Unsuitable Garden Run?

[GuineaDigs]

Hi all!

I purchased this run in preparation for future pigs I will adopt in a month or so. It doesn't look at all like the picture really- the top is super saggy and plasticky, but i'm hoping i can fix that up.

I've realised that this run might not be apparopriate when it comes to predator protection... what do you think?

If i have to get rid of it please can you advice what to sell it as? I don't want to just forward a problem to someone else.

Thanks!

Erin

 

[DMS260820]

Itl be fine with you watching it whilst they are in it. You could make a solid top for it maybe?

 

[GuineaDigs]

Itl be fine with you watching it whilst they are in it. You could make a solid top for it maybe?

I'd be around but i won't be able to watch it every minute... i'm happy to try making a proper lid though! Would chickenwire be okay for the lid? I don't think foxes would be a problem during the day but cat's aren't unusual in my area

 

[DMS260820]

I think chicken wire would be fine. Aslonf as a cat doesnt jump on top and then it fall through. Might need some cross bars to strengthen it.

Foxes are not normally about in the day luckily. Unless you live in a real quiet area out in the sticks

 

[Betsy]

I have a run like that and I use it in the house. I like it as you can have it as an octagon, a square or a rectangle depending on the space available. I have even taken it down to Piggy Grandma's when I noticed that one of my piggies had hay poke half an hour before we left home to visit for the weekend and we saw a vet near Piggy Grandma's house.

 

[Hanlou]

Chicken wire isn’t good for predator proofing - it’s pretty rubbish tbh - weld mesh is much safer. DIY places and garden centres will normally sell mesh panels which are much safer.

Honestly though - if you aren’t planning to supervise piggies in that run I’d prefer a traditional wood and mesh one as they’re much heavier and can’t be easily tipped over. I wouldn’t use a run like the one you are showing here unsupervised outdoors personally.

 

[Black piggies]

I'd be around but i won't be able to watch it every minute... i'm happy to try making a proper lid though! Would chickenwire be okay for the lid? I don't think foxes would be a problem during the day but cat's aren't unusual in my area

I wouldn't recommend chicken wire at all, it was used as a cover for our pack of guinea pigs 40 yrs ago, and an animal got in and killed them all. I was quite young and was told it was our cat who did it, but wonder now if it was a fox. Traumatic memory and has made me very over protective of current guinea pigs!

 

[Lady Kelly]

I had this run previously and used it indoors and out. Though I only used it outdoors when I had time to pull up a chair and sit outside myself. The cover is fine for what it's designed for and that is keeping off birds (magpies can be vicious) and providing shade from the sun. The cover isn't designed to be predator proof but to provide a shaded section for the piggies so they don't overheat