I want your leftovers!

[Kiyisha]

@HugglesBubble aww that is so super sweet of you!! Thank you! And we'd appreciate any leftovers you might have, though from the sounds of it shipping is killer when it comes to these grids! It may just be cheaper just to buy them than get leftovers, but I am trying to talk him into the trip to pick up the grids! If the seller still has them of course it'd be worth the trip cause I'm fairly certain 45 grids is more than enough to do top bottom and cover of the cage which is fantastic!

Will you be posting pictures of your finished cage? I'd love to see it, it's amazing what people can do with the home made cages lol

 

[HugglesBubble]

Sure! And i know what you mean LOL I picked up 44 grids off on craigslist, they were so heavy we had to split them in half and carry 22 at a time.
but if i have extras, and get permission, xD Maybe we can work something out to get you the extra's if any

 

[Kiyisha]

@HugglesBubble that'd be awesome thank you so much I'm very eager to see your finished cage, as well as post up picks of mine! Maybe I won't feel so bad about posting pictures of my piggies once I have their cage done, now it's rather embarrassing as they have a really small cage ^^; but I love these boys and cant wait to show off my efforts once I get the materials to do so!

 

[HugglesBubble]

Don't be embarrassed, my pigs when i first got them.. (ehe..) one lived in a store bought, the other in a small fishtank..
I then moved them both into the store bought cage, and they were both babies, so they fit in there for awhile. But they started to fight, so i gave them a closet cage..on the floor.. (Yeah..) they faught even more lol, which is when i started to look here on this site. (This was about a year ago btw ) and i kept looking into building my c&c. So no worries! Ive hit the rut a few times, with food, habitats, but they all get by ^^ my pigs are currently in a 2x6, with 3 boars. soon hopefully, they will be in 2 , 2x6's joined together in a L. Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

[piggydaddy1]

I'm sure some of you have already seen it, but if not here is a picture of my cage for my two piggy girls.

 

[HugglesBubble]

It looks great, the fleece is so cute

 

[Kiyisha]

@piggydaddy1 ohhhh i just love that!! It's so cute!! and that fleece!! So adorable its amazing how much they love paper bags isnt it? I just love putting paper bags down for the boys lol I just got done talking to hubby on his lunch about what I want to make out of that fleece, I definitely think I should make a tunnel of some sorts and some cozies, maybe you'd like a tunnel for your girls? I know I could make the tunnel that can't be too hard, the cozies I'm a little iffy about but willing to try - not sure what sort of stuffing is safe to use incase they nibble on it though

@HugglesBubble Ahh that's cute, mine are squabbling a little bit they're about 2-3 months old now but I'm leaning more towards 2 months, the cage was labeled as a starter guinea pig cage kit... and it's the size I'd put a hampster in =/ but we had no choice and the petsmart employee said it was big enough... hogwash LOL but I spoke to hubby he said that if we just bought them from the store they'd only be a little more than buying them from that craigslist seller (I was just with him on his lunch) He is just as excited to make the cage as I am, especially now that I found out we could make the same cage for less, I just have to come up with a ramp idea, and I still think I'm leaning towards the grids for the top, just gotta find some kind of support bar to use.. not sure what to do there but we'll figure it out I'm sure!

 

[piggydaddy1]

@piggydaddy1 ohhhh i just love that!! It's so cute!! and that fleece!! So adorable its amazing how much they love paper bags isnt it? I just love putting paper bags down for the boys lol I just got done talking to hubby on his lunch about what I want to make out of that fleece, I definitely think I should make a tunnel of some sorts and some cozies, maybe you'd like a tunnel for your girls? I know I could make the tunnel that can't be too hard, the cozies I'm a little iffy about but willing to try - not sure what sort of stuffing is safe to use incase they nibble on it

Thanks. While it was fun to come up with, it sure was a pain in the butt to build.

 

[Kiyisha]

@piggydaddy1 I can imagine, I know the one I want to build is going to be no picnic but it'll be fun for the boys and that's all that matters im not particularly looking forward to putting all my ideas into action but the outcome will be awesome and THAT I am excited about lol

 

[HugglesBubble]

@HugglesBubble I just have to come up with a ramp idea, and I still think I'm leaning towards the grids for the top, just gotta find some kind of support bar to use.. not sure what to do there but we'll figure it out I'm sure!

Ramps, What you can do is take extra coroplast if you have it, make it about maybe 5-6 inches wide, and score the coroplast to make some easy walls. Then, get some traction, like.. uhm.. I forget what its called LOL. You use it to sharpen blades, and its really rough. Either that, or you can use a rubber mat. I don't know if Velcro would work... But if you build the ramp with extra coroplast, you'll need some kind of traction for the pigs to walk up. Check the photo gallery for some additional ideas As for support, some people use a wood beam. You slide it inbetween the grids, underneath the coroplast.
Lastly, you can put some bracketsdown, and zip tie them to the grids like this, (broken link removed)
(Sorry for such a long link lol) Ive seen people use those, but please, correct me if im anywhere wrong

 

[Bomby]

I am new here but I wanted to ask if you have the standard type of cage that most pet stores sell? Something like the photo I included. If so, I have seen many people take those cages apart and make a larger cage using zip ties. You would need something for the bottom as well though. I found Coroplast sheets for pretty cheap recently for about $1.40 per 24x24 inch piece.

Something else i have seen many people do is buy the small storage containers from places like Wal-Mart or stores like that. the containers that have the lid. They just make an opening in them and turn them upside down and it makes a nice little hiding place for piggies. I did this same thing and covered mine with fleece. I also used large sized mixing bowls, cut a large opening and covered them in fleece also, its cute to see them peek their heads out and walk around with the house on their back like a turtle.

My piggies like to play with balls, nothing with openings though because their little fingers or even a hand or foot can get stuck inside them. Its a bit harder to find a ball like that with a bell inside but we managed to find some at a yard sale. They push them all over the cage. Also you can make fleece balls by tying several strings of fleece together, they like to toss these in the air and even sleep on them.

Another thing you can do is, make a fleece tent in the corner of the cage by basically tying the fleece to the sides, its kinda like a little fleece roof.

If you are wanting a C&C cage, I bought a total of 39 grids from walmart, 1 case has 16 grids, the other has 23 so 39 grids and it includes the connectors for $62.28 including shipping. My Coroplast i bought on ebay and i got 20 sheets 24x24 inches for $27.00 which is plenty.

Another cheap bit of info, you can buy fleece all day at any store like Wal-Mart, and it cost SOOOOOO much money for just 1 yard of fleece, usually about $6-7 per yard .... DONT DO THAT! lol. Wal-Mart, Dollar Gen, Freds, and so many stores sell small fleece blankets for $5-10 and they are usually at least 2 yards. They are perfect for piggies especially the ones made for kids since u can find them in all different colors, designs and even during the holiday's if you want to give your piggies a fabulous dec'd out cage. These are the ONLY thing I ever buy, as long as they are the same type of fleece that most use in their piggies cages. I tend to stay away from the "furry fleece" type blankets, since my piggies would rather chew on that than snuggle on it.

I hope some of this helps. If I think of anything more I will post it here

 

[Kiyisha]

@HugglesBubble I saw another good idea recently someone had one of those big black pipes that have tons of ridges in them and the piggies used those to climb up to the top i thought that was pretty cute and the piggies would probably love it lol

@Bomby oh my so informative thank you so much!!! The blanket idea is exactly what I was thinking, get outta my head! lol I actually got a fleece blanket at walmart for like... 3 dollars I think it was, and its the proper fleece that they don't chew on lol and yes the cage I got is very similar to that one, I would love to do that idea you talked about flipping the cage upside down and using it for an extention or something, thats not something we have quite the room for at the moment (our house is small and we have lots of stuff LOL) BUT I could hang on to the cage for when we move out and make something out of it then o.o that'd be pretty awesome, maybe the cage could turn out to be their sleeping quarters or something, I could have the main cage be their play area and the loft be their kitchen! oh the ideas *.*

 

[Bomby]

A bit of very awesome info I got when I called guineapigcagestore.com She told me that the loft can be used for a bathroom area for piggies. She told me that piggies wild or in a cage naturally are always on the look out for things over their head that might want to carry them off for a meal. So a covered loft helps comfort them during potty time AND if its a covered area such as a loft, they are more likely to use that area only to use the bathroom, which minimizes little poop's all over the whole cage (my kids call them poop pickles because they look like tiny pickles ... I will never look at a pickle the same after that lol) I used the loft arena for a kitchen before i talked with her, now when all of my C&C gets here and i build the new cage, the loft will be covered and hopefully used as a piggy bathroom. The amount of info i absorbed in a 10 minute phone call was amazing to say the least.

 

[Kiyisha]

@Bomby ohhh thank you for sharing that information o.o I will have to do the same, then maybe when I use their current cage as a small extention then I'll use that as a kitchen area that way I can watch them munch easier anyway lol

I guess its a good thing I don't like pickles I don't think I could look at them the same again either LOL

 

[Bomby]

Ramps, What you can do is take extra coroplast if you have it, make it about maybe 5-6 inches wide, and score the coroplast to make some easy walls. Then, get some traction, like.. uhm.. I forget what its called LOL. You use it to sharpen blades, and its really rough. Either that, or you can use a rubber mat. I don't know if Velcro would work... But if you build the ramp with extra coroplast, you'll need some kind of traction for the pigs to walk up. Check the photo gallery for some additional ideas As for support, some people use a wood beam. You slide it inbetween the grids, underneath the coroplast.
Lastly, you can put some bracketsdown, and zip tie them to the grids like this, (broken link removed)
(Sorry for such a long link lol) Ive seen people use those, but please, correct me if im anywhere wrong

I used fleece on my ramps. Since my piggies dont try to chew on normal fleece, I was able to use small strips of hot glue to secure the fleece to the coroplast and it worked perfect. When it needs to be washed, i just remove it and clean it with very hot water running over it for a while. As long as I keep their nails trimmed it works great. The "sand paper stuff" i dont know the exact name either LOL. It helps with keeping their nails trimmed a bit.

 

[Kiyisha]

@Bomby ohhh i kinda like the sand paper idea, could u just use regular sand paper, or maybe the softer type of sand paper? The reason I like that is the fact that it can keep their nails trimmed a lil bit, the nails get sharp!! I gotta take em to the vet to get em trimmed soon but I wanna settle Bibbles in a bit more first

 

[Traysea]

BTW, you can build the stand 2 grids high. You would need another 22 grids I believe. It would also provide tons of storage for fleece, food, hay and what not.

Also FYI check out USPS large flat rate box for shipping that package it might be cheaper and faster and it comes with free tracking.

 

[pinky]

BTW, you can build the stand 2 grids high. You would need another 22 grids I believe. It would also provide tons of storage for fleece, food, hay and what not.

Also FYI check out USPS large flat rate box for shipping that package it might be cheaper and faster and it comes with free tracking.

@Traysea, that's a great point about checking out the USPS rates. I don't send packages out very often so I was surprised to see that they have a lot of different and more cost effect options the last time I had to send something..

 

[Sabrina Clayton]

You could always check local resale shops for grids. A friend of mine is re-doing her kitchen and happened to find a huuuuuge box of grids for me at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore center. Also, our local KMart has boxes of grids on sale for around $17 right now. Not sure if it's a nation-wide sale but doesn't hurt to look! DIYing saves $$$!

 

[lunarminx]

I'm sure some of you have already seen it, but if not here is a picture of my cage for my two piggy girls.

View attachment 61659

Why is you stand closed off? That is a lot of wasted storage space under there!