Cage upgrade/change advice Help needed

[Squeaky_Ewok]

Hello guys I have long been worried now because of the increasing advice that C+C cages are best for guinea pigs and I love the look of them but I don't have massive amounts of room, that is the only thing I can't upgrade for my pigs. They are in a store cage atm the ferplast 160 I think it is as they are young at the minute, my previous guinea pigs which I had when I was quite young I do believe were in a hutch a lil smaller than this cage but were let out for long long periods of time for floor time so sometimes I don't think you need a massive cage as I see as long as you give them a good run and they tire themselves out. They lived a long and happy life for up to 7 to 8 years. Now because I don't have the room to make a C+C cage that is long in length I was thinking maybe just adding levels the length of the cage they are in now and maybe have just having the two floors one for each pig? That way they can hide from each other if they get a bit annoyed, I can have hideaways on each floor for them and add much more for them, I think I would add a roof too because I wouldn't want them escaping. Is this okay to have or would the floors be too high? any advice would help

 

[Hermes]

I wouldn't say C&C cages are best for guinea pigs it's just that people like them because they are easily adapted and tend to be larger and cheaper than most shop bought cages. It's the size of the cage that's important the minimum for a pair being a 120cm cage or 4ftx2ft cage (ideally more for boar pairs) so a 160 is fine for two. Particularly if they are getting plenty of time outside the cage.

That said any additional space will be appreciated so if you think you can modify the cage to have another level then it might be worth doing anyway. I'm not entirely sure how you're planning on doing it so I don't know if it will be too high but you can always build ramps for them to get up and put sides on for safety.

 

[Pepperdog]

how many piggies have you got in this cage?

A 160 sounds plenty big enough and although the c&c's are very popular it is what suits the indivdual not the majority same as bedding choices.

Mine are in c&c well one is a full c&c the other is made up from puppy panels as well as grids, but I made my own pens because there really wasnt anything shop brought that is suitable for 4 pigs to live in when they come inside for the winter, so I made my own because of this reason alone. Then when I got the boys I wanted to give them as much space as possible, and I had the space to do this, loved the suitablility of the home made pen for the herd in the winter and that made my mind up for me.

In the summer the 4 pigs live outside in a large two level hutch, nothing wrong with this at all and the space is adequate (although hoping to expand it for them). As said above, a 120 or 4ft cage is the recommended size for a pair, anything over this is extra space and it is possible to go up with commercial cages if your space if a premium.