WARNING: Unsafe hay holder

[cavy_cool_crazy]

I'm sorry Tweak had such an experience, it must have been a huge shock to you.

I had a similar experience a few years back with a Burgess feeder system (gravity feeder and hayrack all in one), whereby my then 8 month old pig wedged herself upside down in it, with her back twisted. She'd got in the top and tried to get out by burrowing down until she couldn't move. Her screams woke me up and my dad had to cut her out with wire cutters.
I'm wary about all hay racks unless there is no way for the pig to get into them.

[Cielo]

Sorry to hear! I do have two of those racks. One is in my bird's cage. They love to lay on it (it was suppose to work as a cozy bed, but it ended up bare there). The other one I use it as my hay rack. I do not beleive it can be dangerous since my piggies are on the big side, but I am going to double check. My other racks are way to small. I guees I'll figure something out... Thanks for the information!

[sus4rabbitsnpigs]

I thnk I remember another pig that got stuck in one of those.

[Ledasmom]

I got worried enough about any hay holder made of wire that I started using small cardboard boxes as hay racks. You cable-tie the back to the grids, leave the top open for easy filling and cut one or two large openings in the front for hay access. Works pretty well, except that the day after I put them up I couldn't find Burglar anywhere in the cage. Couldn't find him, that is, until I pushed the top layer of hay in the rack aside.

[GuineaPinny]

I'm so sorry to hear of Tweak's passing. I sent a warning out to the rescue's listserve with a link to this thread so we can advise our adopters not to purchase this hay rack. Hopefully others will learn from this as well. I'm terrible sorry.

[pax]

I stopped using those feeders after one of my guys insisted on climbing into it. I wish I had written to the company then, but I will do it now in honor of Tweak.

[nonamian_girl]

Ahhh that's exactly the same hay rack I have! I like to keep it fairly low as well, and I guess that must have been how Tweak got stuck in it. Thanks for the warning! I hope your piggy makes a full recovery.

[PixieStix]

Yikes, I have one of those. Which are safer racks you everyone uses? I've been wanting a new one as the girls have started throwing this off the bars, and am worried about it being on the floor of the cage and one getting stuck or a leg caught. I can't do the paper bag thing, they eat massive amounts of paper if given the chance. For now I will just feed loose hay, I just took the rack out, but that's obviously messy and the pigs don't like it once it's been stepped on too much. Sorry about Tweak, but thank you for letting everyone know.

[Katdralion]

I have plastic hay racks that fit on the outside of the cage so there is no way for the pigs to get stuck in them. They are made by ferplast and came with my cage but I am sure they would sell them separately. I can't find a phone no. or address for them but I got them from zooplus.co.uk if that's any help.

[Topaz]

Katdralion, that's the type I just put up yesterday after taking the other down. I think it came with my old "large" pet store cage I bought years ago.

Now I'm just a bit paranoid that they could get their heads caught in the c & c cage grids if they were trying hard enough to get hay from the rack. They're very small grid squares so I don't think they could. It's just amazing to me though what I've heard of pigs getting in to.

[Snidget]

Thinking back on it, I can't believe I didn't take my usual "ferret/hamster" thinking route.

I grew up with hamsters and we learned QUICKLY that if they could squeeze their nose into it, chances were they could get their heads stuck.

Same with the ferrets.

Again with this, I'm sure it was just a really weird freak accident (and, I'll be honest, we'd been using that hay rack since we got Tweak and had never had any trouble with it prior), and my guess is that larger pigs wouldn't be affected, but there are safer alternatives, especially for baby pigs or smaller adults.

Hopefully, this post will help keep any other piggies from being injured or dying the way Tweak did.

[PixieStix]

Any other safe hayracks? I've seen the ones that attatch on the outside, but I'll have to go buy a new rack of some sort soon. I don't have any leftover grids so no grid hayracks.