New guinea pig friend :-)

Menanie77 · Sep 16, 2011

Hello,

My name is Melanie. I am a SAHM to 3 amazing kiddo's. Two of them are in school (kindergarten and 2nd grade). I have my awesome little 2 1/2 year old home with me. I am also the mother of 2 dogs (Thor: Rotti/Doberman and Annie: Lab/Chow), 2 cats (Chance and Cleo), 2 Hermit crabs (Hermie and Princess Celestia) and now MAX...our newest family member.

Max is black and white and only a few months old. We just received him from a friend who is moving and needed to re locate him.

I am just now learning more about him and would LOVE any advice available!

I want to build him a new cage but it HAS to have a lid...I couldn't find instructions on how to make the lid!

Also, I am interested in using blankets for the bedding instead of the store bought stuff and would love to hear from some that do that and how they care for it etc.

Thank you!!!!
Melanie

This is a picture of my 5 year old and her new BFF Max

Menanie77 · Sep 16, 2011

I also noticed that many of the cages people make are open. We can't do that because of our other pets but in addition to that...he jumps out of the play pen area immediately! lol

RubyRain · Sep 16, 2011

Arg! My long detailed post deleted!
Welcome!
Short version....you can use the wire shelves from Home Depot, etc and have them cut to the length of the cage. You can attach them to the sides with carabiners or binder clips.
If you look at the cage pictures in the gallery you'll see some examples. You may need one wider shelf or 2 narrower ones bound in the middle with zip ties depending on the size of the cage.
Good luck!

RubyRain · Sep 16, 2011

oops-have no idea how this double posted when I was just editing to add link...sorry

Arg! My long detailed post deleted!<br>Welcome!<br>Short version....you can use the wire shelves from Home Depot, etc and have them cut to the length of the cage. You can attach them to the sides with carabiners or binder clips.<br>If you look at the cage pictures in the gallery you'll see some examples.
Here is one example from the gallery:
Wheeker's Cage (closed) - Guinea Pig Cage Photos
You may need one wider shelf or 2 narrower ones bound in the middle with zip ties depending on the size of the cage.<br>Good luck!

bpatters · Sep 16, 2011

Welcome to the forum!

There are plenty of instructions for lids, as well as pictures, in the picture galleries. Closet shelving is an excellent lid material, and is also very strong for the cage. Since you've got fairly large dogs and small children, I'd recommend building the whole cage of closet shelving. If you click on my user name, you can see a picture of mine.

There are also lots of fleece threads you can read to find out about that kind of bedding. Other bedding materials include Carefresh, shredded aspen or kiln dried pine (no cedar), newspaper pellets, and wood stove pellets (my personal favorite).

Just poke around on the forums, read the stickies at the top, and you'll get lots of ideas. Max is surely cute, as is his friend there!

SweetiePig · Sep 16, 2011

Welcome! You sound like a animal lover

Thats wonderful! Im glad to hear you wanting to learn more about Max! Guinea pigs are wonderful, loving, pets to have. As far as cage lids, Im assuming your talking about C&C cages. I have a C&C cage with a lid, two lids actually one for the top level and one for the bottom! I just used zip ties and zip tied them together tightly, making a lid, then loosely zip tied the lid to the cage so it could open and close then I got mini bunji cords and raped on end the to cage door and zip tied it on there. I use the bunji cord to lock the door. Do you understand? If not, Ill take a pic to show you :cheerful:

Menanie77 · Sep 19, 2011

Yeah, not sure I understood everything you said! LOL I am going to make the cage out of the cubes and was just going to use zip ties and make the lid the same way. Is that ok? I'd love to see a picture!

Menanie77 · Sep 19, 2011

can I just use the cubes zip tied to make the lid? Where do I get the shelving and get it cut? How is it locked?

RubyRain · Sep 19, 2011

Sure, you CAN use the cubes but if you use the wire shelving it's sturdier and may be safer with all the other pets you have.
The wire shelving is definitely better for a lid though-look at the pics mentioned and you'll see what we are talking about. The cubes are just not as strong for the lid if you may have a pet jumping on it or putting paws on it to watch the cute little piggie inside

ETA-the wire shelving can be bought at any home improvement store like Lowe's or Home Dept

Menanie77 · Sep 19, 2011

Ok, so I got the cubes and we are going to make his new cage tonight. I wanted to do a small upper deck for his eating area...how would I manage that with the shelving for a lid? All I am seeing with the shelving lid are single level homes.

Right now I am using the carefresh bedding on the main level and his upper/eating area is just a plastic area. He has not pooped or anything up there but when I make the cage out of the cubes...do I just use the coroplast for the floor up there and no bedding?

If you do one level, how do you keep the bedding out of the food area?

Thank you!!!!!

Melanie

lissie · Sep 19, 2011

Welcome to GPC. There are some samples of closed, multi-level cages here.
Closed, Multi-Level - Guinea Pig Cage Photos

Some people add a mid-level to their close cage, like this:

Menanie77 · Sep 19, 2011

I like the midlevel idea. Is the coroplast support tied to the level or is it just standing there. I would want to be sure it is secure.

lissie · Sep 19, 2011

It's not my cage so I'm not sure. Looks like the support is just standing there.
To make a secure support, you can use wood dowels.

If you use closet shelves on both sides of the lid, it should be pretty strong on it's own.
What you can do is get 12" deep closet wire shelve and zip tie it to the back of the cage. Then add a 16" deep shelve and use zip tie to make hinges. Like this:

Menanie77 · Sep 19, 2011

Thank you!!!!!!

Mel

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