Piggy/bun Palace

Piggy/Bun Palace

We decided to have an extra room built so that we'd naturally have more space to accomodate larger cages as well as extra room for us humans. Although our large hall is great for hours of free range time, we are unable to have the larger cages we'd like because there are 3 door entrance's in the way, plus the stairs. Both the piggies and our two bunnies will be living in the new room.

May 2005: Update I'm sorry its been a while since I've updated this page. We have recently made quite a lot more improvements and money allowing, we will hopefully finish it this year.

So far the main shell has been finished, all doors and windows are in place. External pipes have been re-located, it now has electricity and we have recently finished the new wooden floor. We still need to plaster the walls at some stage but I've put some pictures up on the walls to make the palace look more homely. We have also added a few home comforts like a settee, a few plants on the windowsills, ornaments, a tv and a dvd player so the piggies and buns can watch their favourite movie, Dr Dolittle :)

July 2005: Update I'm pleased to say from July 2005, both the piggies and the buns are now living in the palace.

Please click on the pictures for a larger view.

	Here are the very early stages of the palace being built, the picture gives you an idea on the length and width.
	Here is the basic shell of the building. As you can see all the building work has made a mess of the lawn. We'll be having concrete or paving stones outside the building. I did want a water fountain outside the palace, but hubby thought that was going a bit far lol.
	After re-locating all the external pipes, we made a start on the flooring. Here's part of the new floor in its early stages.
	A photo of the first half of the floor, that has been completed.
	Second half is now finished. This photo isn't showing the full length of the new floor, but it gives you an idea of the size. After many weeks of hard work, including my husband doing a full time job, the new wooden floor is finished. Isn't it marvellous!
	My piggies couldn't wait to charge around in the new room, here they are having a great time. There is still quite a lot of work to do before we can put any cages in, but at least the piggies can have free range time in the new room as well as in our hall. Once the flooring has been treated, then the buns can also spend time in there. As you can imagine, 2 large bunnies can wee rivers, so the wood needs to be treated and made waterproof, before they can go in, incase of accidents.
	Well we decided to let the buns try out the palace, even though the floor isn't yet treated. Both Fiver and Thumper love the palace and have been exceedingly good, making sure they wee on the newspaper. Here's Fiver relaxing with the palace's official mascot, Noddy.
	Here's Thumper after a few laps of hopping around the palace. As you can see, Thumper is very relaxed and isn't bothered about showing off his....umm ample tummy! Both buns are enjoying the extra room at free range time. Hopefully as well as having less pellets in Thumper's diet, the extra space will help Thumps with his little weight problem. We are now looking for materials for the guinea pig cages.
	Both cages for my guinea pigs have now been finished and the piggies moved in during July 2005. Both bunnies have also moved in. Here is a picture of Thumper inspecting the guinea pig cages building work while Jake, Jasmine (who are in the igloo's) and Sweetpea are having a little trial run in the cube grids while waiting for the correx to arrive. As you can see, Thumper looks slimmer now he's been cutting back on his pellets. I think the extra space at free range time has also helped with his weightloss.
	Fiver also decided to check out the building work. Both buns really do love the extra room to charge around. They have both chosen their toilet area in the palace while they are free range and will go straight to the area when needed which is great.
	Here's Peachy, Clover and Squeekie enjoying some Timothy hay while spending a little time in the cube grids. To see the finished cages, visit my Housing page
	During colder months we use an electric oil filled heater. As the piggy/bun palace is quite large, if the weather becomes too cold during the winter then everyone moves into the hall, using the smaller cages but everyone has lots of free range time. Anything that has wires, remember to keep them well out of reach when your guinea pigs or buns are free ranging.