Building a cage

mls18

mls18

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi! so I'm thinking about building my guinea pigs a cage(I'm not sure if i will yet) using these pieces of wood that I have. Does anyone know what kind of glue i can use to stick it together? I want to use it for the bottom. I also need a good material to put over it so that its water proof, but i dont know which ones are safe for guinea pigs since they may chew it. Does anyone know what i could use? If anyone has any other tips for building a cage then that would be highly appreciated!
 
Do you mean like a hutch? Is your cage intended for indoor use or outdoor use? If your piggies are able to reach the glue, I would personally use nails to nail the wood together. You can use a tarpaulin sheet to cover the cage to protect it from wet weather using bricks to hold it down if it is for outdoor use. You can buy see through tarpaulin so the piggies can still see out while being covered over. I'm pretty sure that @BossHogg built a hutch for his piggies so may be able to advise further
 
Claire W said:
Do you mean like a hutch? Is your cage intended for indoor use or outdoor use? If your piggies are able to reach the glue, I would personally use nails to nail the wood together. You can use a tarpaulin sheet to cover the cage to protect it from wet weather if it is for outdoor use. You can buy see through tarpaulin so the piggies can still see out why being covered over
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I'm making a indoor cage. Ill try and see if nails will work out thanks! if it is for indoors should i still use tarpaulin to protect the wood from pee?
 
mls18 said:
I'm making a indoor cage. Ill try and see if nails will work out thanks! if it is for indoors should i still use tarpaulin to protect the wood from pee?
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No, if the cage is for indoor use, you won't need to use a tarpaulin. You can however line the bottom with lino to protect the wood from pee
 
Claire W said:
No, if the cage is for indoor use, you won't need to use a tarpaulin. You can however line the bottom with lino to protect the wood from pee
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Ok thanks. Do you think it would be fine to use tarpaulin even though its an indoor cage? I'm pretty sure i already have some.
 
I have some wood from a broken desk that i want to use for the walls. Would it be bad if they chewed it? Its painted.
 
mls18 said:
Ok thanks. Do you think it would be fine to use tarpaulin even though its an indoor cage? I'm pretty sure i already have some.
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Yes, just make sure you cover it over with something like newspaper or puppy pads if you intend to line the bottom of the hutch with it so your piggies can't chew it
 
Claire W said:
Yes, just make sure you cover it over with something like newspaper or puppy pads if you intend to line the bottom of the hutch with it so your piggies can't chew it
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Ok thanks! I was thinking that ill put puppy pads and these small fleece blankets i have.
 
Claire W said:
It depends on what paint it is
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I'm not sure since it came painted. I checked on amazon and it says the desk is made from engineered wood. Is that bad for them? It also says its finished with laminate.
 
mls18 said:
I'm not sure since it came painted. I checked on amazon and it says the desk is made from engineered wood. Is that bad for them? It also says its finished with laminate.
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I'm not sure to be honest. I don't think laminate would be good for them if they chewed it but not all piggies chew so it depends on if your piggies are chewers or not
 
Claire W said:
I'm not sure to be honest. I don't think laminate would be good for them if they chewed it but not all piggies chew so it depends on if your piggies are chewers or not
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Ok thanks! could i take some fleece(its those thin ones, its basically a blanket.) and glue it on to cover it? I don't think they would be able to reach the glue since it would be on the inside.
 
Hi! if i build a second floor how high should i make it? And how would i make the ramp? my older guinea pig cant walk on steep ramps so i want it to be easier for him to walk on but also not so flat that it would take out the whole cage.
 
mls18 said:
Hi! if i build a second floor how high should i make it? And how would i make the ramp? my older guinea pig cant walk on steep ramps so i want it to be easier for him to walk on but also not so flat that it would take out the whole cage.
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In A c&c cage, the grids are 35 cm high, so the floor of the second level would sit at that height.

Ramps need to be shallow in gradient so that they aren’t steep, Therefore, they will always take up quite a bit of floor space. I’ve linked the ramp guide below for you to see - it says in there that a second floor height of 35cm, then the ramp needs to be 120cm long. Piggies are not natural climbers, they prefer to be living in a single level cage and if you have an older piggy then having an upper level at all may be best issue. They also should have sides on so piggies feel safe using it. Once piggies start to get older and perhaps not as agile, arthritis starts to kick in etc, then removing ramps is recommended.

Ramps in Cages
 
Piggies&buns said:
In A c&c cage, the grids are 35 cm high, so the floor of the second level would sit at that height.

Ramps need to be shallow in gradient so that they aren’t steep, Therefore, they will always take up quite a bit of floor space. I’ve linked the ramp guide below for you to see - it says in there that a second floor height of 35cm, then the ramp needs to be 120cm long. Piggies are not natural climbers, they prefer to be living in a single level cage and if you have an older piggy then having an upper level at all may be best issue. They also should have sides on so piggies feel safe using it. Once piggies start to get older and perhaps not as agile, arthritis starts to kick in etc, then removing ramps is recommended.

Ramps in Cages
Click to expand...
Ok thank you so much, i will read through the thread you sent. Do you think i should just not have a ramp at all? I have a 6 year old and a 7 month old so i was thinking that even if my older guinea pig doesent use it my other one would like it. Could my 6 year old get hurt while using it?
 
mls18 said:
Ok thank you so much, i will read through the thread you sent. Do you think i should just not have a ramp at all? I have a 6 year old and a 7 month old so i was thinking that even if my older guinea pig doesent use it my other one would like it. Could my 6 year old get hurt while using it?
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The choice is yours - it depends on how agile your older piggy is, how much time your older piggy is going to spend downstairs alone if he doesn’t want to use a ramp and your younger one does choose to be up there. Once they get older, they can find ramps harder.
I personally don’t like to use upper levels and I personally wouldn’t use one with a piggy of that age but plenty of people do. Upper levels don’t count towards the cage size but can be considered a bonus space.
 
Piggies&buns said:
The choice is yours - it depends on how agile your older piggy is, how much time your older piggy is going to spend downstairs alone if he doesn’t want to use a ramp and your younger one does choose to be up there. Once they get older, they can find ramps harder.
I personally don’t like to use upper levels and I personally wouldn’t use one with a piggy of that age but plenty of people do. Upper levels don’t count towards the cage size but can be considered a bonus space.
Click to expand...
Ok thank you so much!
 
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