Guinea pig cages

Canada_jezus

Hey, so i've decided on a pet a while back and its going to be two guinea pigs. One problem however, is their living arrangement. Now i've read sites like http://www.guineapigcages.com/ and such. So i'm aware of the evils of pet store cages. The problem is though i'm in europe and the materials mentioned on that site (or comparable are just completely not available and online ordering is not an option. In a few weeks i could head over to where my parents live and i'll have the time to scour the surrounding area.

So basically the question is, is there a reason they can't just live on a walled off area of the floor? I mean i'd put down some sort of plastic then newspaper and bedding. But yeah basically the floor surrounded by plastic boxes and whatnot. This doesn't seem like that good of an idea but ehh.

Alternatively i could buy two or three laundry hampers, cut them up, tape them together and make sure no jagged bits remain.

Can anyone let me know is this an okay way of doing things or completely unconscionable.


(i could always just get a pet store cage if that's the lesser of these three evils, i'd try and upgrade to one of those cages desbribed in the link but i can't guarantee that'd be before christmas)

Figgy

There is no wire shelving where you are? Every pig cage I've seen is just wire shelving turned into a cage. Go to your local hardware store or department store (something like a walmart?) and buy the wire shelving you put together yourself, but instead just make it into a cage perimeter.

Looking at your link, that's what most of those pictures are.

Shadowfire

How much time are they going to spend in their cages? Even with four cats, our guinea pigs spent a lot of time outside of their cage, so we didn't mind having a pet store cage for them. We'd run around the house with them... it was a lot of fun. We built our own cage eventually, to make better use of the space we had. I can't see why a sectioned off part of the floor wouldn't work, but you really want something else there. Imagine the ammonia build up in a cage. Now put that in your floor. I actually like their idea of using linoleum as a cage bottom... though I wonder how easy it will clean. Easy scratching + urine = nasty.

Also, some of the shit on that site about pet store cages is incredible. Most of them over $100? Imported from Italy? Hard to find? Holy shit bad information.

Canada_jezus

Figgy wrote: »

There is no wire shelving where you are? Every pig cage I've seen is just wire shelving turned into a cage. Go to your local hardware store or department store (something like a walmart?) and buy the wire shelving you put together yourself, but instead just make it into a cage perimeter.

Looking at your link, that's what most of those pictures are.

Yeah seriously, no wire shelving, three office supply stores and two hardware stores. I've checked everything i'm within reasonable distance of. Thursday a friend with a car is coming over, so we might be able to find something then. Buuut its no guarantee, hence this topic. I mean i'm sure wire caging is available somewhere in this country but with me being limited to bus and bike it might as well not be.

Also they'd be spending most of their time in the cage, which is why i wanted to make it as big as possible. This apartment has a lot of nooks and crannies where a human can't really reach so i'm not sure if i can guinea pig proof everything and just let them roam free.


Hey i just found something http://www.erard.be/classes/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/images/photos/Megabox%2046l.jpg&w=495&hp=330 Would three of these conjoined be a decent enough cage? its plastic so easy to clean, it can breathe and the top is open so i can interact a lot. They're also like 4 bucks each.

Kistra

What about underbed storage bins? They are usually plastic and would keep mess of the floor and then you could create additional height with whatever you have at hand?

EDIT: what you found looks better. But I have no idea how big those are, the picture you linked to has no description or references.

Figgy

From the picture, it looks kind of cramped and small.. and you won't really be able to see through it very well.

When you go out Thursday, keep an eye out for "closet storage solutions." That's generally what people use wire shelving for.

Canada_jezus

This is the only thing i could find for some reference size wise. I'd take three or four of those and remove side-panels and link them up. Ideally we'd find the wire shelving but i'm not terribly optimistic. Also i just found one of them (the boxes mean). Rough estimate the long side if 24 inches orso and the short side 15ish?

edit: picking up an actual pet store cage on thursday is looking like the best thing to do.

Figgy

Those don't look high enough. It looks like they'll be able to climb right out. If you plan on putting them the other way around, I'd think that's not high enough for the comfort of the animal.

Canada_jezus

Ah you're probably right, its like 10 inches high. I mean, guinea pigs aren't rats in their climbing but they probably get over that easy enough. edit: i can get a hutch suitable for three rabbits for like 75 bucks. if that'd be good for them i'd gladly pay.