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, colors and designs on the Cagetopia® Guinea Pig Cages Store. Or some of both!No matter how you end up with your C&C guinea pig habitat, you'll have a cage that works in your space, looks great, and provides the true space that guinea pigs need to thrive. You get a big bonus of the easiest-to-clean and keep clean cage possible. You'll discover some fantastically creative and expansive cage setups that will help light your guinea pig fire! Yet, you can walk before you run. Start with the basics and later expand and remodel as you develop a true appreciation of the finer points of guinea pig behavior, given enough room and cage enrichment for their personalities to shine.
C&C Cages are assembled with a base of Coroplast (a brand name of corrugated plastic) and Cubes -- a home improvement interlocking metal grid shelving set -- also referred to as Storage Grids or Cubes. The Coroplast is cut and scored into a shallow box, the flaps are secured and then surrounded by storage grids snapped together around the perimeter. The grids are 14 inches square (34cm) and the standard cage size of 2 by 4 GRIDS actually takes up 2.5 x 5 FEET (1.52m x 78cm)! Luckily, this is a very common size of folding work-tables, found at most home improvement or office supply stores.
Benefits of the C&C Cage
- DIY or Guinea Pig Cages Store
- Easy to clean
- Inexpensive
- Easy to make
- Easy to change design
- Can choose colors
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Durable
- Good visibility
- Good air circulation
- Can add levels
- Can cat, dog and kid-proof
- Multi-use materials: repurpose, recycle1
- Grids can become accessories1
- Cleaning flap or Door options
- Fits on inexpensive tables
- Easy to decorate
- Lightweight
- Easy expand/reduce
- Collapsible to store
Challenges of Do-It-Yourself C&C Cages
- Materials can be hard to find
- Not all Corrugated Plastic is the same quality
- Grids (cubes) -- many brands are now of the unsafe type (inner grid holes too big)
- Grids (cubes) -- many brands have significantly reduced their quality
- Sign stores for Coroplast are usually only open weekdays.
- Coroplast can be tricky to get home due to size.
- Coroplast can be tricky to measure and cut.
- Coroplast MUST be cut, scored, and folded in order to be shipped.
Meeting and Mitigating the Challenges
- Shop outside your immediate neighborhood.
- Borrow your friend's larger vehicle to get a full sheet of coro home.
- If white is okay, some Home Depots carry a full sheet of Coroplast.
- Pre-cut and score at the store before putting it in your car.
- Don't fold, but you can score the outer side to fold and fit in a vehicle.
- If you absolutely can't find the exact materials, there are decent alternatives.
- Coroplast: measure TWICE (at least), cut once. Take your time to do it right.
- Buy a cage kit with the highest quality materials available at the best price from our store.
- Some guinea pig rescues have cage kits available to adopters or for sale locally.