Size To people with large herds in one level cages..

It would be better if all discussion was kept here on the thread because it would be helpful to others as well.

Just go ahead and ask any questions you may have here on the thread. Thanks.

Well I have 6 male guinea pigs. They didn't all get along so I had to divide mine into groups. I had on long 2x12 grid cages (2.5 feet by 15 feet) and divided with half on one side and half on the other. It worked out well I hate ramps too. I did recently redo my cage because One of my guinea pigs Wendall was so determined to get to his arch enemy that he broke his bottom teeth twice chewing the cubes. So I put half up and half down. I love my new cage too! If you are having issues with dominance or aggression then sometimes it is better to divide them by how well they mesh.

I wanna see PICTURES! lol I Love piggy pictures. I would love to hear the story about how/why you got so many piggies!!!

I am introducing my 3 pigs to another group of 3 and a solitary pig tomorrow. I am hoping all goes well and I can put them together. I wanted to make sure the cage was larger than the minimum for 9 because I may be keeping my 2 rescues who are in quarantine for the next 4 weeks. I would rather just build it once. I was watching my piggies and they seem to run straight up and down, instead of "laps", in their current cage, which is a 3x5. So, for ease of cleaning, I was hoping to get it to a 2x?? (It has to be at least 24 inches off the ground and I am 5 feet tall) I was curious to see if people with large herds housed together on one level felt if the length was large enough, I am hoping 11-12 cubes with a couple 1 grid "L" shapes at the ends?, that the width could be reduced from 3 to 2? I could probably go wider but it is really difficult for me to clean and more difficult to keep the cage further away from furniture that cats and annoying papillons can sit on and try to get into the cage. It will have a lid and that isn't the problem it is that if it is too low to the floor, the papillon sticks her nose in the grids, as do the cats. I might try a 2.5X12 as that may be a bit easier for cleaning and may keep the cage far enough away from furniture. I was just hoping to get some advice on cage size needed (total cubes or sq feet), and if 2 grids wide would be okay for a larger herd.

As for how this happened, that is a simple story. I bought 2 from a pet store (Riley and Peyton) when I went to look for dog supplies. I came home, found this site and felt horrible and decided I wanted to adopt one as well (Miley). Then my obsessive personality took over. I picked up my third (Miley) from a rescue 3 hours away and saw a pregnant pig there that I just had to have(Lexi). She stayed until she had her pups and they were weaned. I then made the trek again. 2 days later, the same rescue got a trio (Bella, Brenna, and Bailey) and up north I went again. Between adopting the pregnant one and the trio, I saw an ad in a local online paper for 2 free females (Jazzy and Jemma). There was a photo of them on a wire floored cage. I went to "look" at them and saw them living in a 18 inch square wire floored cage. There was no hay, no pellet bowl and 1 pigloo, which almost took up the whole cage. I brought them home, clipped their nails, gave them their first dose of Ivermectin, made vet appts and quarantined them on another floor in another room where they will stay until I am 100% sure they are healthy because they are in bad shape. At that point, I may try to find them a good home or I may keep them, I am not sure yet. I will be posting pics in my albums sometime in the next few days.

Well, you asked!

I don't have the room to make one big cage for my seven pigs.

The biggest cage I have is a 3x5 for four sows.

Then a 2x4 for two sows.

And then a 2x3 for one boar.

If you have the room, you could do an L shaped cage sort of like this one:

I think I only had 8 piggies in there but you can always go out more on each of the ends. And you don't have to have the upper level. I liked this cage pretty well and have been thinking of doing something similar.

And I wanted to add that (if you haven't done this before) not to get discouraged when doing intros. It's always more stressful for the humans than the piggies. Just remember that if there is no blood than they're working it out. Also, introduce all at once would be good. Have them on a neutral territory (you can ziptie grids together to form a 'corral' for them). Have lots of veggies to distract them at first. And keep a towel &/or dustpan handy. You can use the dustpan to get in between fighting piggies w/out losing a finger. And you can use the towel to distract them when they rumble w/ each other. And if all else fails, try the buddy baths. I've never had any problems w/ introducing sows and I've done alot. The one & only time I tried to do boars did not turn out well. Good luck!!

I've never had large herd, but thought these cages are interesting.

New Cage_Feb_2009 - Guinea Pig Cage Photos
Expanded Cage - Guinea Pig Cage Photos