Size 80 cavie cage

MiloAndJake

MiloAndJake

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I have 2 piggies who aren’t fully sized yet but just wondering if a size 80 cage will become to small for them once they’re fully grown. Just need warned if i’ll need to save for a larger indoor cage. I have a big outdoor hutch but when winter comes i’ll need to bring them back indoors and not sure the cage will be large enough for 2 when they’re fully grown.
 
What are the dimensions of the cage? The minimum for two piggies is deems 7.5ft squared, but preferably 10.5ft squared. Anything smaller than this should be upgraded to at least the minimum, hope this helps 😊
 
An 80cm cage is far far too small for 2 fully grown piggies. This can lead to fights. The best place for indoor enclosed cages is zooplus. They do a 120” cage and a 140” and even a massive 160” cage. Will try and post a link.
 
Julie M said:
An 80cm cage is far far too small for 2 fully grown piggies. This can lead to fights. The best place for indoor enclosed cages is zooplus. They do a 120” cage and a 140” and even a massive 160” cage. Will try and post a link.
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We just adopted 2 piggies who had lived for 2 years in an 80cm cage... they are both unhealthily overweight and 1 seems to have joint problems. If you check out the housing guide 120 is the minimum, but once it has hidey houses and food bowls and a haytray and a toilet that still doesnt leave much floor... if you had a 120 cage you would need a big playpen or lots of floortime for exercise!
 
120cm cage is the recommended minimum cage size for two piggies. An 80cm isn't big enough for two babies even unfortunately. The links above are good. I have a plaza cage as an indoor cage (for if any of them need to come indoors) and it's a good quality sturdy cage at a very reasonable price. If you Google for zooplus voucher codes as well you can usually find one for an extra 10% off etc
 
I would say it's fine as a travel cage but as a fulltime cage it provides no exercise for guinea pigs. Guinea pigs love to do zoomies it's like a human never being able to walk fast or even run, it's depressing and unhealthy for Piggies. There are loads of cages on gumtree some brand spanking new. 120cm is the minimum size but bigger is always better for the piggies if possible.
 
PigglePuggle said:
We just adopted 2 piggies who had lived for 2 years in an 80cm cage... they are both unhealthily overweight and 1 seems to have joint problems. If you check out the housing guide 120 is the minimum, but once it has hidey houses and food bowls and a haytray and a toilet that still doesnt leave much floor... if you had a 120 cage you would need a big playpen or lots of floortime for exercise!
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Sadly in the rescue centre we are seeing this more and more. Lots of wee souls get handed in with their “”large cage” and it’s an 80cm cage most of which either get sold by the rescue as a travel cage. Or if they’re damaged they’re promptly crushed and sent to the skip. I blame the shops selling them and the companies making them. They shouldn’t be allowed to sell “starter cages” as realistically a lot of people won’t replace them after a few months use. :( And if people are told by the pet shops they’re suitable accommodation for their new pets it’s not the people’s fault.
 
Completely the pet shops fault and no reflection on new owners- we bought an 80cm cage in anticipaion of 2 baby piggies... then a 100cm cage... and a 2x4 hutch... then a 120 cage... then a 2 tier 120 cage... and my expanding potential piggy herd still sleeps in the larger 100 and 120 cages overnight at the moment then spend their days with 3 hours in 2x4 hutches and 3 to 6 hours in 4x4ft playpens, but we are hoping they will all live together in a big 5x3 grid C&C cage (thats 185cm x 100cm?) with possible extensions to be 6x3 or 5x4 grids at the wider end by the time we go back to work full time at the end of the summer! Maybe consider the cage upgrade a work in progress if you cant afford straight away and make sure the piggies get 2 or 3 hours of free running floor time or playpen time a day...
 
An 80cm cage isn't even really big enough for one pig. I have kept a single pig in the 100cm cage with floor time each day but wouldn't want to keep more than 1 even in the 100cm cage.
It is possible for piggies to live outside all year round, with the right precautions taken.
If not I would certainly recommend a 140cm cage if possible as my 2 boys love it, gives them plenty of space to run around.
 
I’m afraid that for 2 piggies the minimum size is a 120. An 80cm cage is far too small for 2 piggies.

I use an 80cm cage purely for a single piggy as a hospital cage (ie temporary only). Whenever piggies come into the rescue with an 80cm cage we end up binning them as they really aren’t big enough to sell or re-use except as a hospital cage for a solo.

Pet shops really shouldn’t sell them for 2 piggies but sadly they keep doing it.
 
Hey guys! Thanks for all your advice i went straight out today and bought a new cage for my piggies and they love it. Its a 2 tier cage and its huge! They’re running round like mad however, They’re not used to the ramp in the cage yet which i do find strange as when they’re outside in their outdoor hutch they go up the ramp in there all the time but they’re just running round the bottom tier and ignoring the ramp completely. Is this just them getting used to their new housing and will they get their confidence to go up? Thanks
 

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Laura2901 said:
Hey guys! Thanks for all your advice i went straight out today and bought a new cage for my piggies and they love it. Its a 2 tier cage and its huge! They’re running round like mad however, They’re not used to the ramp in the cage yet which i do find strange as when they’re outside in their outdoor hutch they go up the ramp in there all the time but they’re just running round the bottom tier and ignoring the ramp completely. Is this just them getting used to their new housing and will they get their confidence to go up? Thanks[/QUOTE
Some piggies take a while to get used to the ramp and the one in these cages is quite steep. You could try making it a tunnel with fleece, then they will feel more secure. One of mine took a while to like the ramp, but he got there eventually.
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Yeh i was thinking its really steep, not sure how i’d make it into a tunnel though? Where do you buy fleece from
 
You could just make it less steep by adding a platform below it. I have seen people add a brick under theirs but you could make a prettier solution. You can buy fleece ramp covers online. Though can't remember who sells them. Not sure if ziggys piggies or snoozies cozies make them.
 
I made the mistake of buying a small cage when I got our boys. Pet shops sell incorrectly unfortunately 😒
Just a heads up but if you have boars, 140 is better. They’re more territorial 😏
 
Laura2901 said:
Yeh i was thinking its really steep, not sure how i’d make it into a tunnel though? Where do you buy fleece from
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You can get fleece in B+M, IKEA, etc. I made tunnels,(not for the ramp, but same idea I'd expect) and just Velcro one to the ramp. There are loads of tutorials on YouTube. I like @Hank288 s idea of a brick, but I would still advise something to cover the ramp in case they wee on it.
I found this thread which has a reply which looks like the same cage as yours Ramp Tunnels
 
Reenie said:
You can get fleece in B+M, IKEA, etc. I made tunnels,(not for the ramp, but same idea I'd expect) and just Velcro one to the ramp. There are loads of tutorials on YouTube. I like @Hank288 s idea of a brick, but I would still advise something to cover the ramp in case they wee on it.
I found this thread which has a reply which looks like the same cage as yours Ramp Tunnels
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I’ve tried putting something under the ramp but it raises the start of it too much so unsure how they’d even climb onto it to go up
 
My Skinny pigs didn't like the ramp in their cage so i bought a flexible corrugated plastic tunnel from the small pet supplies area at The Range and fastened this to the ramp with extra-long tie-wraps. They absolutely loved it and used it all the time, i think they liked being covered and also the corrugated ridges gave them a lot of grip.
 
I made a platform so the ramp wasn’t so steep and bought a flexi tunnel for them to come down in. They ended up living quite a bit in the tunnel and it was hard to clean. Do current set up is a length of guttering with some material fastened in. They are quite happy even without the little platform as they can grip it whither their claws .
 
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