Young guinea pig breaking into aggressive guinea pig's cage

[pinkearsmarcy]

Background:

I have 4 guinea pigs, Marcy who I have had for a year and 3 girls who I have had for a month or so. Marcy was living in a bonded pair but her friend died not long ago. Ended up with 3 girls ti try and bond her with, but she has acted very aggressive toqards them, so they live seperate as the 3 girls had already settled in and seem very happy to be living with me. Marcy interacts with them through the cage bars and seems happy as ever. She free ranges in my rom 24/7 and has a small pen where she can go eat and rest.

Recently I started letting the 3 girls out of their cage in my room while Marcy was put away with some enrichment. This has been working fine until today.

Ziggy is a young guinea, can't remember her exact age but she is not full grown yet and won't be for a while. She wants to be free all the time now, and keeps breaking into my room, coincidently everytime I stop looking. I have put a second row of those play pen gates up, I have moved everything from the sides of the cage, i've blocked all corners, she still gets out and I don't know how! She's escaped 4 times tonight, and is so difficult to catch. Marcy is very aggressive and will most likely hurt Ziggy if she catches her.

My room is he only place I can keep them or let them out. Due to my bed being right in front of the cages I can't easily divide the room, letting them out together seperately.

How do you proof a cage against a young and agile guinea pig? I've had to put Ziggy in a pet carrier tonight and I feel awful but this is just stressing all the piggies and myself out to have her keep escaping. She has water and plenty of hay. I'm really hoping she grows out of this, but I have no idea what to do in the meantime

Thank you!

 

[pinkearsmarcy]

Thoughr I should mention that the cage that the 3 girls live in is approx 6ftx 4ft, I try my best to enrich it as much as possible, so I think it's more that she's a naughty piggy than she needs a bigger cage.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Is your cage made with c&c grids? If so, then that is possibly how she is getting out. Young guinea pigs can fit right through the holes in the grids. Putting something solid along the bottom half of the grids can stop her from escaping.

 

[pinkearsmarcy]

It's made with playpen gates with a wooden board along the bottom. These are the play pen grids Wire Small Animal Play Pen | Pets At Home

I put them on the inside, with the wood on the outside, as I thought they were using the wooden boards to get themselves over, but one of them managaed to escape again. I'm thinking I should get the play pen made for rabbits/guinea pigs? I've had my play pen for years and didn't realise they made bigger. Does anyone have experience with escaping guinea pigs so I can have a few plans in place?

 

[Piggies&buns]

if it is only 23cm high then that isn’t high enough for to stop a guinea pig. My playpen is 70cm high.

 

[Alisa3114]

Looking at the link you put up it looks way too small to stop a Guinea pig climbing out. It says it's for hamsters and the reviews all say even hamster have climbed out easily. The only thing you could probably do is make a lid for it and secure it in place.

 

[Betsy]

That is for a hamster if the link you put up is correct. It's not for a guinea pig it even says "Not suitable for any pets other than those stated." You will def need a bigger play pen.

 

[flowerfairy]

My herd live on table tops in a c and c cage and dont manage to escape. I got the grids from amazon and have used a wipeable flooring called correx which I got from ebay. They have fleece cage liners with an absorbent liner sewn inside.