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Shellystroop

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My wife and I just got our first Guinea Pig and we have fallen in love. My son is very fascinated with our
new pet(we supervise all of his interactions with Sophie).

I made the mistake of buying the "ready-to-go" kit from the out local Petsmart. Big time mistake. I
really should have done more research before soaking money into this cage. I been spending a
great deal of time on this website and have decided to build a much bigger and better cage.

I figure we have enough room to build a cage that will be 28" by 42", with a corrugated plastic bottom.
I am hoping to add a second level, but I'm not sure how big that will be.

Chances are when this cage gets built, we will be adding a second guinea. I hope to have the cage built
by the end of the week, and have Sophie moved in shortly there after. I will upload photos of our girl in
her new home.

Thanks for all the great information. Wish me luck in finding corrugated plastic.

Dave
 

CavyMama

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OKay 28"X 42" is about a 2.4 X 3.6. It's slightly larger than what is needed for 1 pig but not quite large enough for 2 pigs. If your plan is to eventually get another pig, why not just make it a 2X4 to have enough room for 2 pigs.

Also, I'm glad you are planning to get a friend for your pig. A couple of things to keep in mind:

-Don't buy...ADOPT the next pig. You'll be giving a home to a homeless pig and keeping money out of the hands of breeding mills and those who fund them.

-Don't forget the 21 day quarantine for your new pig. It needs to be in a separate room and behind closed doors to prevent the spread of any airborne illness.
 

Petlovr

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Welcome to the forum! I hope you enjoy it, there's a lot of great info here.

Corrugated plastic is called coroplast here in the states. Call local sign shops, and tell them what you want it for. Sometimes you can pick it up fairly cheap. I just got 2 full 4 x 8 sheets of black, special order, for my bunnies. $15 per sheet, same as the white I have my pigs in. It comes in many colors if that's what you want.

You can always use the base of the pet store cage as the base for your "kitchen", which is where most people put their hay racks, water bottles, and food dishes. The pigs tend to hang out there, so they do most of their business there, too. They just need a ramp to get in and out. It makes clean up easier, and then you won't feel like you wasted money on the store bought cage. :)

This site is pro rescue/adoption (which I really like), so when you decide to get a second piggy, please consider a rescue or your local shelter. So many piggies need good homes, and supporting breeders by buying at the pet store only encourages more breeding. Also, be very careful to check the gender of any other pigs-even vets can mis-sex piggies, and you don't want to end up with babies.

Have fun building your cage. We love pig-tures here, so when you get a chance, we'd love to ooo and ahhh over your new addition and cage!
 

mufasa

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I'll second the adoption option. If you can't find a shelter with piggies nearby or anything on petfinder.com, don't forget about Craigslist where there are usually lots of great piggies looking for new homes.

Can't wait to see pigtures of your girl!
 

Shellystroop

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Thanks everyone. Once I get the cage built I will for sure look into adoption. I got my coroplast from a local plastics company for only $13.25 for a 4 x 8 sheet. Once we figure our placement, I can begin construction. I'm pretty excited about giving our new girl a proper home!

Cavymama,

Taking your advice, the new size of the cage will be 28" x 56". The only reason I am going with 56 is that panels I am going to use are 14", its much easier to enlarge the cage slightly the to cut the panels.

Thanks again everyone, look for pictures real soon.
 
Last edited:

jacqueline

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i made the same "mistake" you did ;) - i really should buy stock in petsmart - OOPS! I can't they're bbaadd to their animals!! >(. i bought my first pig, along with a ridiculously small cage the sales staff said would be just fine for 2 pigs. it wasn't even fine for 1 pig, turns out :eye-poppi. any way, i found this site, and built a c&C cage and, long story short, i now have 4 pigs. my own little herd. who knew??!! :eek: anyway, kudos to you for coming here, and learning about and doing better for your little sophie. there's alot to learn - again, who knew? - but we're all here to help each other. keep us posted! :eek:
 
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