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Size Help a Newbie! Adopted 3 new piggies - will this be big enough??

RubysMama

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Ok hopefully I'll be able to be succinct here lol.
Through a bit of an emergency situation, I've ended up with three new piggies - I had a single female and had been looking for a companion for her, and these three females desperately needed a new home. It was all very quick and here they showed up at my door step basically - just they in a little carrier, their grids from their cage, and a few toys and their cubbies.

So I'm trying to get a cage put together as quickly as possible, so that I can spend the rest of this day introducing the new gals to my Ruby. The poor things are a bit stressed out, and I want to get this built and get this show on the road.

They did come with enough grids to put something decent together, but I'm doubting if it's big enough. I'm going to attempt to attach photos here but I've got plenty of space to put an L-shape with grids left over to make little support boxes to get them up off the floor.

In the photos I've shown my "floor plan" of what the finished cage will look like, and I added a photo of me stuck in the halfway point. I'm stopping to make myself some tea and take a breather, and thought I'd ask in here if you all thought this will be enough cage room for 4 piggies (I've got other grids on the way from a friend, and would like to add one or two loft spaces or grids to make little fleece forests).
 

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bpatters

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Yes, it's plenty big. Thanks for taking them in.
 

RubysMama

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Phewf. Okay, I'll carry on putting this floor plan into action then.

You can see my crazy pile of "to sew" fleece that I am going to be making cage liners with. I'm going to be sewing all evening lol.

They seem to be very sweet little girls - they didn't balk too much when I picked them out of the carrier to put into our old Petsmart cage we happened to have. I know it's squished for them in there, but I'm bustin' my butt to get their big palace put together asap.

Hoping the introductions go well later, these little ladies seem very chatty and perky so far. I think Ruby will be happy to have a whole little gang of piggies to hang out with now :)
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Can't wait to see it when it's done and to see Ruby with her new friends! Nice job, and well done taking in the new piggies.
 

RubysMama

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Can't wait to see it when it's done and to see Ruby with her new friends! Nice job, and well done taking in the new piggies.

We're running into technical difficulties. Mainly, we mis cut the freakin coroplast sooo now we are trying to reconfigure to fit how we cut the coroplast without losing too much sq ft.

The girls took to each other almost immediately - so we've moved them into the 2x4 Midwest cage for now - they've paired off and are snuggled two each into the two big hideys. Miss Ruby has definitely been asserting her dominance, and there are two sweet girls who are very docile and just minding their own business and eating hay. The third new girl, we've taken to calling her Cookie because she is black and white lol, is challenging Ruby a bit but it seems to be abating. I think those two will take some time, but I was REALLY surprised at how well the intros went this evening since Ruby has never lived with any other guinea pig. My partner and I braced ourselves for a long and tough intro session, even got my son and his teenaged friend to be on hand in case we needed help hahaha.

We'll finish the big C&C cage tomorrow when I can look at it with fresh eyes. The L-shape is making it really tricky to get the coroplast cut properly and that shiz is expensive here in northern Ontario. So we are trying to work with what we've got.

Adding a photo of sweet little Ruby (the white one on the right looking a bit stunned and confused lol) and her three new amigos. This was maybe 1.5 minutes after first introducing themselves. The tiny little rust/dark coloured one my son and his best friend decided should be named Copper.
 

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CavyTV

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Awwww, they are all so gorgeous! I love the grey/white abyssinian one in the middle and the grey/brown one in the back. I've always wanted guinea pigs that look like that!

So it's Ruby, Cookie and Copper, right? What's the other one's name? I'm so jealous :crazy: I'm sure they are very happy to be with you and Ruby! Thanks for taking them in. I'm sure Ruby appreciates having now 3 piggie friends!!


P.S.

I think Ruby will definitely overpower Cookie, considering how big and fluffy she is compared to the rest of them lol It seems like the biggest piggies always take the boss role.
 

RubysMama

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Awwww, they are all so gorgeous! I love the grey/white abyssinian one in the middle and the grey/brown one in the back. I've always wanted guinea pigs that look like that!

So it's Ruby, Cookie and Copper, right? What's the other one's name? I'm so jealous :crazy: I'm sure they are very happy to be with you and Ruby! Thanks for taking them in. I'm sure Ruby appreciates having now 3 piggie friends!!


P.S.

I think Ruby will definitely overpower Cookie, considering how big and fluffy she is compared to the rest of them lol It seems like the biggest piggies always take the boss role.

Yes, so far it's: Ruby, Copper, Cookie, and....I dunno what the other little grey/brown one is. I've been calling her Little Bear all day so I think that'll stick.

I don't think we did the neutral-territory intro for long enough. They seemed to be getting on so well, and since we have been having a heck of a time getting the C&C cage figured out we figured they'd be alright in the 2x4' cage for now. Ruby and Cookie keep picking fights with each other but I'm trying not to intervene since it seems to be all talk, no bite (for now at least).

Its 10pm where I am right now. I suspect it will be a night of little sleep.

They're all super sweet, but I kind of feel like I had a newborn and then someone dropped off triplets at my doorstep. Feeling a weeeeeee bit overwhelmed over here tonight. Haha
 

CavyTV

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I'm sure they'll work things out. Only separate if blood is drawn. Let them do their guinea pig thing :) Once they're in the bigger cage I think they'll calm down a bit. Ruby and Cookie are just trying to figure out who will be boss. It might involve a little chasing, nipping, rumblestrutting and a whole bunch of other crazy scary looking crap but just leave them be. As long as there's no blood, they're fine.

Best of luck
 

RubysMama

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I'm sure they'll work things out. Only separate if blood is drawn. Let them do their guinea pig thing :) Once they're in the bigger cage I think they'll calm down a bit. Ruby and Cookie are just trying to figure out who will be boss. It might involve a little chasing, nipping, rumblestrutting and a whole bunch of other crazy scary looking crap but just leave them be. As long as there's no blood, they're fine.

Best of luck

Yep that's what I keep telling myself. I'm just letting them do their thing. It's tough - especially when I walked by them all and Ruby was looking at me like "Mommy what have you DONE?!" Haha

I definitely think once they are in their bigger habitat they will be much happier. I'll have to post some photos when I'm done!
 

CavyTV

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Yes, please do. I'd love to see their cage! LOL my boys look at me like that sometimes too.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Those are some seriously adorable pigs! Ruby is HUGE! My Sly has the exact same colouring as the one you're calling Copper, and oddly enough little bear is one of Sly's nicknames. Not sure what the coro costs in northern Ontario but it ain't cheap in southern Ontario either. About $40-50 a sheet, including tax. It cost me roughly $100 to build a C&C cage for my fellas.

Just on a sidenote, you'll want to be very careful having that cage so close to a baseboard heater, if indeed that's where the cage is staying.
 

RubysMama

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Well. After putting the whole thing aside for the night, we got up early this morning and put our heads together. I'm sticking with my original layout - it's going to be quite the palace lol. We made a base with extra grids on the bottom so the cage is now actually level with the arm of the sofa, which will be fun for the piggies to come have a visit when we're on the couch.

We have to go pick up one more sheet of coroplast and then it's time to put in the liners and decorate.

After a break, this all made much more sense today and I can't wait to get this all wrapped up and see what the piggies think.

Side note: Ruby is definitely coming out on top of the food chain in our new little herd. They all come to the middle of the cage to eat some hay, they all had some veggies this morning, and then Ruby sent them all back to their hideys lol. Other than her taking a little tuft of fur out of Cookie this morning, all seems to be going well. And I suspect when they get into their palace, they'll do much better. I'm going to sew up some fleece forests later instead of the pigloos and tree stump hideys they have right now. I think that will help also.

Going from 1 to 4 piggies has been incredibly overwhelming, but I think it's all going to be alright in the end.
 

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RubysMama

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Those are some seriously adorable pigs! Ruby is HUGE! My Sly has the exact same colouring as the one you're calling Copper, and oddly enough little bear is one of Sly's nicknames. Not sure what the coro costs in northern Ontario but it ain't cheap in southern Ontario either. About $40-50 a sheet, including tax. It cost me roughly $100 to build a C&C cage for my fellas.

Just on a sidenote, you'll want to be very careful having that cage so close to a baseboard heater, if indeed that's where the cage is staying.

The baseboards are no longer in use - we have a natural gas forced air now.
And yes, Ruby is like Godzilla piggie lol

The coroplast is $15 a sheet for 30x60" , and by the end of this whole thing I think we'll have used 4.
I am so happy that the grids came with the piggies, and an experienced friend came over last night when i was melting down and brought another big bag full of grids and connectors. So we're just paying for the coroplast.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Well then, you lucked out on the grids and connectors. The coro has remained about the same price, but the grids and connectors have doubled in price here in the last 5 years. When I built my original C&C cage and pen for Pooper and Sly, it was about $25 for the box of grids and such. And a few months ago when I had to expand to separate the babies and I needed to build another 2x4, it cost me $50 for the grids.

That is going to be one awesome cage, can't wait to see it done and housing the girls. So much change in their lives in the last week, and all of it seems for the better!
 

spy9doc

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Inquiring minds want to know........how much does Ruby weigh? :confused: Would love to see her next to my Sparky. He is 3.3 lbs and is huge in comparison to his brother, but his body is just really dense, especially in comparison to the average Abby body type.

Wish I were there to help you build! That's one of my favorite things about having cavies. Can't wait to see the finished product!
 

RubysMama

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Almost ready for the herd to go in - just have to fill the hay feeders, hook up their water bottles, and clip up the tents etc. I've got a big fleece set I need to finish sewing that will be better coordinated but for now, this will just have to do. This C&C cage experience has been a bit overwhelming but it's coming together:
 

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RubysMama

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Inquiring minds want to know........how much does Ruby weigh? :confused: Would love to see her next to my Sparky. He is 3.3 lbs and is huge in comparison to his brother, but his body is just really dense, especially in comparison to the average Abby body type.

Wish I were there to help you build! That's one of my favorite things about having cavies. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Ruby is 2.8lbs (1.27 kg at her last checkup) - she's alllllll belly haha. The poor girl was in a small pet store cage, never had hay and only had unlimited pellets (no fruits or veggies either) in her former home. So we're hoping with a better diet and more room and exercise she'll slim down a bit. But she's happy and otherwise seems in good health so our vet said to just monitor for now.

I'm going to do a weigh-in of all 4 piggies tonight when I transfer them to the new cage, so that I can keep an eye on them all as they continue adjusting to each other.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Sparky is 3.3 lbs? I think Punkin is catching up lol! He's now 3.12 lbs, but that chunky little bugger is still growing! He just turned 9 months old on July 8th. Scooter, who was quite a bit smaller than Punkin was is catching up quite quickly now too. Scooter is up to 2.97lbs!


Inquiring minds want to know........how much does Ruby weigh? :confused: Would love to see her next to my Sparky. He is 3.3 lbs and is huge in comparison to his brother, but his body is just really dense, especially in comparison to the average Abby body type.

Wish I were there to help you build! That's one of my favorite things about having cavies. Can't wait to see the finished product!
 

spy9doc

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Almost ready for the herd to go in. This C&C cage experience has been a bit overwhelming but it's coming together

Since you are in the process of finishing this masterpiece, a suggestion for the finishing touch. Take a high temperature glue gun and put a drop or two of the glue everywhere that a grid joins a connector. This will make your cage so sturdy that you will be able to sit or sleep in it. lol Careful, you may just be tempted to do that before installing the piggies.
 

RubysMama

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Done - ish.

There seems to be peace in the kingdom. Ruby has groomed all three new girls, they ran around chattering pleasantly (or at least, more pleasantly than they did when all smooshed into a too-small cage), and now they're resting. I kept the pigloos out for now because it seemed to be causing a ruckus - everyone seems to be getting along nicely now.

Tomorrow, I'll sew up some fleece forests and tunnels and we'll see how it all goes. So far, so good.
 

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