Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register

Extending a pet store cage?

Silverbeat

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Posts
846
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
846
Hello,
I'm a fosterer in Upstate NY hoping to get my first piggies shortly. I have one 2x5 grid C&C and two of the smaller pet store cages.
I'm searching on ideas on how to extend one of my cages which opens from the back as well as the top. It's a 28"x17"x17" Marchioro cage and I can't see myself keeping both a clear conscience and a guinea pig in that thing. I was thinking of putting a small pen around it [maybe 2x2-2x3 grids] but I had a few questions first.
-What size should it be?
-How would I go about covering the ramp so it doesn't hurt the pig's feet?
-Should I use the pen as a play/run area [available at all hours] and the cage for just a hide box, food bowl and maybe a hammock?
-Should I just put towels down in the pen or should I make a little coroplast bin like in C&C cages?
-Does this even sound like a good idea?
Basically I want the cage to be put to good use, or at least use. I hate having things cluttering up my house.
I also was wondering, if I have one pig in my 2x5 grid cage would the pig still need daily outside-of-cage play time or could I cut it down to maybe 3 times a week?
Thanks in advance.
 

PhoenixFeather

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Posts
373
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
373
I was thinking about using our pet store cage as part of our cage, and in the end decided against it. It seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. I thought about using it as an upper level, which would be OK, but then the ramp would have to be in the middle where the door is, instead of along the side of the cage where I preferred to put it. So... in the end I just made a regular C&C cage and saved the pet store cage for using as a travel carrier/cage.

I think the idea you proposed is fine, but I'd make the additional area at least 2x3 and I would use coro to line it. You could use coro also to cover the ramp, with towels or fleece or something over it. But you might find it easier to just make a 2x4 or 2x5 from scratch and not use the cage at all. I think using the pet store cage will, among other things, make it hard to clean, and harder for the piggies to "get around".
 

PhoenixFeather

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Posts
373
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
373
That photo was pretty much what I had in mind. I see that she cut out part of the base of the store cage to allow easy entry and exit. I wanted to keep mine whole to use for travel etc. so I was going to use the door as an entry, but this would have also necessitated placing a brick or paving stone or something inside the small cage for them to get up to the door to enter/exit. So, as I said, I ended up just saving the cage for travel and doing the C&C cage without using it.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

A
Replies
5
Views
339
iggy
failur3byh3art
Replies
1
Views
133
Guinea Pig Papa
Guinea Pig Papa
KirbyFan8910
Replies
2
Views
67
4boipigs
Squiggles
Replies
10
Views
2K
bpatters
bpatters
gpihgos
Replies
1
Views
436
ItsaZoo
ItsaZoo
Top