College girl obsessed with her pig.

[cmeyers13]

Hello all,
My name is Chelsea and I am a Junior at MSU. I am working to get my degree in special education (elementary education). I love animals, and really enjoy having something cuddly and cute to take care of. When I am at home (Detroit area) I spend most of my time with my horse, a 17hd Dutch Warmblood named Denali. I also work at a dog day care and boarding when I am home.
Being at school makes me miss all the animals in my life, and now that I finally moved out of the dorms and into an apartment I deiced I needed a pet to keep me company. I do not have the time or space for a dog and my lease does not allow cats. I had a really awesome piggy when I was growing up, so I deiced that a Guinea pig would be the best fit for my lifestyle.
I knew that I wanted to adopt, so I checked petfinder every week to see what piggies were listed. One day, this adorable caramel and chocolate pig popped up, he was younger (just like I wanted) and looking to be adopted from a local humane society.
I had ordered a cage of amazon a few week back and I had it set up in my room. I had not planned on getting a pig until summer was over and I was all moved in to my new apartment. I went to see the piggie anyways. I feel in love, he was perfect. I took him home and I have been obsessed ever since.



So far everything has been great, my roommates and friends love him, he gets about as much floor and lap time as I can give him and he seems very happy.

I am not happy with his cage though, but to say I have space limitations would be an understatement. Currently, with his petstore cage and my furniture my room is packed.
This is his current cage, it is 24X24. I know it is too small, but I don't know what to do. I joined this forum looking for Ideas and tips. I do not like the C&C cages because they would not be easy to move (seeing as the pig and I are moving home for the summer and for winter breaks).I also do not like that the C&C cages would have to be taken apart every time I clean it.

I really like this cage (NEW 2 Level 2x3 GUINEA PIG Deluxe Custom LARGE Pet CAGE | eBay) but it is way out of my price range and I have no idea how I would ever fit it in my room.

Right now, it seems like I will be sticking with my pet store cage, and it makes me feel like a bad pig mom.


SORRY! for the long post!

[lissie]

Hi! Welcome to GPC. Your piggy is adorable!

As for the cage, you can easily build your own cage to look like the one you posted.
This link shows you how to build the lower level, it's not hard to add the second level.
How to Make a C&C Cage

You can find supplies from here:
Cubes
Coroplast Sources

I built my first cage for under $25. My grids were $14.99 - 20% off from Bed Bath and Beyond, and my coroplast was only $10 from Sabic Polymershapes. That was back in 2009. I'm sure the price have gone up.

[Inle_Rabbit]

Dude, that cage on Amazon is a C&C cage! You could make that for about 50-60 bucks, less if you got the grids on sale, craig's list or free cycle. You also don't have to take a c&c cage apart to clean it. Just make some doors when you build it. Now moving it home might be a little hard. But I could see just clipping the zip ties and folding it up so it would fit in your car then re-zip tieing it when you went home for the summer. A c&c cage would also allow you to expand your cage if you moved to a place that had more space or if you got a second pig (which would make your first pig very happy!). Take a look at all the photos of C&C cages. They are super easy to build and the guinea pigs love them!

[CavyMama]

I do not like the C&C cages because they would not be easy to move (seeing as the pig and I are moving home for the summer and for winter breaks).I also do not like that the C&C cages would have to be taken apart every time I clean it.

I really like this cage (NEW 2 Level 2x3 GUINEA PIG Deluxe Custom LARGE Pet CAGE | eBay) but it is way out of my price range and I have no idea how I would ever fit it in my room.

As mentioned before, the cage you linked to on Amazon IS a C&C cage. Also, C&C are not taken apart when you clean. You simply empty the coroplast and replace the bedding.

As for moving, you don't move the pig in the C&C cage. When traveling with pigs, you use a carrier of some sort. I use a cat carrier when I travel with mine.

[cmeyers13]

How tall could I build A C&C cage? I have room to up up, but not so much room to go wide. I could maybe see fitting a cage that was 24X36.

How would you build the cage so that the wall flips down like the one on EBay?

[CavyMama]

A 2X3 would be fine if that is all one level. Upper levels do not count toward square footage. Guinea pigs generally don't tend to use upper levels all that much.

They are selling that C&C cage for $114 but you can build one for way less than that. A box of grids costs somewhere around $15-20. Coroplast can vary in cost but in most cases, somewhere around $20. So, worst case scenario, $40 all told to build the cage.

[gothicmist]

*waves* Hi there! I live like 5 minutes from you!!!!

I just got my pigges too!

[lissie]

How tall could I build A C&C cage? I have room to up up, but not so much room to go wide. I could maybe see fitting a cage that was 24X36.

How would you build the cage so that the wall flips down like the one on EBay?

The one on Ebay only uses cable ties, no connectors. You would just cable tie the front panels to the floor panels and leave the top and sides alone. Then they would flip down. To keep them up, you can use binder clips to hold them up. More pics of other types of doors.
Doors - Guinea Pig Cage Photos

[cmeyers13]

A 2X3 would be fine if that is all one level. Upper levels do not count toward square footage. Guinea pigs generally don't tend to use upper levels all that much.

My pig loves his upper level, I also really like having the food and and water separate from his running space.

[CavyMama]

Yes, if available pigs might use one upper level but it isn't going to be 3 and 4 stories up like a rabbit or ferret cage.

[cmeyers13]

*waves* Hi there! I live like 5 minutes from you!!!!

I just got my pigges too!

Hello!

[RubyRain]

You could just use the cage you bought to take him back and forth to home (It should fit in a back seat) and have the C&C cage at your apt.

And we never take our C&C apart when cleaning. We use fleece and we just pick up the piggie bedding and toss in the wash and put a new one down-done in 5-10 min tops!

Your pig is VERY cute!!

[guineapikhs]

Here's something that's similar to C&C, but might be a little easier to move: Amazon.com: Midwest Expandable Guinea Habitat: Pet Supplies

You could also consider incorporating your current cage into something bigger? I know there's pictures around here somewhere of people who have done that.

[blackarrow]

Just a thought - have you explored the possibility of raising your bed and putting a single level C&C partway under it?

[pinky]

You can use a combination of cable ties connecting most of the grids and connectors in middle on each side so you can take it down in two halves and just fold down the grids into two sections since they are connected with cable ties. . You can cut off the tape that holds the sides together and move the coroplast flattened. We have an accountant that comes once a year so I have to move my big 2 x6 downstairs and it's very doable. I never take my cage apart to clean it. I don't even take out pigs. I use fleece pads and clean one of the cage at a time. When I used regular bedding, I'd line the cage with newspapers to remove the bedding easier and it would be pretty clean and only require a wipe down.

[cmeyers13]

You can use a combination of cable ties connecting most of the grids and connectors in middle on each side so you can take it down in two halves and just fold down the grids into two sections since they are connected with cable ties. . You can cut off the tape that holds the sides together and move the coroplast flattened. We have an accountant that comes once a year so I have to move my big 2 x6 downstairs and it's very doable. I never take my cage apart to clean it. I don't even take out pigs. I use fleece pads and clean one of the cage at a time. When I used regular bedding, I'd line the cage with newspapers to remove the bedding easier and it would be pretty clean and only require a wipe down.

I'm sold, going to go pick up some cubes right now!

I am wondering about the fleece, I have never used anything except corn cob and pine in my pigs cage.

If I use fleece how do I make sure he doesn't move it around. Do I still need to provided him with a "litter box" that contains bedding ?

Sorry everyone for all the questions.

[cmeyers13]

You could just use the cage you bought to take him back and forth to home (It should fit in a back seat) and have the C&C cage at your apt.

And we never take our C&C apart when cleaning. We use fleece and we just pick up the piggie bedding and toss in the wash and put a new one down-done in 5-10 min tops!

Your pig is VERY cute!!

Thank you!

can you tell me more about using fleece?

[RubyRain]

Here's something that's similar to C&C, but might be a little easier to move: Amazon.com: Midwest Expandable Guinea Habitat: Pet Supplies

You could also consider incorporating your current cage into something bigger? I know there's pictures around here somewhere of people who have done that.

This cage does not have a solid bottom though so it would be impossible to move unless you made some sort of box bottom out of coroplast-which leads you back to a C&C The Midwest cage is also a pain to clean IMO.

[RubyRain]

As far as fleece, there are some great threads in the bedding section you should check out. Basically, you have a layer of absorbent material like thick towels, u-haul blankets, or similar and layer of fleece over the top that prevents the pee from puddling and keeps the piggies dry. You have to wash the fleece a few times to get it ready.
My layers are sewn together and fold over the edges of the coroplast but many people clip the fleece to the sides with binder clips to keep it in place.

Some people have pigs that will only pee/poop in the litter box but that's the exception rather than the rule. So most people will just sweep up the poop 1 or more times a day to keep it under control. We change the bedding 1x per week and have no smells or problems. I have 2 piggies and I do have a litter box with hay in that gets peed in more than the other areas of the cage so I change that every other day but I just have a layer of newspaper in there with a little carefresh that is easy to dump out and change.

Not sure about others, but my girls have 1 corner of the cage that they tend to pee/poop in more than other areas just like the hay box so that area gets scrubbed a little more each week.

[gothicmist]

hey if you are going to do fleece TODAY and TOMORROW is the day. Joanns in frandor is selling fleece solid colors for $3.49 a yard which is UNHEARD OF