questions about making a c & c cage

[MidnightThePig]

I am planning on making a c and c cage once i get my lonely piggie a companion since his cage mate died. my aunt is getting me an amazon gift card for christmas that has 75 dollars on it and i plan to use it for supplies and since I'm going a 45$ budget for it i also plan on getting a bunch of things to make hides and toys for them. i do however have some questions, please answer any that you can answer.

1. is their any thing i can use for the bottom besides coroplast, wood, and obviously cardboard? (i will be using aspen bedding along with it)
2. is it safe to use zip ties to secure the grids?
3. since i have a small bedroom, would it be ok to put the piggies in the basement (it gets cold down their but i do plan on making a heated hide along with some warm water for them (and a smaller bottle with room temperture water)
4. can i use colored popsicle sticks to make toys for the piggies?
5. any reccomendations for materials to make toys for the piggies?
6. any cheap materials i can use to make the cage/hides/toys?
7. how big is to big of a cage?
8. is there anyway i can prevent my pigs from mating besides separating them?
9. any toy/treat/hide/bedding brand reccomendations?
10. any reccomended piggie products?

thank you guys so much for your replies. it helps a lot!

 

[HeatherRose]

1. Coroplast is the best base for your cage, I think cardboard would soak up too much urine and soak onto the floor or whatever surface you have your cage on.
2. Zip ties are great
3. How cold does it get? Is it a finished basement that has heat?
4. Not sure about the colored popsicle sticks
5. Empty toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay is my piggies favorite toy
6. Empty cardboard boxes with holes cut in them make good cheap hideys
7. A cage can never be too big!
8. You cannot have a male and a female together unless the male is neutered or the female is spayed. They will mate if not and you can’t predict when it will happen.
Amazon has some reasonably priced grids for a c & c cage.

 

[Siikibam]

Please don’t put your piggies together if they’re of opposite sex and not neutered or spayed. If that’s the case, keep them separate and to start with re introduce after the 6 weeks post neuter have passed. Coroplast is good. I don’t know about in the US but here there’s ‘Proplex’ which is a thinner, but good alternative to correx/coroplast.

I wouldn’t bother with making toys. They’re very happy and kept entertained with paper rolls stuffed with hay/veggies, as mentioned above. And cardboard tunnels, boxes. You could do a fleece forest for them as a hide. Nice and cheap.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I am planning on making a c and c cage once i get my lonely piggie a companion since his cage mate died. my aunt is getting me an amazon gift card for christmas that has 75 dollars on it and i plan to use it for supplies and since I'm going a 45$ budget for it i also plan on getting a bunch of things to make hides and toys for them. i do however have some questions, please answer any that you can answer.

1. is their any thing i can use for the bottom besides coroplast, wood, and obviously cardboard? (i will be using aspen bedding along with it)
2. is it safe to use zip ties to secure the grids?
3. since i have a small bedroom, would it be ok to put the piggies in the basement (it gets cold down their but i do plan on making a heated hide along with some warm water for them (and a smaller bottle with room temperture water)
4. can i use colored popsicle sticks to make toys for the piggies?
5. any reccomendations for materials to make toys for the piggies?
6. any cheap materials i can use to make the cage/hides/toys?
7. how big is to big of a cage?
8. is there anyway i can prevent my pigs from mating besides separating them?
9. any toy/treat/hide/bedding brand reccomendations?
10. any reccomended piggie products?

thank you guys so much for your replies. it helps a lot!

I agree with heather rose. For the bottom of a cage you need a plastic base of some sort, either coroplast or a plastic sheet. Cardboard won’t work.

You either need to get your Male piggy neutered and then have a six week wait before he can be introduced to a new female friend; or you have to get him a new male friend. When deciding on what is the best course of action for you, you will need to know if you have a vet experienced in neutering Male guinea pigs to make the procedure less risky. If you want to avoid having to have surgery, then bond your Male with another Male is fine to do. Read up on this site about boar behaviour and what to expect.

Cage size - for two boars you need a bigger cage than it you were going to have a Male and a female. Two Males will need a cage which will be five grids by two grids. If you search for ‘cage size guide’ on this site then it will tell you the recommended cage sizes.

Regarding the basement, if it gets below 15 degrees (59 farenheit), then it is too cold down there for them. What do you mean by giving some warm water (not the big about room temperature drinking in a bottle, the first bit when you say you would give them a ‘heated hide and warm water’. Even if you put heat pads in their beds, the rest of the cage would still potentially be too cold for them to want to leave their beds.