Thinking Of Getting C&c Cage..

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Benji&Nia

Benji&Nia

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So I'm thinking of updating Benjis cage to a bigger cage, and I think I'm going with C&C. is there anything i should know like pros and cons?
  • can i still use his paper/sawdust bedding or should i use fleece?
  • If i wanted to make a loft as well, what do i use for a ramp?
  • how big should it be for one pig?
 
This website should give you some info especially about sizes. http://www.guineapigcages.com/index.htm

As the bottom of a C & C cage is a correx pan you can use the same kind of bedding you would use in a hutch or commercial cage. There is no special necessity for fleece in a C&C cage. I myself have come to prefer fleece or vetbed after trying various loose beddings.

Have a look at this forum sticky on C & C cages. There are some with ramps and you can tag the member to ask about their ramps.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/member-gallery-c-c-cages-homemade-cages.53210/
 
We use Dust Extracted Wood Shavings in our C&C with paper newspaper underneath without issue

As for size
2x3 for one piggy
2x4 for two

Go for the biggest you can mange as piggies do like extra space
 
I have a 5x2 for 3 piggies with a 5x1 upper level. I have a correx base and then line with puppy pads and a litter tray with megazorb and hay in each corner. I buy the correx from Travis Perkins as they're only a 5 min drive from me. It's only 2mm thick but it does the job. I used bent c&c grids to make the ramp (bent into a u-shape ***arrrrgh - trying to type a letter u but keeps changing to the word you***) which I then lined with carpet tiles to give them a solid base and serves to make them grippy and safe for the piggies. You can just use a plank of wood to make a ramp, attached at the top with either cable ties or hooks and eyes. But in my experience, piggies prefer ramps that have a shallow rise and have sides so they can't fall off.
 
I have two c&c cages but don't have cortex.Have a ground sheet then towels then fleece then gave litter trays with newspaper then finacard then their hay.There is a group of four in a 5x3 and a top of six in a5x4 soon to be extended
 
I use fleece in our c&c cage and a commercial cage and Fitch in another commercial cage and in our hutch. I haven't tried Fitch in a c&c cage but to get the bits of Fitch that spill out of the rolled up newspaper when cleaning I just carry the base of the commercial cage to the bin and tip it in. I couldn't do that with my correx base (not sturdy enough and too big) so I wonder if I might find it a bit frustrating tryin to get those last little bits out after sweeping.

Fleece is not for everyone though. There have been a few threads recently discussing it.

For a ramp I am currently using a ramp "borrowed" from a two tier ferplast cage I have and I've put a ramp tunnel on it from c and e cosies. I can highly recommend the ramp tunnel except that the piggies love it so much the spend a lot of time sitting in it and so it needs washing very frequently otherwise it stinks of wee!
 
PiggySmitten said:
For a ramp I am currently using a ramp "borrowed" from a two tier ferplast cage I have and I've put a ramp tunnel on it from c and e cosies. I can highly recommend the ramp tunnel except that the piggies love it so much the spend a lot of time sitting in it and so it needs washing very frequently otherwise it stinks of wee!
Click to expand...

Yes, I discovered that when I had a ramp & used ramp tunnels. The boys just loved being in it and weeing in it. Hazelnut would sometimes lay at the bottom of the hutch with his head resting on the bottom of the ramp. I ended up having to buy a 2nd one for wash day spare.
 
Lilly said:
Yes, I discovered that when I had a ramp & used ramp tunnels. The boys just loved being in it and weeing in it. Hazelnut would sometimes lay at the bottom of the hutch with his head resting on the bottom of the ramp. I ended up having to buy a 2nd one for wash day spare.
Click to expand...
I've got 2 already but am struggling to make them last the 3 days between full fleece changes! I can't believe how much they are weeing in it! I am very close to buying another so I can change the tunnel every other day.
 
PiggySmitten said:
I've got 2 already but am struggling to make them last the 3 days between full fleece changes! I can't believe how much they are weeing in it! I am very close to buying another so I can change the tunnel every other day.
Click to expand...
Is it just 2 piggies weeing in the tunnel? Seems to be heaps of wee! I'd get another tunnel, I couldn't stand the thought of having to wash all the piggy stuff (and dog stuff) more than once a week. As it is, sometimes the once weekly animal things wash day turns into a 2 day marathon!
 
Lilly said:
Is it just 2 piggies weeing in the tunnel? Seems to be heaps of wee! I'd get another tunnel, I couldn't stand the thought of having to wash all the piggy stuff (and dog stuff) more than once a week. As it is, sometimes the once weekly animal things wash day turns into a 2 day marathon!
Click to expand...
Yes just the two girls in that cage at the moment due to a fungal outbreak. They've got a whole 2x5 plus a 1x2 loft all to themselves and as far as I can tell they are doing almost all their weeing in the ramp tunnel.

Surprisingly they don't seem to wee while round their food bowls (the layer below the fleece seems to be always dry and not stained). I've added extra hidey areas to try and encourage them to spends periods of time elsewhere in the hope they might wee there. So far they seem to have chosen the new areas for pooing in (and that's a whole other area of amazement for me at the moment - they seem to be pooing loads more than they did when they were in a larger group!) but are not obviously weeing there.
 
I'm actually changing from a c&c. C&c have many advantages however the cons for me were
1. Once made you cant change the size without buying more correx
2. Lofts require more correx
3. Does not fit through the door so I can't travel with it
4. Cannot move it to the next room without taking the whole thing apart
5. Needed 300 cable ties
6. Paint chips off the grids
7.Once you put correx and fleece the floor space is quite reduced
8. Moving it for cleaning the carpet is a pain
9. If the correx is too high you can't see in the cage without bending over it and too low hay goes everywhere
10. Hard to make a closed off cage with grids (I found this others may have not) commercial cages are easily lockable
11. You have to make a stand with grids costing more ££
12. I found it quite exspensive overall
13. Can be hard to clean with upper levels
14. Grids can't take too much weight without reinforcments
15. May need extra connectors
16. Hated fleece and cost too much to use shavings
17. They are not on wheels like commercial cages
18. Hard on yout back
19. Always have to grab piggys from above which they don't like
I do like c&c they are very pretty looking and easy to clean if only 1 level however I didn't get on with them.
 
If you don't get on with fleece can you afford commercial bedding for a 2x5
 
I'm actually changing from a c&c. C&c have many advantages however the cons for me were
1. Once made you cant change the size without buying more correx
2. Lofts require more correx
3. Does not fit through the door so I can't travel with it
4. Cannot move it to the next room without taking the whole thing apart
5. Needed 300 cable ties
6. Paint chips off the grids
7.Once you put correx and fleece the floor space is quite reduced
8. Moving it for cleaning the carpet is a pain
9. If the correx is too high you can't see in the cage without bending over it and too low hay goes everywhere
10. Hard to make a closed off cage with grids (I found this others may have not) commercial cages are easily lockable
11. You have to make a stand with grids costing more ££
12. I found it quite exspensive overall
13. Can be hard to clean with upper levels
14. Grids can't take too much weight without reinforcments
15. May need extra connectors
16. Hated fleece and cost too much to use shavings
17. They are not on wheels like commercial cages
18. Hard on yout back
19. Always have to grab piggys from above which they don't like
I do like c&c they are very pretty looking and easy to clean if only 1 level however I didn't get on with them.
 
i'm starting to go off fleece-it absolutely stinks! when i clean them out today i'm going to try conventional bedding and compare; i've had to move them into my room for the winter so the smell is a particular sticking point :/
 
hattie.r said:
i'm starting to go off fleece-it absolutely stinks! when i clean them out today i'm going to try conventional bedding and compare; i've had to move them into my room for the winter so the smell is a particular sticking point :/
Click to expand...

Hey hattie.r
Mine are also in the bedroom but I take them out at night as they don't let me sleep lol
 
i know i'm thinking of buying some ear plugs as the little terrors are so flipping loud at night!
 
hattie.r said:
i'm starting to go off fleece-it absolutely stinks! when i clean them out today i'm going to try conventional bedding and compare; i've had to move them into my room for the winter so the smell is a particular sticking point :/
Click to expand...
Do you use puppy pads underneath? I've only recently done this and can notice the smell much more than I did before I used puppy pads. I tried the puppy pads under Fitch in one of our commercial cages as an experiment and that too stank far more.

I wondered if it was the brand of puppy pads I used may be. They were a very cheap pack of 100 from B&M bargains shop.
 
Hi! We find c&c cages great.
You can use paper/sawdust/wood shavings based bedding as any other cage, also fleece and vetbed. I recommend you have correx unless the cage is on the floor. Correx can be purchased from eBay, and grids from eBay or Amazon. "Seville grid cube system". I personally do not like lofts, they reduce some of the floor space due to ramp, hard to catch piggy/ clean under the loft area, accidents, extra bedding needed. They can be useful for hay lofts though. If you want a loft, then guttering (covered with either carpet or fleece for grip), some layers of correx stuck together and cat scratching ramps. Can all be attached by drilling two holes in the top and attaching with cable ties to the grid base of the loft. Correx doesn't really reduce the floor space at all. For fleece you need to use an absorbant layer underneath (towels, incontinence pads, puppy pads etc). http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/bedding-for-guinea-pigs-overview.114219/#post-1614358

For one piggy, a 2x3 absolute minimum, but to avoid having to put piggy out for run time, you should really try to extend the biggest you can. What size can you fit in your area? 1 grid is usually 14 inches.
 
hattie.r said:
i know i'm thinking of buying some ear plugs as the little terrors are so flipping loud at night!
Click to expand...
You shouldn't let the cage smell at any time whatever bedding, if there is smell, then there is dirt, dirt is harmful to piggies.
 
PiggySmitten said:
Yes just the two girls in that cage at the moment due to a fungal outbreak. They've got a whole 2x5 plus a 1x2 loft all to themselves and as far as I can tell they are doing almost all their weeing in the ramp tunnel.

Surprisingly they don't seem to wee while round their food bowls (the layer below the fleece seems to be always dry and not stained). I've added extra hidey areas to try and encourage them to spends periods of time elsewhere in the hope they might wee there. So far they seem to have chosen the new areas for pooing in (and that's a whole other area of amazement for me at the moment - they seem to be pooing loads more than they did when they were in a larger group!) but are not obviously weeing there.
Click to expand...
At least they wee and poop in specific areas. My 2 boys wee & poop everywhere & anywhere. Peanut Butter even manages to get poop in his food bowl.
 
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