Pigs at school

Here's a good resource on guinea pigs in the classroom (as you can see, you might have your hands a lot more full than you thought):

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I personally think it is a bad idea to have pets in a classroom. But that is just my two cents.

It may be cool to have the piggie in the classroom but you must take proper precautions to make sure all is well.

First of all you should make a 2X3 c and c cage for the pig to be in at school, make another 2X4 for at your house.
bring the pig to school in the morning and take her home when you leave. Allways bring her home for the weekend.

You should get another pig to keep her happy, have a cover locked on the top of the cage so little hands cant scare her too much.

You want too teach about how to care for a guinea pig uave them paint her or bring veggies from home for her. And use fleece you dont want a child end up being allergic to minimize allergys fleece is best, bring it home and wash it every couple of days so it stays cleen and doesnt stink up the classroom too much.

A pig must never be left alone over the weekend or even when you go home every day.

I think C&C is great guys, dont get me wrong, but if you get a single level bunny-size pet store cage it can meet or exceed the space that our piggers need and make cleaning and moving a million times easier for us. I haven't had my C&C that long, and I'm sure there's a much easier system to cleaning that I'll just figure out eventually, but pet store cages are just easier. So I know I'm a little behind but if you still haven't gotten one I would definately reccomend a bunny/rabbit sized cage.

I've never seen a pet store cage that meets the standards, other than the Midwest Habitat. I initially bought a Living World Deluxe Extra Large cage for Mufasa before I knew about minimum cage sizes. It's one of the biggest pet store cages out there and it's still not large enough. I ended up getting a second one when I got Borat and Amy (Borat was mis-sexed so I had to keep them separate). Now that I have two females, I've got the two cages connected and it's still only the equivalent of 2 1/2 by 3 grids.

EllieKRitter said:

I think C&C is great guys, dont get me wrong, but if you get a single level bunny-size pet store cage it can meet or exceed the space that our piggers need and make cleaning and moving a million times easier for us. I haven't had my C&C that long, and I'm sure there's a much easier system to cleaning that I'll just figure out eventually, but pet store cages are just easier. So I know I'm a little behind but if you still haven't gotten one I would definately reccomend a bunny/rabbit sized cage.

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Sorry, but there is no store manufactured bunny cage that will "meet or exceed" our cage size recommendations.

I like Piggypogs' suggestion. I don't usually adopt out pigs for classrooms, but once I did because the teacher made two C&C cages, one for school and one for home, and transported the pigs with her every day.

Usually these days, school districts do not allow animals in classrooms. Probably because of allergies and liability.

EllieKRitter said:

I think C&C is great guys, dont get me wrong, but if you get a single level bunny-size pet store cage it can meet or exceed the space that our piggers need and make cleaning and moving a million times easier for us. I haven't had my C&C that long, and I'm sure there's a much easier system to cleaning that I'll just figure out eventually, but pet store cages are just easier. So I know I'm a little behind but if you still haven't gotten one I would definately reccomend a bunny/rabbit sized cage.

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Even bunny cages don't provide enough space for guinea pigs.
And even if they did, C&C cages are STILL very much cheaper to build than buying a pet store cage. My cage is 3-4X the size of any pet store cage and it only cost me $80 to build it.

it's possible to make a "C&C" like cage from wire shelving froma home center, and I'm guessing this sort of shelving gets dinged up to the point of being hard to sell all time... if you ask at a some center about saving and donating dinged up shleving, I bet you can make a good cage at minimal cost.

Plase do NOT use scraps from the wood shop for bedding - new paper will work, or maybe the home ech class will sew some fleece liners for you. If the cafeteria had fresh veggies, ask them to save scraps for the pig. and aslt but very far from least, see if you, or another person be it a teacher, staff or parent would like to take the G pig home on weekends - s/he will need an equaly good set up there.

BTW - smell will be an issues so you need to figure out ASAP a cleaning schulde. depending on grade/age of kids that may be 100% you or mostly the kids

Just think of the cage at school as a playtime cage not the main cage she will only spend 7-8 hours a day at school

I would make sure none of your students are allergic to your guinea pig.

You can still build a 2X3 C&C. It won't take up that much space and 7-8 hours is a long time to spend in a petstore cage. And unless you plan on taking her home every night, it WILL be her main cage. You can make one with a lid or order to prevent kids reaching in. It's much larger than any petstore cage. Just think of the petstore cage as the closet sized area where she will sleep, eat and use the bathroom all in one little area. A C&C cage will smell less, is easier to clean and will give her loads more space to run around in.

For school I'd get Midwest Habitat with cover if you don't want to build your own. It's big enough for one piggie. Just throw in some newspaper, cover with a fleece blanket and put in a cardboard box for a hidey. For home, maybe a kiddie pool? You can probably get it cheap this time of year, a lot of space to run around and easy to clean.

Oh and I would get orchard grass instead of hay for her to eat as it's less allergenic. A lot of kids are allergic to hay.

Don't put newspapers under fleece. You need an absorbent material under fleece such as towels or uhaul padding. Personally,I don't think I'd use fleece in a classroom because it needs a lot of sweeping which could be messy and time consuming. I'd go with something absorbent like Carefresh. I agree that you might have kids with allergies so you need to make sure pets are allowed. I'd bring the guinea pig home each evening, too, and make sure you have a carrier that will offer some protection from the weather when it gets cold. I don't think pets in a classroom is a good thing. It might be entertaining to the kids but it's not a good environment for the animal.

foggycreekcavy said:

Sorry, but there is no store manufactured bunny cage that will "meet or exceed" our cage size recommendations.

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In Scandinavia there is. I've found 3-4 cages between 7.5 and the largest 13 sq ft. (Inside measurements.)
Not really relevant for the OP or this thread, but can be important to know in the future nonetheless as we don't have any C&C materials.

There may be some pet store cages suitable for a guinea pig but there are none in north america, any pet store cage in north america is going to be too small for permanent living, they can be used for quarintine though so you can easily put it back in storage.

Never house a guinea pig in a pet store cage, measure the inside useable space to see if a big one is good for guinea pigs.
Be sure to measure if its over the minimum or greatly exceeds the minimum space for a pig share ot with us these cages must exist but are hugely rare as. Have never seen one.

foggycreekcavy said:

Sorry, but there is no store manufactured bunny cage that will "meet or exceed" our cage size recommendations.

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I know this has nothing to do with topic but there are some cages that do meet the cage size recommendations.
I have a store brought one that is around 1 and a half by 4 and a half girds, It isn't very wide but It does met the standard. (It's a back up one) and there are others that are bigger for sale at some pet shops over here.

1 1/2 grids wide doesn't meet the standard for width. 2 grids is the minimum width for the C&C cages.

CavyMama said:

1 1/2 grids wide doesn't meet the standard for width. 2 grids is the minimum width for the C&C cages.

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1.5 grids is too narrow but the minimum width is not necessarily 2 grids wide to achieve minimum or preferred area. Due to space constraints, I slightly overlapped my grids and have a 24 x 56 C & C double decker cage which ended up being 9.3333 square feet...which is above minimum. My other double decker is the full 2 grids x 4 grids. Personally, I like the overlapped one better because it's unbelievably sturdy. I didn't even need to add an I-beam under the top level. If I ever redo the other cage, I'm going to overlap that one, too. Visually, you can't tell the difference and they still have a lot of space in there.

YAY! Another teacher !

I have 3 pigs that go to school with me. In my classroom, I have a C & C enclosure, a 2 x 5. I have room for it there, and don't have to worry about cats, like at home. My students LOVE my pigs, so much so that one of them called herself "Auntie." Time with one of them is a reward for excellent behavior, and I use them for teachable moments, like charting food preferences, or weights.

I set up the school environment just like home...they have the "Villa", and the "weekend cottage." I have a small animal carrier, and I take them home every weekend. I tell them on Monday morning that we are going to school. They just hang out in their carrier for a bit.

I don't think I"d use wood shavings from the shop...they are most likely loaded with chemicals. Try apsen shavings...NOT cedar or pine!...and probably an aquarium isn't big enough for her. Yes, it does run into a little money, since you end up with 2 of everything, but SO worth it.

When I go to the teacher's lounge for a bit in the morning, I often roll a pig up in a small towel and take it with me. They socialize, too!

Have fun on your piggy adventure!!!