afford is plywood. I know plywood is potentially toxic due to the glue and possible chemicals it uses to glue the wood together, but I'm wondering how many others have had problems with this? They don't really chew on their housing much, they nibble on it here or there but I have not seen much damage at all, if any. Could I please get opinions?

If it truly is a really bad idea, I will just use the plywood as practice until I can save up for proper wood, but it is cheaper and comes in much larger sheets, ultimately making it an easier experience; buuut, it's not about me, it's about the health and happiness of my piggies :)
 
I'm not sure about the plywood, but a ceramic bowl or what they call a "stay bowl" are good options and very hard to tip over 🙂
 
In terms of the food bowl, have you tried not using bowls at all and instead scatter feeding veg and pellets in piles of hay? It provides them enrichment as they have to search for their food.
 
Claire W said:
Could you use nails instead of glue? I expect the wood itself will be fine seen as cheap hutches are made from ply, just not the glue
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I will be using nails and no glue! There is just apparently glue in the actual wood because it is supposedly wood chips glued together.
 
Piggies&buns said:
In terms of the food bowl, have you tried not using bowls at all and instead scatter feeding veg and pellets in piles of hay? It provides them enrichment as they have to search for their food.
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I do scatter feed their veges but due to my boar being very messy and pooping and peeing wherever he likes, it's not long before any food material on the floor of the enclosure has been soiled.
 
We have a wooden house, I brought, that’s made of plywood. It’s had a couple of experimental chews, but the boys haven’t tried again. It’s screwed together, no glue. Also all the edges and corners have been well sanded, to prevent sharp bits.
Good luck with your build.
Just tried to get a photo of Hamish in residence…. But no he came to sniff my phone, so apologies one pig bum in the photo too!

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Pooping and peeing everywhere is normal I'm afraid. Even if you put the food in a bowl, he will very likely poo and pee while he's eating. Do they leave any veg uneaten? If that's the case, perhaps give them some time then just remove it? Pee and poo in hay is very normal and expected.
 
AidaB said:
We have a wooden house, I brought, that’s made of plywood. It’s had a couple of experimental chews, but the boys haven’t tried again. It’s screwed together, no glue. Also all the edges and corners have been well sanded, to prevent sharp bits.
Good luck with your build.
Just tried to get a photo of Hamish in residence…. But no he came to sniff my phone, so apologies one pig bum in the photo too!

View attachment 194432
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Thank you! I don’t mind experimental chews, just don’t want any literal ingestion. I’m hoping they’ll go for the natural wood bridge when wanting to gnaw on something! I shall be using only nails and will be sanding! Thank you for the luck wishes. Your photo is adorable!
 
Siikibam said:
Pooping and peeing everywhere is normal I'm afraid. Even if you put the food in a bowl, he will very likely poo and pee while he's eating. Do they leave any veg uneaten? If that's the case, perhaps give them some time then just remove it? Pee and poo in hay is very normal and expected.
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Normally my girl naturally likes to go in only one corner, whereas my boy just goes where he pleases 😂
They definitely don’t leave any veg uneaten, I’m very lucky that they are both such voracious little eaters, makes some tasks easier when they are both food driven! I will probably stick with a food bowl for the pellets and chuff I give them (I don’t know if that’s the correct term, but they have a guinea pig mix of different short hay but also get regular hay as well), but I will be thinking about spreading out the veg more as I love the idea of them foraging more naturally :) thank you.
 
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