Cage New Pigs New Cage - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

NikiE · #1 10-12-09, 05:21 pm

Hi All!! Im new here and want /need suggestions on what I can do to make my cage nicer for my pigs (well my daughters pigs).Heres my story...
My daughter has been wanting guinea pigs and I found 2 on craigslist for $40 they came with a cage, 2 water bottles, and a food dish. What a steal!! Or so I thought. They came home Sat. evening, Sunday I did research on cages, and today (Monday) they are in their new home!!

They went from a store cage to this..

So what else can I do for them?

**PiggiePaws** · #2 10-13-09, 01:02 pm

Welcome to the forum!

You're cage looks great, I'm sure your pigs are very thankful. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it seems like you only have one hidey house. Guinea pigs are prey animals and like to hide, so I would get another hidey.

Are you feeding them fresh veggies? You should check out the stickies in the Nutrition forum. I'd imagine they haven't had any veggies in their lifetime, so I would start out with some lettuce (any kind except iceburg), green bell pepper and cilantro. Those are pretty much the staples in a pig's diet. Once they start eating those then you can introduce different types of vegs.

Also, what type of pellets are you feeding?

**akstrohm** · #3 10-13-09, 01:12 pm

I can't see the picture very well, but I second the recommendation for more hideys. Towel tents (washclothes or small towels clipped with binder clips in a corner) are cheap and easy, and the pigs love them!

Congrats on adopting!

**rabbitsncavyluv** · #4 10-13-09, 01:12 pm

What type of bedding and feed is in the cage?

It's hard to tell with the small photo but it looks like you may have the unsafe grids from target.

**PiggiePaws** · #5 10-13-09, 01:14 pm

Quote:

It's hard to tell with the small photo but it looks like you may have the unsafe grids from target

I'm pretty sure she only used the unsafe ones for the top.

**angiekay** · #6 10-13-09, 01:21 pm

Awesome of you to do the research and figure out that those petstore cages are nothing but glorified litter boxes for a guinea pig! It breaks my heart everytime I see a pig on CL in one of those cages! Cage looks nice, I would get some more hidey houses too!

**Ly&Pigs** · #7 10-13-09, 02:15 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiggiePaws

I'm pretty sure she only used the unsafe ones for the top.

Please don't make assumptions. Instead, ask questions.

I don't see how anyone could tell from the photo that safe grids were used for the sides as the photo is so small and sideways.

Edit: I opened the photo in photoshop and zoomed in so I could see better. The entire cage is made from unsafe grids. They are the 5 hole grids, same as what was used for the lid.

NikiE, please look around and see if you can find the 9 hole grids that are safe. If one of your pigs should get stuck in one of those grid spaces, it could mean death. Safety is a top priority for our furry little friends.

**angiekay** · #8 10-13-09, 02:26 pm

Oh LY, you are the BEST! What would we do without you?

**Ly&Pigs** · #9 10-13-09, 02:33 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by angiekay

Oh LY, you are the BEST! What would we do without you?

I dunno. Wanna find out? Haha, just kidding.

I have an eye infection at the moment and that eye is really swollen so I couldn't see the picture very well with just the one eye and I have bad eyesight as it is. You can see the grid on the one end in the lower left, so I figured if I opened it in photoshop and zoomed in, maybe I could see it better so I did and I could. I only counted 5 grid holes on that end grid.

**Paula** · #10 10-13-09, 03:12 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

NikiE, please look around and see if you can find the 9 hole grids that are safe.

Another thing you could do, since you've already got an awesome cage constructed, is go to your local hardware store and get some hardware mesh to put over the grids, so your pigs couldn't get stuck or otherwise harm themselves.

Something like that might be less overwhelming than seemingly starting all over again.

If you aren't sure what I mean by hardware mesh - here's a good site to give you an idea.

**PiggiePaws** · #11 10-13-09, 03:47 pm

Sorry about that, Ly! Thanks for clearing it up.

NikiE · #12 10-13-09, 04:13 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

Please don't make assumptions. Instead, ask questions.

I don't see how anyone could tell from the photo that safe grids were used for the sides as the photo is so small and sideways.

Edit: I opened the photo in photoshop and zoomed in so I could see better. The entire cage is made from unsafe grids. They are the 5 hole grids, same as what was used for the lid.

NikiE, please look around and see if you can find the 9 hole grids that are safe. If one of your pigs should get stuck in one of those grid spaces, it could mean death. Safety is a top priority for our furry little friends.

Actually it is only the two on the end and the ones on the top that are 5 grid, and the ones on the end have staggered grids so they are safe.

No one asked me, but it is what I used

**rabbitsncavyluv** · #13 10-13-09, 04:40 pm

So they are all 9 hole grids except two? You counted? Because among the new unsafe ones at the 8 hole grids that look similiar.

**Ly&Pigs** · #14 10-14-09, 03:01 am

I was going by the one grid I could see on the end and it didn't look staggered to me, but when I blow the picture up, it gets pretty blurry. So I guess in the end I made an assumption myself based on the part I could see. I apologize for that.

Can you take a larger photo of the cage right side up?

"Thank you, Ly&Pigs, for this useful post," says:
angiekay (10-13-09)