Newbie: Confused about cage sizes.

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Logi

Hey there. I was wondering if you guys could clear something up for me.

What's a good sized enclosure for a guinea pig? I don't mean obvious answers like 'as big as possible' or 'as much as you have room for'. Just give me an idea of whether the below idea is right.

I've read in a couple of places - and also from my gf, who's had pigpigs her whole life - that guinea pigs thrive in an area no bigger or smaller than four square feet per pig, due to them being naturally agrophobic (scared of wide open spaces). Yet a lot of pens on here look MUCH MUCH bigger than that, and well, wide open to boot. I'm kind of intimidated.

I'm not even going to go into how small most commercial cages are in comparison, since I went through all that with my hamster, who now lives in a bin cage, rather than one of those horrible tiny little prisons they try to foist off in petstores.
 
Indoors, and C&C if I can find the mesh cubes... I think someone mentioned finding them at B&Q? And I plan to adopt a pair of pigpigs - see my post on the intro section as to why.
 
Where abouts are you? The cheapest place is CostCo if you have one nearby, but you have to pay a yearly membership fee (I think about £20, but the packs of panels are about £10-£12, so much cheaper in the long run!). My local B&Q/Wickes etc didn't have them but some ppl have been lucky and found them in their local stores. I'm not near a CostCo so I had to get mine from eBay and got 2 packs for £40 inc P&P. If you have to go for eBay, check out the P&P for multiple packs because some sellers let you have up to about 4 packs for pretty much the same P&P.

The website I gave before gives the best size guides that I've found for C&C panels but its all really down to the space you have available in your house. Good thing with C&C is that you can go up as well as out with the cage. There's a gallery on that site too with LOADS of pics for inspiration :)
 
I have just bought some more grids off Ebay as there were none in Costco where I got my original batch.

This seller does them for £13.90 per pack with £7.00 shipping for up to 4 packs.

This is the cheapest I have seen them and they are the same ones I got in Costco for £10.72 inc. vat last August.

The pack contains 10 grids 6 mesh grids and 18 connectors.

I use cable ties to hold the grids together, not connectors, and I got those from this seller on Ebay. They are a good match in colour for the Costco grids and very strong.
 
Guinea pigs do not like vast open spaces (one of their main predators are birds of prey), but if you dot your run with hides or use some of thr grids to make covered areas, they will happily potter around!

My tribe happily roams the living room during the day, using the coffee and side tables to move around and get to their special corners. Some piggies are more timid than others, and you should never introduce a new guinea pig to vast expanse straight away.
 
Oh, that was something else I wanted to ask... if mesh panels can't be found, is it possible to use chicken wire or wire mesh?
 
Outdoor rabbit/guinea runs are made of some kind mesh so I shouldn't see why not :) I'd get a good quality one though. Oh and make sure the space isn't too big that they can escape or get their heads stuck!
 
Leeds (LS10) is the nearest Costco to you.
I got my Cubes from B&Q by that was almost a year ago and I bought the last few boxes.
Like Wiebke said previously, they like room to investigate things, but they also like lots of hideys and tunnels too.
My two have lived inside with constant interaction and been part of the family for a year now.
At first they hide alot as they are naturally shy but the tap running and fridge door opening always brings them out into the open :))
They are much tamer now. My two live in about 60 square foot C&C with lots of tunnels, hayboxes, and hideys.
 
Also, does the shape matter? I thought intially that guinea pigs were like hamsters - in that hamsters dislike/get stressed out in round-shaped enclosures, because they like to allocate a corner to peeing, pooping, sleeping, storing etc, and obviously in a circle they can't really do that - but now it seems that pigpigs poop and pee pretty much any old place.

If the pen was an irregular shape - for example, a 2x2 foot alcove attached to a rougly 2x3 foot *-shape - would that bother them at all, or are they corners-only critters?
 
I don't think they would mind a round or irregular shaped enclosure! I know that in the states some keep pigs in big kiddie pools :))

You're right they don't like big open spaces, but many pigs LOVE to run crazy fast laps and for that size is obviously a good thing. Mine have a big living area and I have many tunnels that I like moving around to keep the place interesting for them.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=41194

This thread has videos of my youngest and shyest girl enjoying some laps. I swear she is part cheetah! :)
 
Fantastic Video skrikopanik. Lots of space and lots of tunnels and the pigs love it.

Logi - Piggies dont store like Hamsters. They like hidey dens, mine like to sleep on top of the hidey house, sometimes in the hidey house, sometimes in a tunnel. I always fill a few cardboard boxes/cat litter trays up with hay as one of my pigs love snuggly in the hay as well as eating & pooing in it.

Heres my c&c cage having 3 levels for 2 boars.

saltpepperhouse.jpg


This site is full of great information on peoples own cages
http://guineapigcages.com/photos/index.php
:)p
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
Fantastic Video skrikopanik. Lots of space and lots of tunnels and the pigs love it.

Logi - Piggies dont store like Hamsters. They like hidey dens, mine like to sleep on top of the hidey house, sometimes in the hidey house, sometimes in a tunnel. I always fill a few cardboard boxes/cat litter trays up with hay as one of my pigs love snuggly in the hay as well as eating & pooing in it.

Heres my c&c cage having 3 levels for 2 boars.

saltpepperhouse.jpg


This site is full of great information on peoples own cages
http://guineapigcages.com/photos/index.php
:)p
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh! Look at your cage! Its huuuuuuuuuuge! Bet they love running around in it :)
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
Fantastic Video skrikopanik. Lots of space and lots of tunnels and the pigs love it.

Logi - Piggies dont store like Hamsters. They like hidey dens, mine like to sleep on top of the hidey house, sometimes in the hidey house, sometimes in a tunnel. I always fill a few cardboard boxes/cat litter trays up with hay as one of my pigs love snuggly in the hay as well as eating & pooing in it.

Heres my c&c cage having 3 levels for 2 boars.

saltpepperhouse.jpg


This site is full of great information on peoples own cages
http://guineapigcages.com/photos/index.php
:)p
Click to expand...

O_O Holy, that's a big enclosure. It looks bigger than my room, never mind the cage I was planning! Now I'm kind of intimidated... mallethead

And ja, I know pigpigs don't store like hammies do. I was just making a comparison to check if they were cornerphiles like my Kioku!
 
Logi said:
Oh, that was something else I wanted to ask... if mesh panels can't be found, is it possible to use chicken wire or wire mesh?
Click to expand...

Don't use chicken wire as they can hurt their mouths on it and tufts of fur can get stuck in it too. Go for aviary wire.

Don't be intimidated but if you can go for C&C as you will probably want to change your cage a few times and it's very adaptable.
 
LOL "cornerphiles"! :))

Salt n Pepper's mum, that's one huge cage!

Logi, don't be intimidated! Lot's of us don't match that monster of a cage (though we would love too...) The top right corner with a 4x2 and a 2x2 loft would be a piggy palace too :).
 
No dont be Intimidated the problem with owning piggies is that I soon conformed into being their slave. AND a C&C cage is great but they can be addictive too.
From starting off from a rabbit indoor cage I bought my first pack of mesh cubes, this was their first house last February.5 x 2 and 2 x 2 loft

oldcc.jpg


By July I had added more
001.jpg

lshapedcc.jpg

Then by the time winter had kicked in and they wernt getting their daily run in the garden I felt sorry for them and added more.

The bottom level will be taken away once they have grass time in the garden again.
saltpepperramp.jpg


One thing I'm sure of - go find the cubes - its very addictive @)
 
I got mine from them, they post in the for sale/ wanted section if you have a poke about there you'll find him. I was pleased, prompt delivery, great service although more expensive than doing it yourself it was the best option for me at the time. I would certainly recommend :)
 
Logi said:
*is pleased* Check this out! I'm definitely buying from this guy when it's time to start setting up... has anyone else heard of him or bought from him? Looks almost too good to be true~

http://www.run-rabbit-runs.co.uk/page6.htm

It looks like I might have found my supplier :(|)
Click to expand...

They are a member on this forum too http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/member.php?*=5077

As the previous poster has said, you can make one yourselve cheaper, but having said that, finding all the bits and getting them all to your house can be quite a task depending on what is available in your local area so if you are ok with the cost, might be easier to go with them. It still works out better than a store bought cage that will probably be too small for the pigs you have in mind.

Good luck with your cage decisions :)
 
I've ordered one from run-rabbit-run, you can phone up to speak to him and he'll do them to your spec too- rather then just picking on from the site so you can get the kind of cage you want, and the good thing with these cages is you can change them or add to them quite easily.
 
Logi said:
*is pleased* Check this out! I'm definitely buying from this guy when it's time to start setting up... has anyone else heard of him or bought from him? Looks almost too good to be true~

http://www.run-rabbit-runs.co.uk/page6.htm

It looks like I might have found my supplier :(|)
Click to expand...

he's a member on here. his user name is run-rabbit-runs you can pm him exactly what you want and he'll give you a personalised quote
 
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