So you think my home made cage is ok

guineapigman said:

the cage is actually 2.5 x4 which is 10 square feet not including the loft.

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, when people are saying AxB on this site, they are generally talking about grids which are 14" each, not feet (confusing, I know). So the size I said you were making (2x4) would have been 2.4x4.6 feet--which is the minimum recommended on this site for two females. So, since you are planning on two, you should be ok--although you might want to stick with females.

Good luck on litter training them your gonna need it. Guinea pigs are nearly impossible to litter train. They will go where they want to go.

Your cage looks lovely!

Mine aren't "litter trained" per se, but I do plan my cage accordingly. They mostly go in their hidey, and where they eat. I have a litterbox filled with recycled paper pellets below their hay, which I stir daily so no one spot can get particularly dirty, and I change out little bits every two days so it stays fresh. I have a pad under their hidey which is separate to their floor, so I just shake the droppings off in to a bin on a daily basis, and flip it so as again, no one side can get too dirty. It works well for my girls. I also put pads under their bottle just to soak up any drips etc.

Ok, Here are the changes I have made so far. I do need to get some cable ties to hold the cage together more securely than the string I have now, and to hold down the fleece. I have changed out the ramp for a wider one, I have changed the chicken wire out for some wooden barriers. I have put down the shower curtain, the newspaper, towels and finally the fleece. I have made a hay box out of a cardboard box and an old hay rack. It has sloped insides do that no hay will get stuck in the corners.

Haha I have that same towel.

I really like your hay rack!

Please move the cage away from the heater. If you need to put them in a different room, then do it. Just not by a heater!
Also, I noticed a gap in the picture you recently posted on here in the top left corner. Please fix that!

And I have that same fleece blanket!
I like what you're doing for your soon-coming-home piggies.

This is a very exciting and I am happy for you. I love to see how it is going along as you prepare. For materials I would try and get some zip ties, and maybe some binder clips. Also try and find any plastic sign material you can it is cleanable unlike cardboard which has to be thrown away once its wet/dirty. The main things to remember when making a cage is that they will pee and poop everywhere. So poop will go flying outside of cage if there are no sides and the bottom of the cage will get wet if it is not waterproof. Also you want to be able to clean anything they pee on or it will get stinky (so their house etc will just have to be tossed every few days if its cardboard). If it were me I would get rid of the loft as it is more difficult to clean under and pigs like open space to run in (once they get comfortable with you) they are not the most agile creatures and prefer flat land and gentle slopes. They will also chew on everything, so be ready for this when building the cage. Once you get your pigs you will probably change things a lot. I remember my first cage setup changed 3 times in one week. If you get young guinea pigs they grow very fast, and get big and fat quickly so remember that when making their hidey houses.

Here is another update. I have started making the hidey houses and fixing up some of the details. @piggsters, that radiator is nearly never turned on, I am heat sensitive. what my pigs get here it will never be turned on. That gap in the top corner is not actually a gap, it isn't visible in the picture but it is sealed up with a small bit of 10mm weld mesh wire. Originally it was chicken wire but I have changed it out because of advice I got here.
@jinxie, I have already gone through a pack of zip ties making this, I am getting two more this evening to finish it off. Funny you should mention sign material, earlier on in the summer I got a huge 10' by 5' piece of corriboard (also called corex and coroplast on this site, but I have always called it corriboard) for free from a local grocery shop. I had intended using it for chicken coops but it isn't really strong enough for use outside so. I am using some of it on my cage. If you look at the first picture the base it lined with a piece (not quite to the corners though). The whole thing is lined with a shower curtain, including 7" of the sides. The loft is very easy to remove for cleaning so I should be fine for that. I am making their hidey houses as big as I can.

The first thing I have changed is their hay rack, I have re-used the wire rack on the original one but made the box from corriboard. I have made a litter tray type thing for infront of the hay rack that also protects the ground from the water bottles and the food will also go in there. I am not sure what bedding will go in there,some pine shavings (kiln dried, dust extracted) or newspaper probably or maybe even back to nature paper bedding.

I have to date made three hidey houses, a hammock and a tunnel.

One corner unit type one made from tree branches and cotton cloth for the roof. The second is made out of a plastic basket that you can get in €2 shops and lined with a polyester scarf on the sides. If you can see in the pictures, the entrance is covered with little pieces of fleece that are hanging down, are these a good idea? The last is made out of little black ikea basket type things that are made of thin corriboard and lined with a material.

I made the hammock myself and I will probably make another one some that they can be changed out when one gets dirty. I really like the tunnel I made and I could make a tutorial if anyone wants one. I made it out of corriboard that I cut down the middle and made into a tube. I then made a liner to go around it and inside it. The great thing about it is that whet it is flattened it pops right back up.

For all the hidey houses I have made liter tray type liners from either corriboard or cardboard wrapped in shower curtain. These can be removed everyday, emptied, wiped down and put back in.

I am waiting on some fleece blankets I ordered online to make a third floor liner and to cut up for little blankets for inside the hidey houses.

I would also like to add that other than the fleece I am waiting on and the cable ties I have bought nothing specifically for use on the cage. Almost everything was gotten for free or repurposed from around outer house.

And some more photos,

Kinda skimmed through the latest info but make sure you know the dimensions of a guinea pig before building all those houses.

I hope it holds up after the guinea pigs get their paws on it. It has more little pieces than most cages.

Two suggestions I would make are to a) make sure you are not taking up all their floorspace with houses. I'm not sure where you were gonna put that last one, but the floorspace already looks pretty tight. You want them to be able to run laps if/when they feel like it. Also, the edges of the hole in that last hidey look pretty jagged. Even though it's plastic, a rough edge could irritate a pig's very delicate foot, or scratch them. Maybe sand down? Or glue something softer (maybe some rubber matting?) around the edge? However, I like the fringe. I have two tunnels with fringe on either end, and two fleece forrest lounges, and they seem to really like the privacy/accessibility of the fringe. Plus, it's super cute when they poke their heads out.

@guineapigman, I admire your ingenuity & innovative ideas & creations. You are putting a lot of thought & care into your plans. And you are being so receptive to all the constructive advice being given here.

You are going to be a great piggy daddy!

@Bodhi, I asked in another thread what the dimensions should be so I am fairly sure they should be fine. If some of them are destroyed I don't mind, they didn't cost anything but time to make lol
@ginipigsinspace - I should have mentioned, they won't all be in at the same time. I will change them out every week to give them some variety, maybe three at a time. I might make a couple more things so I have a better variety. thanks for the tip on the plastic. I will sand it down, maybe some fleece or rubber tubing to cover it over? I might re-line the green basket to tidy it up a little bit and put a fringe (didn't know what it was called thanks) on the other entrance as well.
@oldnewie thanks, I try my best

Hi, here is another question. Is straw a suitable bedding for guinea pigs? Either normal straw or chopped dust extracted straw. Thanks

Straw is NOT suitable as a bedding. It doesn't absorb moisture, and it gets yucky VERY quickly.

I know normal straw doesn't absorb moisture, but chopped straw has the outer protective layer removed and only has the more absorbent inner part left. I have used it with rabbits and I found it very absorbent if it was changed every couple of days, and it is much cheaper than kiln dried pine shavings.

Wow thats really creative. Well done for trying. You may find in the future you want to lift the cage off the floor as piggys and us like it and makes it easier for our backs lol. This can easily be done with a big sheet of wood and some legs made from cheap wood. Good luck