The Habitat

It’s important to us to give our pigs as much space as possible. We could hardly believe what we saw being sold when we first started researching habitats and knew immediately that no pet store option would work. We’re always trying to make the habitat better and more modern, so this will be an ever-changing list as the habitat evolves. The only space we had was in front of our fireplace which we never use anyway, so we did some extra work to make it look better there. At some point soon we’ll try to convince our talent (Tangent) to pose for a picture in the habitat.

Keep scrolling to see all the details about what’s in our habitat. These are the products we use and bought with our own money or made ourselves — no affiliate links, no perks, no agenda.

What makes up our habitat?

  • Critter Colony Tiles

    We love the look of Critter Colony’s tiles, so we bought a starter kit and extra tiles to assemble a 2×8 space. We place them upside down to make the logos less prominent. Have to add that Critter Colony’s customer support is fantastic.

  • Uplift Mayes Coffee Tables

    Two Uplift coffee tables side by side - one of them 72×30, the other 42×30… together they fit a c&c 2×8 perfectly with exactly enough space for edging.

  • XL Metal Bins

    These extra large bins fit perfectly under the table. We have three - one is used for GuineaDad Hay Bar storage (6 of them fit perfectly), one is used for extra bedding and mats, and the last one is used for playpen parts.

  • Redwood Trim Boards

    We use these trim boards both because they look nice and because they keep the habitat walls in place. Lowe’s cut the pieces to the right size for us. We bracketed them directly to the tabletop.

  • Adjustable legs

    The 72×30 coffee table needed additional support in the middle. We found these at Amazon, but at some point we will buy another matching leg from Uplift.

  • Waterproof Liner

    We will be making our own soon, but until then we use these Critter Box liners which we cannot wholeheartedly recommend due to shrinkage and absorbency issues.

  • Handmade Waterproof Mats

    These mats are still evolving as we perfect the materials and how we want to sew them. A variety of shapes goes down in various arrangements to keep things interesting. You can learn more about the layers we use here.

  • Kitchen Trays

    We have four of these trays we bought from Amazon. We line them with homemade pee pads, top them with hay, and they make workable kitchen/litter trays. They also hold up very well to daily disinfection.

  • Hay Clips

    We 3D printed these to fit exactly over the habitat panel to hold the GuineaDad Hay Bars up. It makes the hay easier to remove than if we tied the strings GuineaDad provides.

  • Awnings

    We quickly learned that the pigs like to pee under a cover and wherever hay is. If both a covering and hay are present, that’s as potty trained as a pig can get. For now this is just a yard of fabric clipped on, but we have plans to create something better.

  • Slatted Acoustic Panels

    We decided to cover our fireplace, and create a backing for the habitat, using these acoustic panels. Added bonus is that it reduces the echo of all the wheeking.

  • Lixit Water Bottle Holders

    Coming soon - we designed and 3D printed custom water bottle holders to work with our habitat panels and the 12 ounce Lixit flat sided bottles. Tangent has to drink out of a bowl while his mouth heals, but as soon as he is back to the bottle, we’ll have a photo here.