How to . . .

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Guinea-pigGaga

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Jun 30, 2009
Messages
817
Reaction score
165
Points
400
Location
Middlesex
I am currently wrestling with the idea of building my cavies a permanent indoor enclosure, and would welcome, and appreciate any ideas in regards to materials etc?! I am not a fan of C & C housing. rolleyes
 
convert a piece of furniture - my two girls are in a sold pine 6ft by 2 1/2 ft book case - I cut out the shelves and lined with estate agents boards (they are made of correx) - lined with 75% vet bed 25% hay - add toys and hideys and away you go - I had the book case already and blagged the boards from our local estate agent - fits in with the rest of the lounge furniture too.
 
Thank you for the suggestion, Tan! I have considered converting a piece of furniture! However, I am hoping to build a 4' x 6' foot walk in enclosure, possibly, with one, two, or more floors - I am not sure I would find a piece of furniture that would meet these requirements?!
 
Guinea-pigGaga said:
Thank you for the suggestion, Tan! I have considered converting a piece of furniture! However, I am hoping to build a 4' x 6' foot walk in enclosure, possibly, with one, two, or more floors - I am not sure I would find a piece of furniture that would meet these requirements?!
Click to expand...

A dining table frame ?
 
Only thing is it wouldnt be walk in rolleyes. unless you make a large lower floor and table top as upper?
 
I have been thinking about how to create an enclosure for the last couple of weeks - I was considering purchasing my cavies a larger cage, but thought for the price I could provide much more room! However, there is so much to take into consideration, including size, material, hygiene etc! rolleyes
 
Lots of people just use bits of wood and the mesh wire stuff and make some amazing things, just an indoor hutch really, you can paint it to match other pieces of furniture and things like that :)
If you know any one who's good with wood, or makes things quite often I'm sure they'd be able to tell you if what you want is possible ;)
 
We got a handy friend to put some skirting board up around a big area in a spare room, then covered the floor with vinyl. We put fleece and towels into that, secured to the skirting board with velcro and masking tape. (They don't like to eat the masking tape, thank goodness.)

You can see what this looks like at http://bunny.xeny.net/misc/Bella, B...ir enclosure after a bedding change, 2010.AVI (30 MB video - I haven't got any photos I'm afraid)

It was an enormous hassle to build this, but now that we've got it it's wonderful! As you can see, the piggies have room to run around whenever they want to, and it's easy to keep the fleece clean and non-smelly because it's so big (so there isn't much poo or wee per square centimetre).
 
Again, thank you for your suggestions! However, after considerable research, and discussion, I am currently considering building my cavies a plywood enclosure - Again, I would welcome opinions on material suitability etc?!
 
I'd recommend solid wood rather than plywood. Plywoods are made with layers of thin woods glued to each other. I'd be worried that those glues are toxic.

Make sure you line the bottom with something waterproof. I use vinyl floor on mine.
 
Oh, Milou's is very suave!

I've just taken a pic of mine:

2012-01-03-728%20Sally%20at%20home.jpg
 
Thank you for the recommendations, Lissie - I will be using vinyl flooring if I proceed with this project! However, unfortunately, having discussed the project further with relaties, we are concerned that a wooden enclosure of this size may be too heavy for a first flooor bedroom - Any thoughts on this aspect would be greatly appreciated?!

Milou's home made indoor cage is actually the reason I am considering embarking on this project! Absolutely stunning, yet so simplistic!

Lovely setup, Zebrallama - May I ask about the size of the area?!
 
Our area is about 3 metres by 3 metres (maybe about 7 feet by about 8 feet). But I think half to two thirds that size would be just as good. The piggies only really use about two thirds of the space we've given them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top