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Midwest How to decorate midwest guinea pig habitat plus cage? :)

sasha_and_suzy

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I currently have the midwest guinea pig habitat plus and the expandable one is currently being shipped. I really love c&c cages but due to my laziness I just got the habitat plus. I don't know, c&c cages seem much more neat and clean looking, and I want my cage to look like that, with nice fleece bedding and cute diy things. Can you guys show me pictures of cutely decorated midwest cages? :) oh and what is really he difference between the two?
 

Starthecavy123

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There's not really a difference besides c&c cages are bigger and more customizable. Plus I've heard alot of people complain about the canvas bottom of the Midwest cage. Where with c&c's you have plaatic which is more sturdy. But other than that a cage is a cage. I hope this helped.
 

Starthecavy123

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I would guess you just decorate it the same way. Just use your imagination.
 

Red5Iam

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Before I built my girls their new cage, they were in a Midwest. And I just made a fleece liner to put on the bottom, and used the extra fleece to make a lap pad, a pee pad (for under water bottles, at the time) and a sort of hammock for the corner.
10303747_10152406500265325_4597697129006958630_n.jpg

I can't find my other pictures with the other things in it. But, it is mostly just the same way you'd decorate a C&C, except the dimensions of the cage are different.
 

PumpkinPig

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I have a Midwest Habitat for right now until I can get or make a bigger C & C cage. I picked out some fleece prints I like from Joann Fabrics to line the bottom of it and purchased some premade accessories from shops on Etsy. I wish I had a sewing machine so I could just make some of the little items myself.
IMG_1722.jpg

Sorry that it's sideways, I can't figure out how to turn vertical pictures right side up! :p
 

MrCavyMadness

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Heres my cage.. I have a hay bag in the mail also


Edit: I also now have a zebra cavy cave in there
 

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blessedmom

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Here is mine. I made an additional area for the kitchen so they have more open room. I just used a plastic thing that came in the bottom of my dog's kennel (he has a cushy bed in there that takes up the whole thing) and used the piece that came with the MW Cage as the insert plus panels from the lid. I've added another fleece forest in the opposite corner since this pic because my boys LOVE having them!
 

jasbrent

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So fleece does well with a Midwest cage? Just put mine in last night and its already smelly. Maybe I haven't layered it well enough? I have news paper, towels, and pee pads then fleece. In that order. Ideas??
 

bpatters

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Fleece doesn't work well in a small cage, [MENTION=32677]jasbrent[/MENTION]. The bigger the better, for fleece.

But you've got too much stuff in the bottom of the cage. Peed-on newspaper smells horrible, and it isn't necessary. For fleece to work, all you need is an absorbent layer (towels in your case, although they may be contributing to the smell), and fleece. Maybe pee pads in the places where they go the most, but if you've got them all over the cage, that's too many.
 

jasbrent

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Thats to many? I will have to do more rearranging then. I want and need this to work!! lol. I will maybe take out the newspaper. I don't want to buy anymore bedding for them. So flipping expensive . wonder if a pee tray will work or if I have someone sew some pee pads for me with the extra fabric from the fleece.... I just see so many people on here with MIDWEST cages use fleece so I am bound and determined to make it work.
 

dani_starr

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Have you looked into uhaul moving furniture pads/ blankets? In my opinion, they smell FAR less than a towel does. Towels get stinky really fast.

The uhaul pads are soo cheap too, only $8 for one, and you can cut one to have two layers easy. :)

https://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Protective-stuff/Furniture-Pad?id=2670

I have 2 layers of uhaul, with one layer of fleece on top. I might add another layer of uahul or fleece on the bottom, just to make it more squishy.

I'm also a huge fan of having a kitchen area with disposable bedding. I got something similar to this from the container store which works perfectly. https://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10019974&N=&Ntt=stacking+clear

I fill it with about an inch of carefresh bedding, put a pile of hay in the far back corner, and put their pellet dish and water bottle on the other side. I dump it out every 2-3 days, and spot clean as needed. They pee mostly in there.
 
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jasbrent

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That cheap!? I will look into it. Thanks!
 

dani_starr

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Yep, they are insanely cheap! Just use the store finder to see if there is a store near you that carries it in stock, if not, then you can have it shipped. :)

They smell like wet denim jackets when you wash them (as they are made from recycled denim), but have no odor once dried.
 

jasbrent

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Thanks. I don't think we have a store here but will look.
 

jasbrent

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This is my cage now with the fleece. The purple hides the poop but not the hair or hay peices....lol I see now why everyone picks a patterned fleece lol 😉
 

blessedmom

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This is my cage now with the fleece. The purple hides the poop but not the hair or hay peices....lol I see now why everyone picks a patterned fleece lol 😉
What did you end up putting under the fleece? The uhaul pads were the best thing I found when I used the Midwest cage. I ended up building a grid cage because I wanted something bigger. Now I use wood pellets with a layer of fleece now. It is hands down the easiest method as well as least expensive! I put down my wood pellets on 10/20 so it's been a couple days over 3 weeks and they will easily make it another 2 weeks I bet before I need to replace! It took 2 big bags to fill my cage. The bags are $6 each at Tractor Supply (that's were I went but other places sell them). A Midwest cage would likely be good with one bag. The wood pellets eliminate odors completely! I have one layer of fleece on top so it's softer and it keeps poops from getting mixed in. I just sweep up or shake off the poops daily and wash the one layer of fleece weekly! That's it! The downside with the uHaul pads was all the laundry. And it was very time consuming to redo it all weekly. It's super easy this way. Read this thread with others doing this same method:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102467
 

jasbrent

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Right now I am using some washable pee pads my grandma gave me for under the fleece. Not working to well. Stinks after a few hrs. So washing it every other day which is taking a lot of time. Don't want to be buying wood chips often. Will have to look around. Never seen any for as cheep as you are talking about
 

joys_cavies

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@jasbrent would say that the Midwest cage plus is good for two females?
 

jasbrent

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Its a great sizr
 

joys_cavies

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Okay thanks [MENTION=32677]jasbrent[/MENTION]. And your piggies in your profile pic are cute (sorry if I sound weird lol)
 
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