Trouble on the Floor

Us?  Trouble?  How could you think such a thing?

Pinniped and Bertie have seemed bored lately.  It's still too cold to let them outdoors to let them stretch their legs.  I don't let them have a lot of floor time in the winter because the tile floor is cold and drafty.  Plus, I have to pig-proof everything.  They're allowed in the kitchen and the living room and occasionally the front hall.  Most of it is tiled.  They're generally pretty good about not peeing on the carpet, but accidents happen.  A few weeks ago, during a visit with the Girls Next Door, Pinni and Bertie discovered they could move the grids and get behind the couch.  Oh, joy!  It was a new place to explore, pee and poop on, and to hide from everyone.

I did not share their joy.

However, I decided last Wednesday that they were in desperate need of some floor time.  Pinni and Bertie could burn off some energy while we watched TV.  I blocked off the doorways in the kitchen, gridded off a large section of the living room and let them loose.  Release the pigs!

I suspected they would remember getting under the couch.  Guinea pigs can have amazing memories when it's something important, like favorite foods or getting into someplace where they shouldn't.  So when I let them loose on Wednesday, I kept an eye on them.  Sure enough, within 10 minutes, they were tugging on the grids.  Soon after that I could see shadows of bad pigs stretching out from under the couch.  We had to pause the movie we were watching long enough for me to shoo Pinni and Bertie out of there and re-erect the barrier.

This time, I put up a double barrier as well as a heavy wastebasket in front of the outer barrier.  Again, within 10 minutes, they had managed to shove aside the wastebasket, pulled out the one set of grids and were industriously working on the second set.  All of this space for them to run around and they just wanted to get under the couch.  <sigh>  Bothered by having to work harder to move the grids, they added insult to injury by peeing on the rug.

Pinni inspecting grids (Bertie's there for support)

Once again, we paused the movie.  I cleaned up the mess, chased them back into the kitchen and dug out the old shower curtain and fleece I use for their portable cage.  Since those two were so determined to sit next to the end table and work on the grids, the least I could do was water-proof  the area.

I put down the shower curtain, the fleece, followed by the grids, more grids, and the wastebasket.  I was counting on the curtain and the fleece to be so uneven that they wouldn't be able to shove aside the grids.  It worked!  The girls spent the next hour trying to breach that wall, to no avail.

Those pigs were impressive.  They spent the rest of their floor time running around, trying to breach, checking out the living room, briefly watching TV and talking non-stop.  Boo-boo-boo-boo-boo.  There was constant traveling noise from both Pinni and Bertie for nearly two hours.  Two hours!  Obviously they were overdue for a run if they kept moving and talking all that time.  I had expected to find Pinni pooped out and sacked in a corner after the first hour. 

Those two were still pretty wound up when we were done for the night and I put them back in the cage.  I think they were ready to go for another hour or so.  Meanwhile I was left folding up strings of grids and dealing with a kitchen corner full of poo.  Yeah, that's probably another reason why I'm not big on floor time on a week night - I just wanted to go to bed!

But for all the hassle, there were several times they were more entertaining than the movie we were watching.  They're cute, regardless of all their naughtiness.  I may need to let them loose again, soon.