Help With New Guinea Pig And Designing A Cage

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Namaah

Namaah

Junior Guinea Pig
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My husband wanted a fish tank so we went to the petshop last week to look at what was available, while I was looking at the filters he took our three little ones for a walk about to look at the animals. He decided to tell the little ones we could adopt a guinea pig from the adoption center, they were so excited that I couldn't say no. I do like guinea pigs but I've never had one before and didn't know much about them (I prefer to do my research first then get something, my husband just buys things and works it out afterwards lol). The woman in the pet shop showed us the cage we would need (we wanted an indoor guinea pig), I thought it looked too small but she assured us it was fine for 1-2 guinea pigs. When we got home and set it up and put in our guinea pig it looked even smaller. I done some research on google and found it that the cage really was too small and even the bigger size cage they sell is on the small side. She also told me that they like to live alone which I've since found out is also not recommended so I want to get him a friend which defiantly wouldn't fit in either of the 2 indoor cages they sell.
I've spend a couple of days looking up cages online for new cage idea's, I really like the big C&C ones but we don't have a lot of space in our livingroom and I also have 3 kids under 5 and a dog so I would need something more secure. I think I've found something that I'd really like for him but would like to check a few things before I start building.
We have an alcove in our livingroom that I would like to build a cage into similar to this Piggies new home . I've been looking at the recommended sizes for 1 level though and mine would be a little smaller, each floor would be 128cm x 52cm (about 50" x 20") and would have 3 levels, Would this be ok or would it still be too small?
I also can't decide on the height to make each level, would 40cm (about 16") between each floor be ok? The top floor will have no roof so will have about 1m space above it.
I was also thinking about using linoleum or that PVC tablecloth fabric as a waterproof barrier would this work well? I plan on using fleece over a towel as the flooring on most of cage. Do I need to pin this into place I'm worrying it will slip about too easily on the waterproof flooring.
He is getting out on the floor 3 or 4 times a day and plenty of attention in between but I'm feeling more and more guilty about the size of his cage and would like to get a new one built as soon as possible
 
I also have a custom cage for my guinea pigs that I built. I have four piggies two are full grown and two are babies, all male. My piggies are housed in an extra large dog crate that I modified. I custom made a second level with zip ties, wire shelving, and rubbery cabinet liner to line the shelves with. I also with the same materials made a ramp and a middle walkway. For the bottom part of my cage I cut cardboard to fit and then placed the mat that comes with the dog crate inside the cardboard and lined everything with fleece.
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As for the fleece youll want to make sure its either Blizzard Fleece or Anti-Pill Fleece so their little claws wont shred the fleece. This type of fleece can be found at craft stores and I even found some at Walmart. When you wash the fleece you may want to use a free and gentle detergent just to be on the safe side. It is recommended to change out the fleece every couple of days and spot clean the poo every day so I would get enough fleece where you have a few days worth so your not doing laundry every two days. I used binder clips to help secure the fleece down to the edges of my cage and the ramp I have to the second level. The first day I put it down one of my pigs tried to chew on them but now they don't bother them.

As for cage size most sites recommend a 2X4 foot cage for two guinea pigs. Mine is closer to a 3X5 with a second level and the detachable play area. I hope this helped. :)
 
Your cage looks interesting but I really like the idea of a book shelf cage now (unless it would be bad for my guinea pigs then i'll rethink the idea) . I've read that they recommend 2'x4' and not to include lofts in this but i'm wondering as mine is 3 full floors and not just a loft would it count as floor space and give my guinea pig enough room. Each floor would be about 4'2" x 1'8" which is a bit less than recommended but if you add all three floors together it will be over 20 square feet space (same as 2'x10' just split over three full floors)

Thanks for the info about the fleece, I really like the colours on your spotty fleece. I think my favourite fabric shop has some anti-pill fleece I'll need to go have a look. I plan on making a few different liners so i can swap them out to wash. Spot cleaning isn't a problem, I spot clean my current cage 6-7 times a day. I'm using sawdust atm which I hate, it makes me sneeze loads and makes a mess all over the house

I'm currently trying to come up with the front of my cage, I want to use some sort of grid/wire for the front of my cage instead of the perspex. I'm trying to work out how to attact it to the front so that I can open it up easily. I want to be able to open each level induvidually and be able to get into the whole cages easily (not just a little hatch on the front). If anyone has any suggestions i'd appreciate them.

Still trying to decide on the waterproof layer of my cage, i'm considering using correx instead of the linoluem. Would the guinea pigs not chew the edges of the correx if it isn't covered? I've been looking at alot of cages about about 50% of them haven't covered the correx with anything
 
As for the size i think that should be just fine. The correx you can try not covering and monitor then to see if they chew it and if they do then you can worry about covering it. As for the layout and the front is there any way you can post of picture of your bookshelf so I can better understand what you are trying to do?
 
Namaah said:
My husband wanted a fish tank so we went to the petshop last week to look at what was available, while I was looking at the filters he took our three little ones for a walk about to look at the animals. He decided to tell the little ones we could adopt a guinea pig from the adoption center, they were so excited that I couldn't say no. I do like guinea pigs but I've never had one before and didn't know much about them (I prefer to do my research first then get something, my husband just buys things and works it out afterwards lol). The woman in the pet shop showed us the cage we would need (we wanted an indoor guinea pig), I thought it looked too small but she assured us it was fine for 1-2 guinea pigs. When we got home and set it up and put in our guinea pig it looked even smaller. I done some research on google and found it that the cage really was too small and even the bigger size cage they sell is on the small side. She also told me that they like to live alone which I've since found out is also not recommended so I want to get him a friend which defiantly wouldn't fit in either of the 2 indoor cages they sell.
I've spend a couple of days looking up cages online for new cage idea's, I really like the big C&C ones but we don't have a lot of space in our livingroom and I also have 3 kids under 5 and a dog so I would need something more secure. I think I've found something that I'd really like for him but would like to check a few things before I start building.
We have an alcove in our livingroom that I would like to build a cage into similar to this Piggies new home . I've been looking at the recommended sizes for 1 level though and mine would be a little smaller, each floor would be 128cm x 52cm (about 50" x 20") and would have 3 levels, Would this be ok or would it still be too small?
I also can't decide on the height to make each level, would 40cm (about 16") between each floor be ok? The top floor will have no roof so will have about 1m space above it.
I was also thinking about using linoleum or that PVC tablecloth fabric as a waterproof barrier would this work well? I plan on using fleece over a towel as the flooring on most of cage. Do I need to pin this into place I'm worrying it will slip about too easily on the waterproof flooring.
He is getting out on the floor 3 or 4 times a day and plenty of attention in between but I'm feeling more and more guilty about the size of his cage and would like to get a new one built as soon as possible
Click to expand...

Cage Size Guide
The length is fine, but the width is just a bit to small; guinea pigs like to run on circles. Could you consider having the cage on a small table or chest of drawers which you could use for piggy storage, even if it comes out into the room about 10-20cm depending whether you want to go for a traditional cage or a 2x3 grid C&C cage, which you could extend into a second level?
 
I've rethought my idea a bit, I'm now going to rearrange my living room and build it in the other alcove. The problem with the alcove I was going to build it in is that the bottom of it is boxed in where the old heating pipes were so I couldn't extend it out any more. The other alcove goes right to the floor so I can build unit into the bottom for the cage to sit on top.
I can make a bigger bottom level but the other levels will have to be smaller though as if I extend out there I will block the TV that is mounted on the wall. My new sizes is 75cm by 128 cm (about 30"x50") for the bottom level, and 40cm by 128cm (about 16"x50") for the upper levels. Is this too small for the upper levels?
 
Namaah said:
I've rethought my idea a bit, I'm now going to rearrange my living room and build it in the other alcove. The problem with the alcove I was going to build it in is that the bottom of it is boxed in where the old heating pipes were so I couldn't extend it out any more. The other alcove goes right to the floor so I can build unit into the bottom for the cage to sit on top.
I can make a bigger bottom level but the other levels will have to be smaller though as if I extend out there I will block the TV that is mounted on the wall. My new sizes is 75cm by 128 cm (about 30"x50") for the bottom level, and 40cm by 128cm (about 16"x50") for the upper levels. Is this too small for the upper levels?
Click to expand...
The barely over one foot wide is a bit narrow yes but as long as you have plenty of other space you should be ok. You just want enough room for them all to run around. :) I'm glad you were able to figure out a different solution. 30"X50" is actually pretty close to the recommended size for 1-2 pigs.
 
Yeah I was thinking it was a bit narrow as well so I've decided to just make the base and 1 shelf. I think if I make 2 shelves the middle self will be mostly taken up by the ramp and not really leave a lot of useable space.
Got all my plans all drawn up and worked out all the stuff I need for my cage, just need to wait until next week for pennies to buy it all. Excited to start building it now. Only thing I still need to do is work out some way to attach the water bottle to a solid wall if anyone has any idea's
It's going to looks something like this
piggies.webp

The cabinet underneath will be huge so will give me plenty of room to store his pen, food, toys, space fleeces etc. Can finally get all his stuff away from all over my computer desk :D
 
Namaah said:
Yeah I was thinking it was a bit narrow as well so I've decided to just make the base and 1 shelf. I think if I make 2 shelves the middle self will be mostly taken up by the ramp and not really leave a lot of useable space.
Got all my plans all drawn up and worked out all the stuff I need for my cage, just need to wait until next week for pennies to buy it all. Excited to start building it now. Only thing I still need to do is work out some way to attach the water bottle to a solid wall if anyone has any idea's
It's going to looks something like this
View attachment 42474

The cabinet underneath will be huge so will give me plenty of room to store his pen, food, toys, space fleeces etc. Can finally get all his stuff away from all over my computer desk :D
Click to expand...
I use a bike bottle cage. Screws to the wall and works a treat! I use 600ml Classic bottles.
 
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