Seagull's Caviary



	Living vicariously through guinea pigs since February, 1997

From Cage to Condo

All six of our guinea pigs live together, which means the require a lot of space. Though we give them an entire section of a room to run around on, they still need a cage where they can eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. The problem, of course, is making a cage big enough to house six, and still make it inexpensive. And, because we sometimes take our guinea pigs into my fiancee's classroom, it also has to be modular, portable and flexible.

When we learned that Ebony was pregnant, we started planning a larger home for the upcoming litter. Several ideas came and went, most of them impractical or too expensive. The one that stuck was one we had seen in use by several guinea pig owners on the web. Not only was it easy to make and inexpensive, but expandable as well. Two days, and $40 later, Panda and Ebony had a new home, with plenty of room to spare for their upcoming litter.

Building the First Cage

The original cage, pictured here, consisted of two under-bed storage bins (by Sterilite), measuring 33" x 14" x 6", yielding a total of 6.4 square feet of floor space. The cage walls were from the "Creative Cubes" storage boxes, which are made up of 12" grid panels and connectors to join them. We used the connectors to join the panels at the corners, and plastic cable ties to connect the grid panels along the sides of the cage.

To help the babies get from bin to bin, since they were too small to scale the side walls, we placed bricks in the middle of the cage, in both bins, to function as a stair case. Initially, we placed two grid panels between the two bins, one at either end, making a small "doorway" where the guinea pigs could go from side to side. As the babies grew, and everyone got used to looking before they leapt, we removed the middle panels, allowing them to hop freely from bin to bin at any point.

Expanding Cage #1

After Powder and Chocolate were adopted out, there was plenty of room in the cage for Panda, Ebony and Ivory as they all continued to grow. When we brought Georgianne home, however, it was clear that the four of them could not live in such a small space. This led the way to the first expansion of the cage: a third bin. The cage, in it's current state, is shown here.

At this point, we also sectioned off a corner of the room to allow them to explore outside the cage. The front middle panel was removed from the cage walls, giving the guinea pigs a doorway into and out of their cage, so they can come and go at will.

The expansion of our herd from four to six in January, 1997, did not require any major changes in housing. Though we do have a small bin (from Panda's original cage) sitting on the floor for added space, if needed, we find that the entire herd is rarely in the cage at the same time. They all take their turns sleeping in the floor or in the cage, and some of them prefer to sleep on the carpet at night rather then in one of the bins. Hence, we can get away with a cage that is really too small for six, which would otherwise force us to add a fourth bin to make room.

Remodeling: Building the Second Cage

Over time, scatter from the cage and the occasional poop started to stain the carpet. It became clear that the cage area would need it's own flooring, so we purchased an 8' length of 6'-wide indoor/outdoor carpeting from a home and garden store. The style we chose had a rubber backing and no shag, and a water-proof tarp was placed underneath to prevent moisture, urine and odors from seeping through. As you can see in the photo, the carpet was propped up against the walls about three inches to keep scatter from settling into the corners of the floor. In front, the carpet extended about 6" to 8" beyond the cage wall to prevent scatter from hitting the floor in the room.

Living in Style: The Georgianne Memorial Condominium

As available space for the guinea pig cage decreased, and the need for a cleaner appearance increased, we opted for a total redesign in mid-1999. The new cage was constructed as a hybrid of two popular guinea pig cage designs: the original 2-bin cage using the Creative Cubes system for walls, and a small children's wading pool surrounded by guinea pig cage wire. The two cage halves were joined with a 2' length of 6" plastic pipe, serving as an elevated tunnel between two two sections.

This cage design offered ample play room, and kept the litter in a contained space, unlike the carpeted cage, above. Though managing cleanliness in the kiddie pool is somewhat challenging (taking it outdoors to clean is inconvenient, as it's bulk is cumbersome), the area surrounding the guinea pig cage is a lot cleaner since less litter scatters to the floor.

The most challenging aspect of this cage design was the connecting pipe. The pipe had to be elevated above the storage boxes/bins, so that it would not be necessary to cut holes in them. This required the use of bricks, to give the guinea pigs "steps" up to the entrance. In the wading pool, however, a hole needed to be cut into the side of the pool (and in the cage wall) to allow for a level pipe. Bricks were added here, as well, to make entry/exit possible.

The new condominium was named in memory of Georgianne, who passed away five short weeks after moving in.

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