I want a c&c cage, but cant find materials

[My BabyBoy Earl]

So, I have a male guinea pig named Earl. about 1 year old the humain society said. we currently have him in a store bought cage measuring 30"L x 18"W x 16-1/2"H. I want a C&C cage, but dont have enough money. My family is kindove poor. We cant find the grids, and we hate ordering online, and we cant afford the coroplast. Ive tried building him a wooden cage out of wood planks left over from our deck. then i realized we dont have anything to cut the wood with. Ive also heard that you can use metal wire closet shelving. We have a local Menards that sells it for pretty cheap. But, i have no idea how to build a cage out of it. if someone knows how, that would be awesome. It has to be closed though because of our dogs. kindove ironic because our cat loves him. our dogs are rodent hunters, (dont worrie, with me he is extreamly safe, and the dogs are small, only one really hates him. the other dog is kindove curious about him though.) and our cat is just fat and lazy, except when it comes to mice. (its funny because she knows the difference between family pets and wild mice) any way. we have 2 shower curtains, possibly wire closet shelving, mom accidently bought ceder shavings instead of aspen or hard wood, i havent used it yet though. and cabel ties like little 5" ones. if anyone could tell me how to make a cage out of that, that would be awesome!! thank you!!

[My BabyBoy Earl]

oh, and we litterally dont have anymore room than a little area about the size of 2x4 C&C cage wich is about 57" x 24-28"

[SuperGilbert]

Honestly, perhaps adding a new pet to the mix for you and your family isn't the greatest idea right now considering the financial problems you mentioned multiple times in your thread

[My BabyBoy Earl]

Honestly, perhaps adding a new pet to the mix for you and your family isn't the greatest idea right now considering the financial problems you mentioned multiple times in your thread

Ik ik.. alot of people have said that. but we actually have saved up some money for him. but we have some materials that we could use for the cage already. and i have a financial plan for all the pets that seems to be working. and they are all very happy and healthy. well, the cat is a bit fat.... but other than that. .

[SuperGilbert]

Ok, then take some of the money you have saved and buy the coroplast, I have a 2x6 c&c cage and it literally cost me about $40 to make the whole thing, you can also check online for people seliing and giving things away, like craigslist

[bpatters]

DON'T USE THE CEDAR SHAVINGS!!! Ask your mom to take them back and exchange them for kiln-dried pine, or aspen.

What city are you in, or close to? We can help you find grids. You can often find them by looking on craigslist. Coroplast can sometimes be gotten cheaply by asking sign shops if they have any where they've made mistakes in printing. You can also use old political signs.

[My BabyBoy Earl]

thank you guys!!! so i know its a bad idea to use the ceder chips. i just dident know what to do with them. i live near the town of Plover WI. and i dont think we have any political signs, if we find any, ill let you know. and im not sure where to find the coroplast. cant i use linolium(sp?) or a shower curtain? and ppl talk about fleece, but im not sure i think he would chew it and use it as a tunnel more then bedding. he doesent chew the shower curtain, and he doesent chew the linolium. but im more cautious about like, fabric.. i think i may be over thinking this

[pinky]

oops. didn't intend to post this.

[pinky]

Go to Goodwill, Salvation Army or Savers to see if they have any cheap grids or shelving for sale. You can also put an ad on Craigslist or Freecycle. I got two sets of grids from Craigslist and paid $10 for the first batch of 22 and $5 for the second batch of $25. I got 23 for $4.99 at Goodwill. I used the points I accumulated by shopping at Sears and Kmart to get a lot off on my first box I bought at Kmart. Go to a dollar store to get a cheap shower curtain liner for the bottom. Garage sales often sell shelving cheap, too. Use 75 lb weight capacity (8") zip ties to connect the sides. Price around for those. Menards had them the cheapest around her at under $3.00 for a package of 100. You can build a cage really cheaply if you take your time and try and hunt for the supplies. You can also buy towels and fleece blankets to use for bedding instead of buying wood shavings.

[MrWhistles]

Honestly, perhaps adding a new pet to the mix for you and your family isn't the greatest idea right now considering the financial problems you mentioned multiple times in your thread

The OP mentioned financial issues once.
And adding shipping to all the grids to be purchased CAN be quite costly. And several signs stores will charge you an arm and a leg just for a lil bit of coroplast. Sign stores close by me wanted to charge over $100 for a sheet. While other users have luck at getting them reasonably priced.

@My BabyBoy Earl How close are you to Milwaukee? There is a Sabic Polmershapes that will sell you a 4ftX8ft sheet of coroplast.
For 1 piggy, a 2X4 C&C gives a lovely amount of zoomy room.

Lastly, Earl, do you have any Bed Bath and Beyond's located close to you? I can help you get a 20% of coupon for them. And you can get your grids from them.

[Inle_Rabbit]

Freecycle is probably your best bet. I received a TON of grids off of Freecycle. I can't remember how many but it was a lot! Also try Freecycle for political signs, Wisconsin did just have a huge recall election I'm sure someone might have a sign left over from that in their garage or call up the local Romney and Obama campaign office and see if they have any of the extra large signs that they will give you. Maybe one that was damaged in shipping? Maybe tell them you want to put it in the yard and see if they will give it to you. It is a national election year I'm sure someone, somewhere has some political coroplast if you just hunt around for it. If you are driving around and see some of the large political signs write down the names of the people running and call their campaign offices as well. ;-)

[My BabyBoy Earl]

Go to Goodwill, Salvation Army or Savers to see if they have any cheap grids or shelving for sale. You can also put an ad on Craigslist or Freecycle. I got two sets of grids from Craigslist and paid $10 for the first batch of 22 and $5 for the second batch of $25. I got 23 for $4.99 at Goodwill. I used the points I accumulated by shopping at Sears and Kmart to get a lot off on my first box I bought at Kmart. Go to a dollar store to get a cheap shower curtain liner for the bottom. Garage sales often sell shelving cheap, too. Use 75 lb weight capacity (8") zip ties to connect the sides. Price around for those. Menards had them the cheapest around her at under $3.00 for a package of 100. You can build a cage really cheaply if you take your time and try and hunt for the supplies. You can also buy towels and fleece blankets to use for bedding instead of buying wood shavings.

ok. so i need the zip ties, i have the shower curtain liner, i need the shelving, and i personally dont like wood shavings at all, i had them for the mice i once had, and i think it irrated their feet, so i agree with you there. (ik i wouldent want to be walking around on wood all day.) atm we have carefresh.

[My BabyBoy Earl]

The OP mentioned financial issues once.
And adding shipping to all the grids to be purchased CAN be quite costly. And several signs stores will charge you an arm and a leg just for a lil bit of coroplast. Sign stores close by me wanted to charge over $100 for a sheet. While other users have luck at getting them reasonably priced.

@My BabyBoy Earl How close are you to Milwaukee? There is a Sabic Polmershapes that will sell you a 4ftX8ft sheet of coroplast.
For 1 piggy, a 2X4 C&C gives a lovely amount of zoomy room.

Lastly, Earl, do you have any Bed Bath and Beyond's located close to you? I can help you get a 20% of coupon for them. And you can get your grids from them.

thank you for sticking up for me and my piggie. and as to your questions, i think milwaukee is kindove far from me. but i think i have family and such there. and we do not have a BB&B close to me as far as I know.

[My BabyBoy Earl]

Freecycle is probably your best bet. I received a TON of grids off of Freecycle. I can't remember how many but it was a lot! Also try Freecycle for political signs, Wisconsin did just have a huge recall election I'm sure someone might have a sign left over from that in their garage or call up the local Romney and Obama campaign office and see if they have any of the extra large signs that they will give you. Maybe one that was damaged in shipping? Maybe tell them you want to put it in the yard and see if they will give it to you. It is a national election year I'm sure someone, somewhere has some political coroplast if you just hunt around for it. If you are driving around and see some of the large political signs write down the names of the people running and call their campaign offices as well. ;-)

that is awesome advise, and i will have to see if we can do some of that. but ive never heard of freecycle, i will have to check it out. but we dont really like ordering things online. but idk maybe though.. maybe.

[Inle_Rabbit]

Freecycle is like Craig's List except everything is free. It is a Yahoo group. You would put an ad up saying "Wanted: Storage Grids" and then a message about what exactly you want and why. It's pretty neat idea.

[My BabyBoy Earl]

that is very cool. i have to look that up

[madelineelaine]

I got 25 grids off craiglists for 25$. I would strongly suggest fleece, if you have a joanne fabrics around you (that's the store you have in the states, I think) see if they have an ends section. I know at fabricland (canada) They have an ends sections/ clearance section. ALL of my fleece was $3 per m. For a 2x4, 2 m or even 1.5 would do. I would get a little bit extra for a fleece forrest or something.

I agree, if you really hunt around, it's not hard to find stuff for cheap. OH, look at the dollar store for zip ties! I also have a few (small) fleece blankets from the dollar store that I sewed to table cloth, tada, instant waterproof blanket.

After you invest in fleece, it saves a LOT of money in the long run. If your mom or dad is willing to drive around a bit, you can easily get all your supplies for a decent price. Right now I have a 2x7 with 3x2 loft, and it probably cost about 100$ to make, if that.

A bit of advice, do not try to buy a bunch of little pieces of coro and piece them together, it's A LOT more money. I got a bunch of smaller pieces from home depot, 12$ a piece. To make my original 2x4 it cost me 35$ in choroplast alone.

[My BabyBoy Earl]

thank you madelineelaine for the helpful advise. fleece, i have to do more research into it, and i think we already have old fleece blankets around the house that might work. im just worried about him chewing it.

[Pigaletto]

I love the fleece and I've never had a problem with chewing. If you're really concerned you can keep the edges out of their reach and make sure it's smoothed out. Give plenty of hay to chew on and you should be golden.

[SuperGilbert]

@Mr.Whistles.....They mentioned it multiple times, 3 to be exact, "Don't have enough money", ''Family is kind of poor'', ''we can't afford coroplast"".......So I don't know what you're talking about......Kid stay out of bed bath n beyond, they are a rip off when it comes to prices