Grids caution with cubes from target... - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

**MsGizziBingly** · #1 12-22-06, 11:49 pm

The ones I have are 14.5 ... and that .5 makes a HUGE difference... TRUST me. So if you use them, make sure your little ones are big enough.

<3

**this_lil_piggy** · #2 12-23-06, 12:40 am

HEHE I have run into this problem as well. I tore down my 2 level 2X4, with the intentions of combining new grids with old ones to make a 2 level 2x5...... and lo and behold half way through construction I realize DOH! My grids don't match up!
I wound up having to stop my plans, and finish my cage off as a 4 level 2x3 for now. I am waiting until after the holidays when I can just purchase all new girds and build the cage I want.
I feel your pain!

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...upid-idea.html

**MsGizziBingly** · #3 12-23-06, 01:44 am

oh my. Well I hope that you get yours all worked out. you'd think companys would just stick to one size, it would make it easier on us

**Slave to the Wheek** · #4 12-23-06, 02:27 am

Actually, this might be a good time to remind folks that the site owner built a lovely page on building cages. She addresses this in the page building sections on the home page here at GPC. I was a member of the old forum for a couple of days before someone got irritated with my ignorance, and asked me if I'd even read the home page. I was like, "Home page- huh?"

How embarrassing! I was so excited when I hit the "home" button and saw all those beeeauuutiful well thought out pages that T. built! Everything you ever want to know right here at this site. Who knew?

What's horrible, is that I read her pages like a good little student, and STILL undercut my coroplast, and I not only forgot about the 14.5 inches (I kept thinking 12 inches square) I failed to take into account the extra half inch or so that each connector adds to the width/length too.. DOH!

**applelady** · #5 01-30-07, 12:01 am

You know I bet that's why my 3x2 is measuring at 8.3 sqft instead of 7.5 For some reason I was thinking it was the Kmart cubes that were larger! And we have the Target ones! So far Whiskey has had no problem! I hope our new pig doesn't either, he's only 8 weeks old!

**MsGizziBingly** · #6 01-30-07, 04:46 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by applelady

You know I bet that's why my 3x2 is measuring at 8.3 sqft instead of 7.5 For some reason I was thinking it was the Kmart cubes that were larger! And we have the Target ones! So far Whiskey has had no problem! I hope our new pig doesn't either, he's only 8 weeks old!

Hopefully not. Patch was REALLY trying to push through I think. She was REALLY young though probably not even 6 whole weeks old yet.

**scrable** · #7 01-31-07, 11:42 pm

I'm very new to pigs and this site. I'll skip the details (I'm partially a victim of an uneducated pet store clerk though I take some responsibility), but my situation is now I have two baby pigs in a 20 x 40 store bought cage. After getting some very good advice on this site, I know I need to plan and build a new safe cage. I was anxious to get our babies some serious floor time since they are so restricted and saw everyone talking about the grids from Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond. I'm generally not dense, however for some reason it never occured to me they would get their head stuck in one of the squares! I bought the cube set from BB&B, put it together to form a large rectangle and one of my little ones got her head stuck within 10 minutes last night! She was stuck pretty good, but with some gentle manuevering of both her and the piece of cage, I was able to extract her without injury. I felt horrible, and extremely stupid. If what the pet store had told me is correct (which is doubtful) they are currently about 15-16 weeks old.

I am fortunate I have a carpeted sink area that is 5 x 6 that opens to my bedroom. I closed the door to the shower/toilet area, put an ironing board sideways across the 3' opening and tried that this evening. I had seen one of our pigs, Daisy, do that crazy jump which I have been informed is popcorning a few times, but after 30 minutes of having all that space she was popcorning all over the place (absolutely hysterical) and our very shy pig Petunia ventured out and nosed around as well for the vegies we scattered around. They were able to spend the entire evening (supervised) in their makeshift play pen. I'm going to do this every night until I get a new cage.

I'm posting this in the hopes that any new folks out there see this and make darn sure their pigs won't get stuck like mine did. I may have misunderstood and bought the wrong product, but I'm very leary of these things now!

**Slave to the Wheek** · #8 02-01-07, 12:12 am

Are they the same ones posted on our "Home" http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm http://www.guineapigcages.com/index.htm button on this site? Take a look at our homepage, and on the photo galleries links at the top of the forum to determine.

As discussed on the home page, and your own experience shows, babies, and young guinea pigs can get through regular grids. That is addressed in the section on safety and in the photo gallery http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos/index.php under the section titled: "Safety". The simplest solution is to cut the coroplast, as recommended on the "how-to" page and put the recommended 6" sides on it. Then, while the babies are still young, you can cut strips of coroplast that is 10" or so high, and slide those strips behind the coroplast edges until the pigs are old enough.

You don't want to make edges too high permanently though, or they won't have decent air circulation. Plus you can't see them. You will find that pigs who weigh more than about 1.5 lbs or so can't get stuck because they have heads large enough. That is about 3-4 months or so I think.

My baby pig never bothered with the grids, because I accidentally cut my coroplast a bit too short, as a result, the sides bend outwards so when they were little, they couldn't get up against the grids without stretching way up, and way out.

**scrable** · #9 02-01-07, 10:44 pm

These are 14.5 squares, not 14. It's okay, I'll build some cubes and stick them in a closet somewhere and buy the correct materials for a new house! I'm going to try and figure out how old these girls are, they had said 2-3 months at the store (I know now why pig people are anti pet store), and I've had three weeks or so and I don't think they are anywhere near 1.5 lbs. At what age do pet stores sell them?

**MsGizziBingly** · #10 02-01-07, 11:24 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrable

These are 14.5 squares, not 14. It's okay, I'll build some cubes and stick them in a closet somewhere and buy the correct materials for a new house! I'm going to try and figure out how old these girls are, they had said 2-3 months at the store (I know now why pig people are anti pet store), and I've had three weeks or so and I don't think they are anywhere near 1.5 lbs. At what age do pet stores sell them?

When I got mine, I took them to the vet 3 weeks after I got gizzi and 2 weeks after I had patch [I wanted to wait until I had both before I took them, plus I had to make sure I had the money in the bank] And my vet told me that they were only 6-8 weeks old... so that means the store sold [I know I know.. I didn't know this site existed yet, my next two are going to be rescues] them to me at only 3-4 weeks old...

**Ly&Pigs** · #11 02-02-07, 07:40 pm

I have grids from Target and they are 14" square.

**jdomans** · #12 02-15-07, 10:50 am

No matter what grids you use, for babies always cut the coro to give yourself 8" or more on the sides. As the pigs grow you can easily trim it down with a box cutter.
I have 2 skinny pigs and they are a bit more than half the size of my furries. They have never gotten their heads caught in the grids but I have never seen them try! Hee Hee

**ljm0104** · #13 02-17-07, 09:02 am

I have 14" grids from Target and my piggie was really small when I got him. He was severaly underweight. Target grids worked for me.

**new2piggies** · #14 04-29-07, 11:06 am

We have the 14.5 cubes from Target also. The grids measure 1 1/2 inches, indicated as "safe" on the website. With the 6 inch Coroplast sides, we have not had any escape attempts or scares.
We have an upper deck, and used a grid for extra support underneath. The food bowl was on one side of this support grid. We caught Papaya sticking her head through to the food bowl, so she didn't need to come closer to us to eat! We immediately moved the bowl, and she has not tried this again (thank goodness!).
We also used extra grids to build a collapsable playpen. Papaya was able to fit her whole body through the grid and escaped to under the TV. She came out safely on her own, while I nervously watched with a flashlight. We began to wonder if our new piggies were younger than we thought...

**Sandy_Acres** · #15 07-20-07, 01:45 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

I have grids from Target and they are 14" square.

I do, too. It actually says 14.5 inches on the box but I think they are counting the connectors or something. I took the panels out and measured them and they are exactly 14 inches on each side.

I thought they were a super deal. I got 23 panels (6cubes set) for only $15.

**CavyFanatic13** · #16 08-04-07, 05:17 pm

I have cubes from target. They are 14". Mine were on sale when I got them, so I bought three boxes of cubes.

**ortal** · #17 08-27-07, 08:02 pm

My little one went through a target cube today

**envisionary333** · #18 08-31-07, 04:58 am

For those of you who made mistakes, don't feel too bad. I originally ordered a cage kit from this site, then I realized I needed more grids. I looked at a local store (can't remember which, but I think it was Target) and the box said "14.5 inches." I thought, oh no! Those won't match up with the 14" ones I ordered online. So I paid to have a ton more of those heavy grids shipped to me. Except this time they happened to be shipped in the box they came from, and it was the exact same kind- "Organize It"- that my local store sold! It's just that one measured the grids themselves, and one included the space between the grids that affects the overall measurements. That really sucked, I felt like such an idiot and I wasted so much money on shipping!!!

**Jenni_Feathers** · #19 08-31-07, 11:54 pm

My target cubes are 14" even but after you add the connectors space its like 14.5" or so.

**piggymama** · #20 09-02-07, 06:34 pm

Just to help clarify, I just built my cage two days ago. The grids are from Target, and the box says 14.5" but after measuring a grid myself it is 14". They are including the spacers. I used all the measurements on the site, and it fits closer around my coroplast box using cable ties instead.