My cage idea...

[Smudger]

Hi

I live in a very small flat, and have desperately being searching for a way to increase the living area for my piggies and rabbits (2 of each, housed as 1 rabbit/1 guinnea to a cage-yes, I know, that's something else I'm trying to remedy). Anyway-I think I may have cracked it-a two story run, on wheels!

Ok, it's something like this: the space available to me is my porch (about 4'x2.5', and the area directly next to it in the living room (about 3'x2'), and this is where they are currently housed in 2 seperate hutches , which are adequate but not what I want for them.

I was thinking along the lines of a large hostess trolley (basically, a bottom and an upper shelf, held in place at each corner by an upright, with castors on the bottom of each. So I'm talking two platforms which are 2' wide, and anywhere from 4'-7' long. Onto each of those shelves I could build the run Cavy Cages style, with the mesh frames and coroplast bottoms, giving them, a larger run, which will feel bigger still because their current hutches are the 'traditional' style that only have mesh on the front.

An added bonus is that I can make it so matches the rest of the furniture in my living room!

Oh yeah, the castors-well, seeing as it would all but fill the porch, it would be handy to be able to move it easily (we rarely use the front door, but should we need to it will be easy as pie to gently glide them out of the way). It would also be handy to be able to be able to bring them into the bedroom at night if (god forbid) one of them got poorly and needed to be kept an eye on.

So-comments/suggestions?

 

[AngelsCavies]

Well I know that you can not place rabbits and piggies in a same cage or house. I have 2 rabbits and bunch of piggies.They have their own separate cages. For one piggie a 2x3 is great. For on bunny it should be in a 2x5 and 2 high so they can stand and stretch.

 

[Smudger]

I understand about the rabbit and guinnea problem, the thing is that I didn't find that out until recently. I know the 2 guinneas fight (the reason they got split up in the first place), so it's doubtful they'll share, and I don't know how the bunnies would be together-maybe neutering would remove any aggression they might have towards each other. I'm actually taking one bunny to be neutered on tuesday, so I'll ask the vet if she has any ideas.

 

[AngelsCavies]

From what I heard is that its illeagal to house rabbits and guniea pigs together in the same cage or above eachother or right next to eachother. It tells ya on cavy spirits or something. when you signed up it tells ya about that. we wanted to have the piggies on the ground level and the bunnies above them and we couldnt.

 

[RubyPiggie2]

So you can have both cages to 4 feet wide and 7 feet long? Is that correct or did I read that wrong? Also, it's really good that you know you have to seperate them- I've come across a few people who were rude and unwilling to seperate their rabbits and guinea pigs(Not on this board!).
I think that's great, if you can make both cages that wide and long, or have to divide it up like that? So you can make it 2x7 each or so? Rabbits need a lot of space to run- the rule is, be able to hop 3 times before they get to the other side of the cage. Also, I do suggest taking the pigs and rabbits out because rabbits have a disease that can be tranferred to guinea pigs, and in the rabbit food is also bad for guinea pigs. So, could you please explain how big EACH cage could be? Thanks!

 

[AngelsCavies]

My bunnies are out on the floor when I on the pc. They stay in the cage while I'm working or in bed. They are in a 2x4 each until I get thumper and Abby fixed. once I get them fixed then they both will be in a 2x8. Thats all the room I have in the pc room or any parts of the home. The Piggers took all the room hehehehe.

 

[Smudger]

I plan to start building the cage very shortly-like I said, I have extremely limited space, so what they get won't be the ideal solution, but it will be a lot better than they have at the moment.

The cage will be 2 levels, one set of animals per level. Each level will be approximately one and a half to two feet wide, and somewhere between six to seven feet long, with a height of roughly two feet (so, four feet high in total).

I need to get my youngest rabbit neutered soon, and then I need to see if he and the other bunny will get on with each other. If they do, then I can house them together and put the 2 male guinneas together (they fight each other normally, so my plan is that the top level of the new cage will allow for a removeable divider, so they can get used to being around and seeing each other without being able to fight).

I do have another 'problem' now though-a little chocolate brown female guinnea pig called Molly, who I got from a friend. I hadn't planned on any more pets, but my friend got given her without really wanting her, and it broke my heart to see her all alone in her fishtank/cage with no one to play with, so I said if he was willing to pay to for the operation to prevent her becoming a baby-factory, I'd take her. She's been here for weeks now and seems really happy, and if she gets on with the boys then she'll live with them-if not, that means another level on top of the new cage!

I'm willing to give over whatever space I have, but as I've said many times before, my place is tiny-they all get plenty of floor time though, and they're in the front room so they get constant attention.

Anyone know a good place in the uk to get coroplast/correx? I went to B&Q and they had something similar, but it's the clear stuff used for things like green-house windows and I'm not sure if it's the same thing-plus, if I remember rightly it's about £30 a sheet, and I'd need at least two.

 

[mncavylover]

Awesome! I sure hopw you can find some correx soon. L30 (sorry, no pound symbol) seems steep, so hopefully you'll find somewhere else.

 

[Smudger]

Awesome! I sure hopw you can find some correx soon. L30 (sorry, no pound symbol) seems steep, so hopefully you'll find somewhere else.

Thanks

After looking at the photo's on this site, I know that what I've found isn't coroplast-one of the pictures on here shows it being rolled into a tube, where as the stuff I found comes in rigid sheets.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

If it looks like plastic cardboard sheets then its the right thing. Coroplast is rigid but can be rolled into a tube.

 

[RubyPiggie2]

You could also use linoleum!
I would say you should make your cages as big as possible, and get one of your boars neutered, not the female, for it is very risky, much riskier than a boar getting fixed.
I think that it's awesome you are trying to make big cages for them, that's cool! Good luck!

 

[Smudger]

You could also use linoleum!
I would say you should make your cages as big as possible, and get one of your boars neutered, not the female, for it is very risky, much riskier than a boar getting fixed.
I think that it's awesome you are trying to make big cages for them, that's cool! Good luck!

Thanks for the advice!

I wasn't aware that the procedure was high-risk for females, so I'll have both the boys done instead!