Accessories for your Cage

Grassy Hutches

• These are nice, edible homes for your cavy. They last 3-6 months. In the photo on the right, there is a piece of fake lamb's wool covering the eaten away opening! They love these things. You have to be careful over time. The straw stuff (whatever it is) uses a wire frame to hold it together. When it gets down to the wire (hee, hee, hee), it can get rusty. Then you have to throw them out. They are hard to find in pet stores.

Timber Hide-A-Ways

• These are great wooden hidey holes. They love to chew on them and that's a good thing. If they ever get too yucky, you can sand them down a bit and they are as good as new. Another tip if you have to disinfect for lice, mites, or fleas, you can bake them (or other wooden things not held together by glue) at around 200 to 225 degrees for half an hour or so to kill anything. Easier than a wet solution approach. Process was recommended by a vet.
• They come in multiple sizes, but two of them are good sizes for cavies. The smaller size has a hole in the top which the cavies don't really use or need. These boxes are also hard to find in pet stores. Here is an online source as well as a similar, but different manufacturer. I use the smaller size for young pigs (described as large by the manufacturer), and the bigger size (described as extra large) for adults (or pairs).

Pigloos (Cut the Pigloos!)

• Cut them out to make them bigger! The pigs like them, but the big pigs can't fit through the little tunnel. They walk around looking like a turtle! Use gardening shears. Run the igloo under hot water to soften up the plastic. Or run them through your dishwasher to heat up the plastic to make it more pliable. Then start hacking away!

• You can special order them from some cavy sites, or you can make them yourself. These are a HUGE hit with the piggers!
• At almost any pet store, you can find the fake wool pads for cats and dogs to nap on. Some are flat, some form a shallow bowl shape. You can use either. Just don't get the kind that are stiff or reinforced with anything. 
• Attach the corners (of the rectangular pads) or middle edge (of the bowl shaped pads) with one or two diaper or big safety pins. Just pin it so the pin isn't really exposed to the piggie. MOST piggies won't potty in them. They will poop (but not too bad). So just shake out the poops when you clean the cage. Launder them about once every two weeks. Just unpin, shake out outdoors or in a big plastic bag, maybe brush them off with a stiff brush, throw them in the washing machine with a bit of bleach, dry in the dryer, put them back in. Try to have extras so that when you take them out to clean, you have a set ready to go back in right away while the others are being laundered.
• Snug as a bug in a rug! They like just the corners secured, that way they have escape holes out the back corners! Works great . . . the best way to pin them is inside corners on top--helps make a cave like shape.

Super Pet Large Fiddle Sticks

• The bendable logs which the piggies like and a couple of other wooden hut options. The big house I use is about 14" x 9".
• They have a slightly smaller and slightly larger version. You really need a big cage to support the use of these bigger houses.

The Grrrrreat Wall

• Here's an idea for a easy to roll out corral. You can throw an old sheet down, put up the corral, and give them some exercise.
• You can also loosely cable tie together a bunch of Creative Cube grids and accordion fold them for storage and open them up for an easy to use corral.

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