Articles by Teresa Murphy

Getting Coroplast Home can be Tricky You've scored a full sheet of Coroplast. Now you need to get it home in your car to start your cage-building journey! Coroplast comes in 4' x 8' sheets (48" x 96") and IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, should NOT be scored or cut unless it's to your cage specifications! A...

Managing with Males ⚣ The same advice here about males can be helpful if you have one of those rarer DIVA female situations as well. Two is Company Two males will get along the vast majority of the time. And males should have a friend, so it’s important to understand how to successfully pair...

A Visual Guide This image helps one appreciate comparative sizes for guinea pig cages! Drawn to scale.

Where to Put the Cage? The ideal location is INDOORS in a family area with good natural light -- some sunlight is good -- near enough to the kitchen so that feeding is easy and also reasonable access to be able to manage dirty bedding and laundry. Non-carpeted floors are even better as they are...

Guinea Pig Play How to keep life interesting for your guinea pig! A number of toys require a cage size big enough for the toys and the guinea pig -- another reason to make sure you have a big enough cage for your cavy! The following items are more important than toys. Once you have these items...

Hay is vital in their diet! UNLIMITED Timothy Hay (or a grass hay) is recommended for cavies. For young cavies under the age of 4 months and pregnant or lactating mothers, alfalfa hay is also recommended. For those cavies, you could mix half Timothy and alfalfa. Since alfalfa hay (a legume, not...

C&C = The Only Way to Go! C&C (Cubes and Coroplast®) Cages use a fantastic combination of two materials that are accessible in the retail market for creating your own, ""customized-to-your-desire"" guinea pig (or hedgehog or rabbit) cage. You can also purchase a great combination of features...

C&C Stands for Cubes and Coroplast Cubes What Are They? The cubes are usually 14-inch square (35.5 cm), coated-wire grids. The inner squares are 1.375" (3.8 cm). They were originally designed for temporary or inexpensive storage for kids, home, and office use. There are several brands and...

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The Problem with Smell The fact that many of these cages will start to smell after a while may seem like a minor point, but it can lead to serious consequences later. Here is a typical newbie guinea pig story. Picture if you will, a young adult who must have a guinea pig. The parents finally...

About US is about YOU, too. Because it's the grass-roots acceptance of bigger cages for guinea pigs that have helped make the site and the ideas a success over two decades ago. Congratulations to you and please keep up the good work! Guinea pigs everywhere are thankful. Teresa Murphy, Founder...

The Downside of Keeping Caged Pets Let's face it. Cage cleaning is the hard part of keeping guinea pigs. This is also the #1 reason why people give up and rehome their guinea pigs. It is monumentally important to make this as painless and easy as possible for your situation. It depends on what...

Gather your Materials Grids you can buy online or locally fairly easily. Coroplast®, on the other hand, can be more of a challenge. No company can ship a full sheet of coroplast without scoring and bending it. A full sheet is like a sheet of plywood: 4 feet by 8 feet. It's very lightweight, but...

What being a 'Social Animal' means As social animals, guinea pigs need to live with other guinea pigs. If you are considering keeping guinea pigs as pets, it is always best to have two, and this article will tell you why. Progressive countries that put animal welfare first legally require two...

Bigger is Better! For the health and well-being of your guinea pigs, provide as large a living area as you can manage. Cubes and Coroplast (C&C) cages are an easy and inexpensive alternative to the small cages found at pet stores and online. Follow the recommended cage size standards of 10.5...

C&C Cages for Other Pets The idea for C&C cages came largely from the rabbit world. Back in the late 1990's, the progressive and caring rabbit people had to come up with ideas for creating bigger cages long before the guinea pig enthusiasts caught on. It's so much more obvious that rabbits need...

An Honest Mom’s Comment This comment was from a different forum many years ago. Honestly, this is mostly true for many people and guinea pigs. If you are looking for a more interesting, dynamic pet -- pet rats are a great alternative. Do you have a problem with their tails? Eh, learn to love...

What are the signs? Did you buy your guinea pig at a pet store? The odds just went up significantly. Did you buy a fairly young guinea pig at a pet store? The odds just went up even more -- most typical. Did you get two "female" guinea pigs from a pet store? Did you confirm that? Is your...

What's up with male guinea pigs? Not all the time, but sometimes, male guinea pigs can be more territorial than females. This is especially true during their adolescent and young adult ages -- anywhere from 3 months to 1 year old. Their hormones are in full swing and they are in the phase of...

Can guinea pigs be potty trained? Well, not typically or easily, but we can work with their natural instincts to provide an optimal setting to make it much easier for you to manage. Guinea pigs are prey animals and when eating and pottying, most prefer to do so in safety. One of their biggest...