a.) I'm cheap and was using scrap wood from my parents' garden (my Dad is the original scrap collector/hoarder, he's where I learnt my junk gathering skills from). So I couldn't find planks that were long enough for the ramp to reach right down to the ground without it being too steep.
b.) I didn't want all the floor space to be taken up by this massive ramp.
I was hopeful that the girls would just hop up and all their previous ramp walking knowledge would kick in, but it was a bit harder than that. Initially, the green rubber mats were not there, I merely sanded the wood surface so the piggies wouldn't get splinters. Alas, when I grabbed Poe and put her on the ramp, she managed to scramble up, but then looked down in horror from the top when she wanted to get down (she made small scared noises, I felt like a guinea pig torturer...). Tiramisu, more agile and prone to climbing things, made a mad dash up, but then my heart almost stopped as I watched her practically slide down the ramp on her way out. Aaaah! I had a mini panic, removed the ramp, and the upper storey cage became out of bounds.
A couple days passed, I found this awesome rubber mat material at my local hardware store. It came in all sorts of colours, including bright green! I secured it to the ramp with velcro, to make it easy to remove and clean. The ramp is now grippable for little piggy feet! Hooray! No one is going to slide off the end and break their legs by landing funny! (says my over active paranoia)
The ramp's been up for about 10 days, but I've only seen Sylbie use it once. I think the hop up is still too new for Poe and her, and it's also scary for them when they have to jump down. Plus I have an inkling the ramp is a bit steep... Tiramisu uses it fine (she's a little trooper), the cage has now become her private attic :)
I have a rough idea to add onto the existing ramp to make it more user friendly for the other two, once I have recovered from all the DIYing...
To see what their cage looked like before, go here
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