My C & C Cage

[kittnkarr]

Hi All,

Thought that I would just start on thread here that would show pictures of my cages. Since new layouts and modifications are always happening I figured this would be the best in keeping track of them. In the amount of time that I have had my boys (3 months) I have redid their cage at least twice. Little Squeaky's I have done once in the month that I have had her.

Ok, onto the setup.

The boys, Stryder and Callaway, share a 2x5 with a 2z2 loft. The whole cage sits a top a 6 foot banquet table that I have add scrap wood to to extend it out to 8 feet long. This helps in keeping both the dogs and cats out. In this level they have a hidey tunnel, hay/bathroom area, and rotating furniture. Some days it is a couch others, its another hidey hut.
Seperating the loft from the main floor is a full cage length lid just in case a cat jumps on top. In the loft area they have their water bottles, hay/bathroom area, and food dispenser.

As for bedding I am using crib mattress pad as the bottom layer, then towels with fleece as the top. I have also added rope lights so that the piggies have some ambiance (sp?) at night time.



Picture taken at night



This is the ramp to their upper loft area.


Picture during the day. The only thing that has changed recently is the table and the green rope light at top.

[kittnkarr]

Little Squeaky's home is just below the boys and is a 2x3.5. She has her own hidey hut, hay/bathroom area and water bottle. I use the same bedding concept as the boys for her as well. Crib pads at the bottom, then towels, then fleece on the top. Since she is at ground level I have added a cage lid to her to keep out the other pets. I even added some rope lighting to her cage as well.

In the pictures you can see the layout of her cage.



Taken at night with the flash off.




With the flash on.

[Da_3_mad_pigs]

Looks brill! well done!

[Marlania]

Another cage with lights...I better not show my crew. They'll get jealous!

[JennG]

I love those rope lights. It just makes it so much brighter in my girls' cage and easier for me to get those stray poops. TeeHee

How come you have only one girlie? Just curious. Are you going to get her a buddy?

Other than that, I really like your set up. Is it easy to clean?

[kittnkarr]

Originally Posted by JennG

I love those rope lights. It just makes it so much brighter in my girls' cage and easier for me to get those stray poops. TeeHee

That's why I like them too.

How come you have only one girlie? Just curious. Are you going to get her a buddy?

One girlie because I recently adopted her due to her neurologic problem due to an inner ear infection. I am not sure if I will get her a buddy at this moment in time. She gets floor time with the boys every day for a few hours in the evening. Before anyone jumps to conclusions ---- She is separated from the boys at all times. So she gets social interaction then. She also gets lots of human interaction as well.

Is it easy to clean?

Yes it is. Little Squeaky's for sure, since it is only one level.
As for the boys it is really easy. The upper level isn't fully attached so I can take it down to the floor for cleaning. With that removed then I can take the lid of the main level and clean out the base section. It is easier than it looks.

[nissa]

I like the rope lights idea, a lot of people seem to have them and it's so lovely to look at, but do the pigs get to them in any way? Mine are extreme chewers!

[kittnkarr]

I have mine around the top of the cage away from where they can reach. Doesn't mean that they can't try to. You can always zip tie them to the front side of the panel if you are afraid they will chew.
If you have a lid to your cage you can always weave the rope light onto that this way it is out of the piggies grasp.

[kittnkarr]

Ok well it has only been 3 months and yet another revamp.
Since the last update Little Squeaky has a friend now named Kirie or aka Micro Squeaky since she was tiny upon arrival.

Just for ease of cleaning and social interaction between the boys and the girls we now have a piggy palace. It took my boyfriend and I about 3 hrs in total (split over 2 weekends) to build. The layout consists of three levels 2x5s.

Level 1 is a 2x5 for the boys with a ramp leading upstairs. Level 2 is the middle where it is split in half. A 2x2.5 for each pair where they can eat and meet with each other. The third level is the last 2x5 were the girls have full roam with a ramp to go to the second level.

Hope that makes sense. I am going to be taking pictures this week and will be posting them shortly.

[kittnkarr]

Ok, well as time goes on I get the urge to revamp the pigs cages. Since I am currently going to be putting my condo on the market I need to house them in something temporarly and out of the way when it comes to showings.
The pigs have now since been moved from the living room/dinning room into the computer room and have their own area along one wall.
This room has actually become the animal room since all the litter boxes food bowls and extra animal supplies are being stored in the closet.

The one herd of 3, Callaway Little Squeaky and Kirie share a 2.5x4.




Right next to them is the Bachlor pad that is shared by the 4 boys. 2.5x5 with a 1x3x2 loft.

The 2 cages are housed side by side.




Better picture of the loft

[kittnkarr]

Well I got the cage itch again and had to revamp. I did like the other setup that I had for the 2 herds but it was a pain on space. It is amazing how much room 2 6ft banquet tables take up. So it was back to the drawing board.

Thanks to Sari's inspiration picture it had me thinking about creating a stacked cage again. I tried it the first time 3 level 2x5 cage but didn't turn out the way that I wanted and scratched that out after about a month or so. Well thanks to her picture it showed me another way to achieve a stacked cage.

On the top is a 2x6 that is for Callaway, Little Squeaky, and Kirie. Below them in a 2x7 is the boys, Piper, Stryder, Max, and Twitchy. They didn't know what to do with themselves in their new homes. They are taking turns running around and doing laps. I have yet to see some popcorning but I am sure they will make time for that later.

On to the cages.

This is a picture of what it looks like without all the bedding and accessories.


The New Bachlor Pad

The Cage


Dinning Areas



The Upper Level

[Slave to the Wheek]

Looks like your doing great at and getting better and better at engineering. Your cage looks so clean and practical. I can see your idea at putting the upper level high enough so you can reach into the lower level easily. I think it's terrific.

Here's a couple of things that come to mind when I look at it. I thought I'd throw a couple of wrenches in to mix things up.

I highly recommend investing in coroplast. You have no idea how much easier it will make your life with such a large cage. Seriously. I don't know how people can handle poops flying all over the place myself. The sides on my coroplast keeps poo and hay in the cage. It also keeps them from getting feet caught between the cage and the fleece as well. In addition, it gives the boys a nice firm footing.

If you already have coroplast, but without sides, you can duct tape strips to the edges of it to make some sides. I have about a 4" side on mine and find that's enough to keep the poo in it's place. I find that good old duct tape holds up amazingy well and if you are careful it can also look nice. I've seen some cool colors of duct tape recently too.

I noticed you have two water bottles, which is good. However, you are keeping them in the same location which kind of defeats the purpose which is to keep one pig from owning the water. I recommend keeping the bottles at opposite ends of the cage just to make sure that they can get to it easily.

The upper level isn't going to last engineering wise. It's missing some key grids that are needed to shore it up. Those lower grids will start to splay out. You need to add a row of grids across that lower level or you will have the upper level falling into the lower level. A very deadly situation for the pigs below. I love the extra height you have given yourself so that you can reach into the lower level, but in doing so you have compromised the stability, so you'll want to find a solution for that. I'm thinking of possibly desiging a pedestal that is somehow attached to the upper level, that can be slide out of the way when working on the lower level.

What about bending a series of grids in half, then zip tieing them to make a box shaped tube. Then, you could simply slide it behind that center support grid you have. It would be wide enough to keep the pigs from knocking it over during any exuberance. You could even zip tie it to the upper level, and then it would be attached. Then just pushing it to the side to get the fleece under it in the lower level?

Think of how bridges work. The longer a cage, the more important it is to compensate for the length. For example:


Bridges cannot be made over a vast space without supports. Even the good old Golden Gate bridge, which is a suspension bridge and has most of the support in the suspension above it, still had to have support underneath to make the span across the bay.

If you look at your cage carefully, you can see that the lower front grid holding up the upper level is just slightly bowing and the upper level has a definite curve in the center. That is because gravity and the weight of the upper level are pushing down. I do notice you have support to the rear and that is perfect. However, I would at minimum run a couple of grids across the two sides of the lower level to join the sides of the lower level together (the area behind your center support grid) to keep the sides of the lower level from popping outwards.

Think of a cardboard box when you cut one side down too low. The side that you cut will buckle in the center if you pick it up and hold it in the air. That's what I'm thinking when I look at the center section of your upper level. I think you get it because you placed that single grid as a support beam. The problem is that there is nothing to support the grids that it's attached to.

Personally I'm thinking if you gave it a good solid (movable) support beam in the middle to support it you could remove that center grid entirely.

Since your cage is so long you'll want to be extra careful. I can see the front portion of the upper level easily collasping down as that single grid is simply not enough to support it. I've had problems with it and ended up running a beam across the sides of the lower levels. Believe me, the sound of a cage collasping in on itself is a hideous sound indeed.

[wolfie]

Both of your herds are precious- all of your GP's are so beautiful, I don't think I could even pick a favorite! Love the new cage set up!

[kittnkarr]

Slave thanks for tips. In answer to your questions.

1) I am not sure if I will go with coro or with lino at this time for the base of the cage. I'll have to see right now what you see is a temporary cage bottom.
As you can see on the upper level the fleece runs up the back of the cage to keep poops in but I did not do that on the lower level last night since I couldn't find all of my binder clips.

2) I do have a support structure currently in place under the upper deck and actually going to the hardware store to get some more items. I have a dowel rod (not think enough) running the length of the cage currently and is zip tied underneath it. That will help the bottom of that sections floor from sagging.

After all this typing I don't remember if there was a third. Though I will give it some food for thought though.

[kittnkarr]

Originally Posted by Slave to the Wheek

I noticed you have two water bottles, which is good. However, you are keeping them in the same location which kind of defeats the purpose which is to keep one pig from owning the water. I recommend keeping the bottles at opposite ends of the cage just to make sure that they can get to it easily.

I knew there was a third thing that I wanted to answer. Thanks for your info on water bottles but they are going to remain the way they are laid out. Since they have a tendency to leak at times I like to keep them over the bricks that I have and I do not want to have bricks lying in various areas and take up lap space. Also with the new cage layout I do not want to have excess weight on the cage if possible. I have never had a problem with my pigs fighting over water bottles and they are quite comfortable sharing the space.

To each his/her own on cage cage setup and accessory layout and quantity. For myself my setup works really well and my pigs are happy and have everything that they need.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

[daftscotslass]

I like it, puts mine to shame.

[fairysari]

Kittnkarr, I think it looks great. I think the dowels will help keep it sturdy, if you get some that are thick enough. You'll know if it's not strong enough. WEAVER suggested using quarter round when I asked her about how she keeps her cage sturdy (like instead of the dowels). The extra thick (6mm) coroplast also apparently helps with sturdiness.

Just for clarification, this is the picture that I showed kittnkarr, that she got the idea from: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...DSC05138-1.jpg
It's cutemomomi's cage, from GL. I saw it in her chronicle and have been slowly planning a similar set-up. It seems pretty sturdy.

[kittnkarr]

Thanks for the tip Sari and it is much appreciated.