C&C I need space saving ideas!!

[Kimberly713]

I have a terribly small bedroom and can no longer stand the crampedness of it. I have two female guinea pigs, and they've got a 2x5 cage, with a 1x2 kitchen that I guess technically makes it L shaped. It's too big! I want the best for my girls and a 2x4 seems too small for them, since they 'bicker' A LOT. The biggest issue I think is the two huge bins of fleece and such, 25lb box of hay, hand vac etc that just kind of floats about my room. I'm at like a creative wall right now and just cannot think of any other way to make the cage more useful. The only thing I've come up with is make their kitchen area up a level but i do not know how to make the ramp work with that plan... Sooo, if you've got any sketches, pictures, etc of ideas I could do it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[CanadianComforts]

Have you thought of building 2 2x4s on top of each other with a ramp to get to the other cage?

 

[Kimberly713]

I used to have a stacked cage like that, but I hate that it's so dark and difficult to clean.

 

[pinky]

I divide my hay into smaller bags and store the extra in a different room. My supplies are all stored in an armoire so nothing is on the floor. You might want to get a table or stand for your cage so you can use the space underneath for storage.

 

[CanadianComforts]

I have a stacked 2x6 and its far from dark. What I have done (sorry camera is broken) is the bottom cage is on the floor I have the sides and back two grids high, the front is one grid high because I don't have any cats or dogs so I can have it open. This allows for LOTS of light to get in with no issues. Here is what the bottom/boys cage looks like:





And because its so long (2x6) I added grids in the middle for support.

Doesn't look dark at all does it .

 

[3littlewheekers]

Hi there! Good for you for making the size of their home important even if it does make things cramped for you!! That being said, we have a quite large c&c. It's a 3x5 with a 3x1 kitchen up top. I was concerned bout taking space up on the bottom for the ramp, and thought about doing an "L" shape, but wanted to keep it to the size of a 3x5 since the cage is in our living room. Anyway, we centered the ramp so they could still do full laps without the ramp being in the way, and I'm glad we did because they now do laps all the time. They're quite fun to watch! Have you thought about going one grid wider and maybe a grid shorter so it's more like a box? I don't know if that would help if maybe your cage now is too long. But making it a bit wider wouldn't really take away space. Also, is your cage on a stand?? You could store things underneath if that helps. Ours is on the floor right now and were finding that all the piggy supplies find their way in the closet disorganized (which drives me crazy as I can't stand disorganization!). I'm thinking I will in the near future, hopefully this next week, get some more grids and make a stand and that way I can get cute little fabric drawers to hold all their stuff! Good luck!!

 

[PrincessAngel]

I feel your pain! I adopted 2 girls last year upping my herd to a total of 3 and I did not have the space to expand my 2x4 anymore and they started fighting and the cage would get super dirty. My solution was to build OVER my other furniture. So I have a 2x3 hay loft on top of my tv which utilized otherwise unusable space! The hay loft is a top of an old petstore cage and it is supported by planks of wood and bungee cords. It is very stable.

I also built a custom stand which is much taller than a grid stand and has shelves and doors to hide away the piggy supplies. Although I keep my hay in the garage and only bring in a bucket or two at a time and I keep that hay and the litter in my closet.

 

[Kimberly713]

Thanks for the ideas! I have two ideas as of now. One to build the grid stand 2 grids high so I can stuff the hay box, etc under there, and keep it a 2x5. And the other, which is just an idea not sure if it will work in my room but it's to make a 3x4 cage. With both designs I think I'm going to do away with the kitchen areas. The hay on the fleece will drive me crazy for awhile but it's worth it to save space and money on litter for just the kitchen! I might buy a shallow tray later or something, who knows.

 

[3littlewheekers]

If you could swing the 3x4 in your room easier than a 2x5 I would do it. If it saves you space thats awesome! If I did that math right it's also increasing the square footage of your cage. You'd have enough room in the cage at that point to get a litter box for your hay instead of the kitchen.

 

[Kim37040]

I have 2 cages. George and Patch are in a 2x4 and Charlie is in his 2x2 quarantine cage. I have both cages sitting on top of a table and 2 rubbermaid storage containers with drawers. I store their hay and bedding under the table and keep the fleece, medical papers, vitamins, etc in the rubbermaid drawers. The bedrooom they are in is tiny. So, I am always looking for ways to get more out of it. Once I have all 3 pigs together I will make them an L shaped 3 x 6.