It's Annoying Me Again!

Kylie80

Kylie80

Adult Guinea Pig
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I've been somewhat happy with the piggies cage lay out for a while now but now that Coco is a giant I am getting increasingly annoyed by the small size of their cage. It's 140cm x 70cm and the largest cage I have been able to find anywhere and a C&C cage is not a option as our house is too small and the men folk put their foot down and said the cage we have now is ample. It doesn't help that their hidey's are huge (they can really hide and be anti social in those suckers) but Patchy and Coco absolutely love them. Their has to be something I can do to make more space and keep the same cage but I have no ideas except get smaller hidey's but i'm afraid the piggies will hate that. They very rarely do zoomies anymore unless there is a tunnel they can chase each other in so they are really not that active anymore and Coco is just plain lazy so will getting rid of all their fav hidey's and fav hay bowl to make more space really be benefiting them or just making me feel better. They seem perfectly happy with the way things are in there cage now. Any suggestions or should I just leave it?

This is photo of the outside of the cage zoomed in so it looks extra extra small
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These are various photo's of different layouts I tried
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This is their current layout but with extra hay bowl and a glass bottle not shown in this photo. Coco in photo. All photo's zoomed.
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I would remove all the hideys and use fleece tents and fleece forests. The tent and the forest won't take away any running space. The pigs can hide in them and run through them.
 
I agree with Lessie,you can put a double tent, hammock. How about using the cage only at night & put a run eiether attached to the cage or a separate one. The cage is too small, it needs to be bigger. Otherwise they are cramped. Tell the men, tough, you have, to get a bigger cage. Tell them by having a cage so small, you are breaking one of the RSCPA rules. Try the tears that normally works.
Show them these comments.
 
The actual size of the cage is not too bad, but as you say, the hideys do take up a lot of space. They're fantastic hideys though! I've got a couple of mine in a temp cage just now, and I know what you mean - it does feel too small. You could try some of the ideas above....I'm not much help here sorry.
 
Firstly your cage is NOT too small.
It is fine and it does meet the minimum guidelines.

I know how hard it can be when you do not have unlimited space and an unlimited budget.
I think you have done a good job with what you have - their cage looks great - and it can be difficult for people who live in countries with easy access to great guinea pig supplies to forget that it isn't like that for everyone.

But I would be tempted to try and replace the hideys for a week or two and see how the piggies get on.
Fleece forests and hammocks are a great idea.
One of our piggies favorite hides was a metal under-shelf storage basket, that I covered in fleece and made a fleece forest out of. I put a thick pad on top, and they loved to lay in the forest and on top of it too. So 2 beds for the price of one.

If you could have a corner platform bed in each diagonally opposite corner and hang fleece from them then they would be able to lie on the platform or underneath, and the floor space would open up a lot.
If they seem to hate it them you can always change back.
 
Yeah Australia doesn’t sell much in the way of anything small animal related, they like to sell guinea pigs here but not much in the way of accessories for them. Funds isn’t a problem it’s space as we had to take the first available house that would except the piggies to start with and nowhere else would except them and this place is way to small. It’s also getting them to like another hidey which will be the problem I think. I put a couple of cube hidey’s in for them this past winter and they stressed Patchy out and she wouldn’t go near them. The cage is quite big for a commercial cage but obviously looks to small for people who have large C&C cages and like @Swissgreys commented it does meet RSPCA standards it just needs some experimenting with.
 
It is the same as a 2 x 4 C&C, which lots of people on here keep their piggies in.
Plus it might just be me, but everyone's cages always look bigger then mine!
Honestly I will sit here admiring pictures of beautiful, huge C&C's, only to realise that mine is the same size - it just somehow feels/looks smaller to me in real life.
But that might just be me :coat:
 
From the picture it looked too small, my apologies.
I didn't like the tone of your post Swissgreys, we all make mistakes.
The capitals were unnecessary.
 
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That’s probably my issue you know, i’ve been looking at to many giant C&C cages and now feel terrible about Coco & Patchy’s cage which they don’t have a problem with. I’ve decided that since I have two of the bendy logs I will put those in and make a fleece forest or something the same to go over them and the rest of the cage will be a work in progress lol.
 
U could put 2 shelves on at either end one for each house. Mind u the ramps would take up some floor space.

Your cage isn't tiny. It's actually good for a pet shop cage.
 
Tiamolly123 said:
From the picture it looked too small, my apologies.
I didn't like the tone of your post Swissgreys, we all make mistakes.
The capitals were unnecessary.
Click to expand...

I dint think there was anything wrong with the tone of Swissgreys post. Capitals were there to emphasise a point not to offend.

She was pointing out that a 140cm cage is not small, I believe it is the largest size available commercial cage. Kylie gave dimensions in her original post not just photos, you can never rely on photos to judge dimensions as a screen is 2d you do not get visual perspective.

@Kylie80 i'd use play large sticks for hides, they have two exits so pigs can zoom through if needed and also provide good length to lie in.
 
sport_billy said:
I dint think there was anything wrong with the tone of Swissgreys post. Capitals were there to emphasise a point not to offend.

She was pointing out that a 140cm cage is not small, I believe it is the largest size available commercial cage. Kylie gave dimensions in her original post not just photos, you can never rely on photos to judge dimensions as a screen is 2d you do not get visual perspective.

@Kylie80 i'd use play large sticks for hides, they have two exits so pigs can zoom through if needed and also provide good length to lie in.
Click to expand...
Are they like the one i have in the middle of the cage in the second photo or different?
 
When we're holidaying with the pigs, their travel cage is a very similar size (160 x 60 cm). What helped is putting flat-roofed houses on both ends, and they liked climbing up to look around and chill.

You could also try using the cage bars more to hang food and hay there. I've also found that it's a rather unmessy way to serve hay. I'm referring to this type of hay feeder (not the cage!):
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Could you remove the ceramic bowl in between feedings? Or maybe get a smaller one?
 
The cage originally had one of those plastic platforms attached to one end, it was actually ideal for creating more space but Coco got to big for it and kept banging her head on the top and then they both would use it as part of their zoomie track and now there is a big dip in the middle lol but you make a valid point. They have a hay bag for most of their hay, the bowl is mostly used overnight when they eat more hay but sometimes they prefer the bowl to the bag but I would like to take it out as it gets poo'd and pee'd in alot. It's a shame about the hidey's being as big as they are as they are like mini mansions inside and the piggies can stretch right out in them and hide so no one can see them.
 
sport_billy said:
I dint think there was anything wrong with the tone of Swissgreys post. Capitals were there to emphasise a point not to offend.

She was pointing out that a 140cm cage is not small, I believe it is the largest size available commercial cage. Kylie gave dimensions in her original post not just photos, you can never rely on photos to judge dimensions as a screen is 2d you do not get visual perspective.

@Kylie80 i'd use play large sticks for hides, they have two exits so pigs can zoom through if needed and also provide good length to lie in.
Click to expand...

:agr:
 
sport_billy said:
I dint think there was anything wrong with the tone of Swissgreys post. Capitals were there to emphasise a point not to offend.

She was pointing out that a 140cm cage is not small, I believe it is the largest size available commercial cage. Kylie gave dimensions in her original post not just photos, you can never rely on photos to judge dimensions as a screen is 2d you do not get visual perspective.

@Kylie80 i'd use play large sticks for hides, they have two exits so pigs can zoom through if needed and also provide good length to lie in.
Click to expand...
Swissgrays could have put it better, it's bigger that you think Tia, it can be deceiving sometimes from a photograph, I also asked Kylie to check the sizing. I wasn't sure. Anyway no matter
 
Tiamolly123 said:
Swissgrays could have put it better, it's bigger that you think Tia, it can be deceiving sometimes from a photograph, I also asked Kylie to check the sizing. I wasn't sure. Anyway no matter
Click to expand...

I am not sure Swissgreys was replying to you.... Kylie said the word 'small' in her original post.
Kylie80 said:
Coco is a giant I am getting increasingly annoyed by the small size of their cage.
Click to expand...

This is the issue with forums, the written word can be taken out of context.
 
So the new cage set up is finished. Patchy has been doing heaps of zoomies again and Coco popcorned twice, thats a big reaction from her lol. They chased each other for about 20 mins which is the most excercise they have had for a while. Have to go shopping for another bendy log tunnel thingie because one is actually smaller which fits Patchy in it perfectly but naturally she would rather have the bigger one and poor Coco is left with the smaller one and it's waaaay to cramped for her.
 
I love your cage! I looked everywhere for an all-white one but couldn't find one large enough. Glad your piggies like their new cage set-up! Would love to see pictures :) (side note - we also have a Coco :) )
 
sport_billy said:
I dint think there was anything wrong with the tone of Swissgreys post. Capitals were there to emphasise a point not to offend.

She was pointing out that a 140cm cage is not small, I believe it is the largest size available commercial cage. Kylie gave dimensions in her original post not just photos, you can never rely on photos to judge dimensions as a screen is 2d you do not get visual perspective.

@Kylie80 i'd use play large sticks for hides, they have two exits so pigs can zoom through if needed and also provide good length to lie in.
Click to expand...

I too saw nothing wrong with the post.
 
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