Okay, I need some serious help. Well, not that serious, but still.

Can I ask whythey refuse. These are the cheapest way to make a cage. As for different bedding you can use fleece, it works well.

Is there any way that you could do chores to earn the extra money to buy the cubes yourself? They are not expensive at all. I cannot get coro here where I live so I use a shower curtain liner on the bottom , with newspaper , towels and fleece (saves a ton of money since you just reuse the fleece.

If your parents are concerned regarding the price of cubes they on sale this week at Target for around $13.00 a box.

I just made mine (SUPER CHEAP) out of four pieces of coroplast. (AKA corrugated plastic). All the sign shops around me wanted $100-$200 a sheet so I went hunting elsewhere. I found it was much easier finding a place that had it when I referred to it as corrugated plastic. I got mine from a local hobby shop and it's made by Elmer's. You know, the glue guys. Call around and if they don't know what you are talking about, say it's like cardboard or foam board, but plastic. That helped me. I bought four 20"x 30" pieces in black. After I trimmed I used black matte duct tape to tape the pieces together and then scored the plastic. Make sure you find matching duct tape so that it doesn't look icky. Black-on-black looks awesome with black cubes and black cable ties.
Total time to make: 45 minutes.
Cost: About $5.00 a sheet @ 4 sheets = $20.00
I got my cubes for free but right now at Target they are 12.99.
Duct tape about $5.00
For less than $40.00 you can have an awesome cage
It's hard to find any cage under that price.

For bedding, I use "Woody Pet." Call your local ag shops and farm supply shops. I think it's a 40 pound bag for $4.95. You don't use much because it expands as the pig pees. Once a day I use a plastic spoon to scoop poops and afterward stir the bedding (so the wet spots are evenly distributed). You rarely have to change the bedding because Woody Pet is soooo absorbent.

Good luck!

Yes the cage is very cheap to make! I bought a 4 sq foot cage for $119.00 + 4.10% hawaii state tax is was $123.00 for a cage that tiny cage. And I made my current cage for $60 (I was despreate for cubes here in hawaii!). So its very affordable and my mom loved it. So I save $63 for a cage thats 10 sq. feet bigger!

There are no cheaper alternatives that are big enough and as easy to make or clean. Instead of coroplast you can use linoleum or plywood cut to size and coated in laminate sheets but it will be more expensive and/or require some tools. You can use mesh wire(hardware cloth) instead of grids along with a pvc frame but again it will require some tools such as a saw to cut the pvc pipe and wire cutters for the hardware cloth. It also may still end up more expensive. For short term I've made cages out of those colorful animal playpens and a shower curtain but for long term it will require more than 1 playpen and it's not very easy to maintain. It's still going to cost you ~$20 for 2 playpens plus the cost of the shower curtain. Then you will either have bedding all over the room, a chewed up shower curtain, or you will have to buy and frequently wash fleece which some parents quite hate guinea pig laundry in their washer. My stepdad always freaked out if he caught me washing guinea pig stuff. It's not that there aren't alternatives for people who can't find the usual materials but that cubes and coroplast are the cheapest and easiest materials to work with.

I would try to locate the materials yourself and how much they cost. Then look up the cost of commercial cages(can be done online if you can't get to a petstore). Provide your parents with the cost comparison and exact instructions showing how easy it is to build a c&c cage and where they can get the materials. If their problem is still with cost then see if there is any work you can do to pay for it yourself.

The suggestion of comparing cages was a good one by AQH. If space is a problem, have your parents help design your cage- remember, these are CUSTOM built and you can configure them any way you want. As long as it doesn't compromise the pigs' safety. Have your parents look at the photos with a storage base. There are many, many options that will work for you and your parents. Why did they refuse? Was it because they already bought the store cage?

Heres what I did.

1.) Did extra chores (My parents made a list and I get paid 25 bucks a week only if i complete the list.)
2.) When you design the cage on paper, show how it will look like and tell them where your gonna put the cage. Show your parents how big the cage will be with a measuring tape and stuff.
3.) If bedding is an issue, use fleece. Its reusable and looks way better than bedding.
4.) Buy the materials (With the money you get for doing chores.)

Thats what I did and it worked for me. Hope this helps

Tell them you want the cubes for storage in your room and you need the coroplast for a school project. Also things like Carefresh and Fleece work really well for bedding.

Why didn't you get a C&C instead of a pet store cage? I'll wager you could have made one for the same price if not cheaper.

There is no real substitute for bedding if that is what you mean. Some use hay or straw as bedding, but that is not really effective.

I wouldn't recommend fleece in a pet store cage.

TrekkiesUnite said:

Tell them you want the cubes for storage in your room and you need the coroplast for a school project.

Click to expand...

Lying to your parents is really NOT the way to go.

The other suggestions you received, including doing a lot of research on your own and discussing all of the options like an adult with your parents will work much better towards building up respect and trust between you.