Cage Looking to build a bigger cage for happier guinea pigs

[Alicia Hoover]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked. But I'm looking to adopt two guinea pigs. I've had them all my life and have experiance with them. I've always had them in those store bought cages which worked fine. But I wanna create something bigger and like a piggie paradise. The thing I wanna know is what do you use for like the walls and flooring. I have lowes and Home Depot, walmart and Kmart near me. What can I get from these stores for walls and things. I was gonna use fleece or some kind of soft fabric to protect there little feet. So below are my question.

[URL=https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=What]#What [/URL] do you use for walls?
#do you have your feeding and bedding areas seperated and what do you use in the two areas as in flooring.
[URL=https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=What]#What [/URL] if the piggies go the bathroom on the fleece can I wash the fleece and if so what laundry detergent can I use that will be safe for them.

I have the food and everything down. I just wanna build a bigger cage and don't know what way to go about doing it. Any advice would be very helpful!

 

[pigger123]

Check out these instructions for building an awesome, huge, cheap, and easy cage that will make your pigs so much happier: https://www.guineapigcages.com/howtometric.htm

I used these grids: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/sto...e-cubes/1016719773?Keyword=Wire+storage+cubes. I ordered mine online, but you can also buy grids from Walmart.

And I bought a 4'x8' sheet of coroplast from a local sign store for $25. You can buy a 3'x6' sheet from Home Depot.

In my cage, I use paper bedding in the area with hay, food and water. Then, I use fleece in the rest of the cage. The fleece is on top of absorbent material, to soak up urine. The fleece and absorbent material can be washed in a washing machine with Free and Clear (no dyes or scents) detergent.

 

[Alicia Hoover]

Thank you so much! If you think of anything else please let me know

 

[pigger123]

No problem! If you do use fleece, this thread may be helpful. It's a bit long though. https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/21568-The-Fleece-Project-The-Study

Basically you buy blizzard or anti-pill fleece, wash it 3 times to get it to wick liquid through, and put it on top of absorbent material in the cage. For the absorbent stuff, the best thing to use is Uhaul furniture pads: http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Protective-stuff/Furniture-Pad?id=2670
You wash it once, cut it to fit, lay down two layers in the cage, and put the fleece on top. You can either wrap the fleece up and over the cage walls, or sew a cage liner with the uhaul encased in fleece. Then you need to pick up poops off the fleece at least once a day, and wash all the fleece and uhaul weekly.

 

[Alicia Hoover]

Now I've seen people keep two in the largest store bought cage possible. I mean I can't see how that would be much room for two would it?

 

[pigger123]

For two pigs, the recommended size is 10.5 square feet. Two males usually need 13 square feet. The largest store bought cage I've ever seen was just barely 8 square feet, so no that wouldn't be enough room.

 

[Red5Iam]

Alternatively, if the cubes are to complicated or their size doesn't work to maximize your space easily (it didn't in mine), you can also use wire closet shelving which you can get from Home Depot or Lowe's. Usually they can cut it to exactly the size that you need. I just created a cage using a folding table I got from Home Depot as the base. There's a little more info on how I did that here: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/100087-Changing-from-a-Midwest-to-C-amp-C

I will be totally honest though, this solution is not as flexible as a C&C cage. It works for me, but it does have its issues. If you ever want to expand, it's a lot harder. Just keep that in mind.

I have my girl's food area in a small low storage bin that I cut a notch in to allow easier access. I then filled it with wood shavings, but will be switching back to paper bedding when I'm out if I can find a good deal. My pigs tend to do most of their business in there, but I do still spot clean my cage before every meal time for the pigs (2 times daily) and full changes every week.

 

[Alicia Hoover]

I just hate to go back to the store cages they are way too small. And I don't wanna just get one piggie cause it's just cruel in my eyes when there lonely. Plus I have the space and spoil two so. I just wanna get the best option money is no object. As long as there happy I'm happy. I saw those litter boxes for guinea pigs at the store do they actually use them?

 

[Guineapigpro]

If you mean the little triangle ones, I think it might depend on the piggert.

 

[barbaramudge]

If money is no object you can buy a cage ready to be assembled from this forums store in many wonderful sizes, configurations and colors. They also have many wonderful add ons, like fleece flooring custom fit and cuddle cups etc. everything you could possibly need to spoil pigs properly