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Where to put stuff...

CV26

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The boy's Ferplast 160 turned up a couple of weeks ago and I've been experimenting with layouts.

Option 1
They liked the race track route offered by the 120cm portion. But when it came to the hay tray end they typically sat outside the boxes, puling the bits out they wanted.
IMG_20200829_105704850.jpg

Option 2
There is still a decent circuit but it's not as obvious as the other layout. They haven't seemed to mind much though and they had a good zoom and popcorn session. They've also actually been sitting in the hay trays more and it's only been a few hours. IMG_20200905_102540986.jpg
They've got 2 of anything apart from the stripey tube. And they get daily floor time.

Option 2 seems to be better at the moment.

Any tips from a boar cage set up point of view? Or just general thoughts on other ideas? The wooden hides seem quite chunky but they're loving chewing on them.
 
I have the log hidies facing each other with a gap in between. The boys can then run through them and can see each other when they retire to their own hidey 😁
 
They had option 1 for a week and option 2 is new today.

The size of the wooden hides, and the lip of the 40cm portion of the cage, would make it tricky for them to face each other and keep the circuit I think. But I might have a little play on the next clean out and see if that might work. They aren't totally against the hides in this position although it's a bit less private for them...might see about making a hat for the hidey with a dangly fleece curtain. Who wants to bet they'll just pull it off though?
:doh:
 
Like the idea of a hay pile although the neat freak in me shudders lol. Quite possibly an option for when they're a bit bigger as although these trays are marketed for rabbits, they look like they'll be too cosy for a fully grown piggy!
 
Oh the hidey hat is cute! And such a good idea. I think it may have been me that suggested the race track (my boys love a good race track). Glad your boys are enjoying their new setups, and swapping it over every once in a while is always a good way to get them excited (plus it’s a fab excuse to buy them more stuff in the interests of ‘changing things up’ 😅)

I’m not sure sure how tall your cage is, but when my boys were in theirs, I used a plastic footstool as a hide, as it was good as a race track point and a den, plus it would really work with your hidey hats. Not that you SHOULD buy one of course, but I just thought I would share the idea ☺️

Your boys are very lucky!
 
The hidey hats have gone down well. After their initial run around this morning they both settled down for some chill out time behind their new curtains. I have some nicer fleece so might have to make some prettier curtains now :doh:

We were pondering making a second tier as they've both shown an interest in 'up' and by that I mean, what might be on top of the hidey, whether they could get over the edge of their play pen etc. Thought they might find a second layer interesting so it's on my husband's wood working list. The design would support the race track idea of course!

Love the foot stool idea. The wooden hides are great for chewing but a little limited in access/orientation. My husband could also make a footstool idea that fit the cage size too so will bat my eyelashes!

Claire W - that appeals more to my neat freak side as the hay chaos is more contained! They've been using the trays loads today so might get my moneys worth out of them for now and migrate to more of a pile when they're a bit bigger.

Those who have hay piles, do you put anything different underneath them or just fleece and the absorbent under layer? I have some bobbly bat mats and they're way better for hay removal but are there any other tried and tested choices?

Thanks for all the ideas :D
 
Have you seen the corner hay trays? We have the medium corner rabbit litter box from Pets at home, that may work better if you didn’t want to pile it up and you could have one at each end, they would take up less space! I do prefer option two as it is 😃 here is pepper modelling ours! 31D0B954-9E7B-45F1-9D54-B518C4D28081.jpeg
 
my boys love having there cage switched around so maybe alternate between the two options when you do their weekly clean
 
My boys love ‘up’ too 😂 they sleep on top of their houses and platforms every night.
 
Love the fleece covers for your hideys! Very cute. With regards to the hay pile I try to put the main piles of hay on top of a bobbly bath mat but it always gets moved everywhere once they’ve been lying and burrowing in it all day. I don’t bother with an absorbent layer as the fleece is under the bath mat so there is enough of an absorbent layer. I do find the bath mats need changing more often as they’re obviously peeing and pooping when lying in the hay so I change them every couple of days as opposed to the fleece which I change every 4 days. Your pigs will be very happy it sounds like they’re very spoilt!
 

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We have the plaza 160 too and put a large cat litter tray in the 40cm end with either wood shavings or wooden cat litter then pile in hay. The largest cat litter try very nearly fills the space but keeps it easy to remove and clean. I did try just using the 40cm section as a big hay tray but it was such a faff to clean I quickly went back to using the tray.
I find my boys tip over the corner hay trays and also tend to squabble as both inevitably want to sit in it 🙈
 
Tried to get photo Showing hay tray. We have now attached another 100cm ferplast cage to the plaza so they have loads of space 🙈 Before this we often had the two tunnels length ways in cage so they couldn’t trap each other and could zoom around in circles if the mood took them (it rarely did as they’re lazy boys 😂)
 

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