Kevin:
I'm curious ..how old are you? You seem to be old enough so I'm going to talk as if you are about 10 years old or older:
The best thing to do is show them the pictures, and tell them that pet store cages are NOT large enough by any means. They also stink up the house, where a CC Cage doesn't stink at all as long as you sweep/dustbust the poops up daily and wash the fleece out once a week.
They also cost at least 3 times more and are not easy to carry. If you cable/zip tie the cage together it moves easily.
If you want you can have them e-mail me. I'm a new cavy person, and I started with a lousy petstore cage that cost a bundle. It stunk up the living room even with CareFresh bedding. It was so small all the pee was concentrated and it was gross to clean up and I only had one little baby piggie who's only 3 months old in it.
Since I switched to my new cage, no more stinky! Plenty of room for hay, house, and to run too.
How much does it cost?
My petstore cage was $50
CareFresh Bedding $12 for enough for about a week maybe two.
My cavy cage:
Cubes from target 14.99 Not on sale
Coroplast: $10 for a 4x4 piece (for a 2 panel by 3 panel cage)
Cable/Zip ties? around $3
Fleece: Several stores have sales, I paid $6 for enough to 2 cage changes
Liner for under the fleece: $5 for 18. It takes 2 of them to line the coroplast pan under the fleece each week. Most folks just use newspaper even.
It would be insane to waste money on a petstore cage of equal size. There is simply no benefit, other than the initial time involved is easier, but if you want to own a pet, you should be willing to do the work in careing for it.
Once you zip tie all the panels together (look at my profile gallery to see my first cage) it holds like steel. You have to do a lot of them to make it secure though. I carry mine around all the time, move it from different areas to clean etc...
Do your research and give them a proper presentation so that they get that you know what you are talking about. They might think what I did at first, that it wouldn't be strong enough. But after I saw several of the gallery shos of the 3 story cages I realized it HAD to be pretty strong. The trick is in the use of the cable ties.
It's a great chance to show off your smarts for researching it in the first place. Heck, you could probably use that presentation in class as well!
I think you need to print out pictures from the gallery here on cavycages of what you are talking about, and then print pictures of what the petstore cage is.
Then show them what the cavycages site says on the home page..and explain to them one point at a time.
Like this:
A. If you cage is too small, your pigs get sick more often because you are basically keeping them in a litter box.
B. Your pigs get covered in poops and pee and they get stinky
C. You have to change the litter more often.
D..Because it's too small, it stinks up the house
E.....You get the picture?
Imagine you are making a documentary on why people use them.
Be sure to give them the good/bad points for a petstore cage.
If you want to have them e-mail me, I'll give you my e-mail address. They can even call me if they are really don't believe you. I bet though if you do a great presentation, they will be so impressed with your approach that they will gladly do it!
