Making a hidey house?

[sunflowersing]

I was thinking I could make my own for less money and be able to do cool creative designs to my choosing.

I was wondering about how to put it together. It would seem to me that nails area bad idea, but I have seen people make their own hidey homes with nails before. I would also think that I could see if they were chewing around the nail and it was coming out.

What do you think? Are nails safe to use, or should I go with wood glue? Also, any fun design ideas?

[pigjes]

I have had pigs who were capable of getting to all screws, nails and staples, no matter how they were nicely embed into the wood. I canceled those houses forever. Using kiddy safe glue, using wooden stumps which go into holes of each panel of the wood, leave it to dry for 14 days, clamped tight on a workbench, that's the way to go. This does imply that you need ticker dried pine wood, of course. I had several houses made that way. Feel inspired here with ideas:
http://users.telenet.be/cavycomic/themes.pdf

[pigjes]

Very strange, my post keeps coming up empty! If I copy past the answer, I can't see it!

[pigjes]

Let's see if this one works:
I have had pigs who were capable of getting to all screws, nails and staples, no matter how they were nicely embed into the wood. I canceled those houses forever. Using kiddy safe glue, using wooden stumps which go into holes of each panel of the wood, leave it to dry for 14 days, clamped tight on a workbench, that's the way to go. This does imply that you need ticker dried pine wood, of course. I had several houses made that way.

Edit: Apparently, when I remove the link to my page I added to show examples, I can post. With the link, it turns up empty. Can someone look into it please?

[PooksiedAnimals]

I had used headless nails to assemble a hidey house, and countersunk the nails, so there was nothing to chew on.

[WEAVER]

A long time ago, my husband made this one for our piggies and they loved it.



He made the cover come off, but put the small pieces of wood so it stayed in place and the pigs would not injure themselves.


Each hole had it's own house so the pigs could rest in peace without much fighting or getting stepped on.


Here is a picture of my little "hens" enjoying their new setup.

[sunflowersing]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll look into headless nails and go ahead and buy some wood glue.

Weaver: That is an awesome hidey! I love it! Miniature condos for piggies. Love how it fits right into the corner too. Looks like you didn't use nails. Just wood glue for yours?

[WEAVER]

My husband used the small nails without the heads on them. You can see them on the front corner of the house on the far left.

[sunflowersing]

Just barely visible. Summer project!!!! Sounds like headless nails are the way to go if using metal.

The other thing I want to do is make a see-saw large enough for them. I'm going to use if for training and agility.

[WEAVER]

Do be careful making things like see-saws. Guinea pigs are not the most agile animals and even a small fall can do a lot of damage because their legs are so short and backs are so long.

[skinnypigs1]

That wood house is so neat!

[Lynx]

The small nails she is talking about are "finish nails". They come in different lengths. You can also use a nail set which (when placed on the head of the nail and hammered a bit), sets the nail below the surface of the wood. I wonder if one could make a cool house like that out of some sort of hard plastic?