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C&C Durability?

Grandmaster

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Hi all,

I have two piggies and I'm thinking of building my first standard materials C&C cage. I would like to get an idea of how long the cubes or coroplast/corflute last before they need replacing. And do the cubes tend to rust at all?

Thanks for any help!
 

pinky

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As long as the guinea pigs don't nibble the coroplast, it'll last forever. It's made of corrugated plastic. I make 7 to 7.5" sides so mine won't chew the sides. Cubes will rust if they get wet. As long as you keep them indoors, it won't be a problem. There is a protective finish on them but any exposed metal can rust and then it travels under the protective finish. I've bought cubes at garage sales, only to discover they were rusty. They must have stored them in a shed or used them outdoors.
 

aqh88

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The silver panels rust easier. The black (and I think the blue but haven't had as long) are well powder coated. I've had some 10 years and they have minimal rust including those being used outside for chicken pens and grazing pens. When I moved out of the apartment after 5 years I zipped all my grids in to pack of 10s and they look completely new
P1010103.jpg


Another 5 years those same panels held up a chicken brooder pen


Outdoor for bantam pen and they still look fine
SANY2032.jpg


You'll start to see tiny bits of rust in the welds if they get urine on them repeatedly, scraped with urine on them, or used outdoors for extended periods of time. It'll take longer than the life of your guinea pig though.

With coro your mileage will vary. It will depend on any joints you have to make, how often you want to change your cage design (c&c is sometimes called legos for adults), if you put your cage on the floor so you can step in to it to clean (every time you step in it compresses a little bit), and some pigs will chew. If you cut it all properly the first time out from a single piece, tape the corners well, don't want to change your cage design, and don't have nibbly pigs you should get years, probably 5+ years out of your coro.
 

Grandmaster

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Thanks all for the detailed info and pics!
 

Grandmaster

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Also is there anything wrong with buying a commercial guinea pig cage off someone if it satisfies size requirements?
 

AmberCalzone

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No, nothing wrong as long as it meets size requirements! The only thing wrong with commercial cages is that they usually don't!
 

Grandmaster

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Yes that is true! But I have a possibility that is the size of a 2X4 C&C. Thanks.
 

AmberCalzone

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Do you know what type it is? The only commercial cage I've heard of that meets minimum requirements is the Midwest, but that's bare minimum requirements (2x4 feet, not the same as a 2x4 C&C). The one I first had for my pigs also met bare minimum requirements (2x4 feet), but it's not on the market anymore :/ Which sucks, because it was a great little starter cage, much better than any of the other commercial cages out there (I'd argue even better than the midwest, because although it is the same size it had a hard plastic bottom instead of the canvas. I never had the Midwest, but I can't imagine my liking the canvas bottom).

But anyway, I'd be very interested in knowing the brand of this cage! If it really is the same size as a 2x4 C&C that is AWESOME! Way to go to whoever made an actually acceptable size commercial cage!
 
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