several. Even if you look at all the possibilities available online, you won’t find many suitably sized cages.
There are a few commercially available cages in the 7.5 to 8 square feet (2.3–2.4 sq m) range, approximately 30 × 36 in. (75 × 90 cm) or 24 × 48 in. (60 × 120 cm). But these are about the largest guinea pig cages you’ll find on the market right now, though larger sizes might become available in the future.
What if you’ve already bought a cage and now realize it’s too small? You could always keep it as a “quarantine cage” for any of your guinea pigs that get sick. You could also use it as temporary housing for your piggies when cleaning out their new, larger cage, or make it part of an expanded cage system by linking it to a larger living area (see Multi-level cages and extensions).
Build-it-yourself cages
If you’re having trouble finding a large enough store-bought cage, don’t worry. It doesn’t take much skill to make a cage yourself. And you’ll be happy to know that some of the very best guinea pig cages are owner-designed and built. Fortunately, you don’t have to start completely from scratch when making a do-it-yourself cage; you can make a first-rate cavy habitat by putting together a combination of store-bought items.
The first item you’ll need is corrugated plastic, better known as coroplast, which is used to make an easy-clean floor for the cage. Coroplast sheets come in a variety of colors, so you can match the cage to your décor or make it a distinct conversation piece. The second item you’ll need is wire-cube shelving, which is used to make the walls of the enclosure. This shelving comes in black, white, and a limited number of colors. With these two products, it’s fairly cheap to build what’s known as a C&C (cubes and coroplast) cage for your cavies.
The wire-cube shelving is sold under several brand names. It comes in packages containing anywhere from 16 to 40-plus wire-grid panels, along with plastic connectors for joining the panels together. When you go shelf shopping, look for the 14-inch (35 cm) square panels rather than the 15-inch (38 cm) square panels because the spaces in the 15-inch (38 cm) panels are larger, and small-sized guinea pigs could escape through them. Packages of wire-cube shelving are pretty easy to find; department stores, bed-and-bath stores, discount warehouses, and office supply stores all carry them. They’re also widely available on the Internet—just google “wire cube shelving.” However, if you order from the Internet, the delivery costs could be expensive unless your order qualifies for free shipping.
The coroplast might be harder to find. Your best bet is to look for it in sign shops. You could also look for it in hobby/craft stores or in some home improvement stores. None in stock? Ask if it can be ordered for you.
It’s easy to find coroplast sheets on the Internet, but be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for delivery. A sheet large enough to make a suitable cage (4 × 8 feet/1.2 × 2.4 m) is classed as “oversized” and requires special shipping. You could, however, ask to have a sheet scored (not cut) and folded, so that it would fit into a smaller package for cheaper shipping.
One last item for your shopping list is a bag of small cable ties, lock ties, or zip ties. These ties will be used to connect the wire grids together to form the walls of the cage. The wire-cube shelving does come with plastic connectors, but these connectors are not strong enough on their own to make a sturdy guinea pig habitat.
Once you have your materials on hand, the next step is to assemble the cage.
Assembly time
The easy part of cage construction is erecting the walls. Just stand the grids up, and join them together with the plastic connectors to form a fence-like rectangle. The number of grids you need depends on how large a cage you’re planning to make. For example, if you want to make a cage approximately 28 inches (70 cm) wide x 84 inches (210 cm) long, you’ll need sixteen grids: two grids for each short side and six grids for each long side. At this point, use the plastic connectors rather than the lock ties to join the grids, because if you change your mind about the size of the cage or the layout, it’s easy to pop off the connectors and reconfigure the walls.
If you’re going to place the cage on the floor, you can skip this paragraph and go straight to the next one. However, if you’re going to place the cage on a desk or a table, you need to buy extra grids to make a wire base for the cage. Why? Sometimes a cage on a table can get knocked or nudged. If it’s nudged in such a way that two adjoining sides end up hanging over the table, the whole cage will come crashing down—guinea pigs and all. To prevent this disaster, you need to make a wire bottom for any cage that’s going to be placed on a table. To do this, just zip-tie some grids together to make a flat base. Then, put the base on the table, set the grid walls on top of the base, and zip-tie everything together. Picture a big shoe box made out of grid panels to get the idea of what this will look like.
The next step is to make a coroplast tray for the cage. This involves cutting and scoring the coroplast, and forming it into a shallow box shape that will fit inside the wire-grid walls. In order to figure out how large a piece of coroplast you’ll need, first measure the inside dimensions of the wire-grid rectangle you’ve just made, and then add 12 inches (30 cm) to the length and 12 inches (30 cm) to the width. Why add the extra inches? It’s because they’ll be needed to form a 6-inch (15 cm) side all around the coroplast tray. This mini wall is important because it keeps hay and bedding inside the cage.
Now, mark these measurements onto the coroplast using a felt-tip pen and a ruler. Next, trim the coroplast along the marked lines with a utility knife or sturdy scissors. Then, using your pen and ruler, draw a six-inch (15 cm) border all the way around the trimmed coroplast. Now comes the hard part—you have to score the coroplast all along the lines you’ve just marked out. Scoring means cutting the plastic partway through with a utility knife or razor blade. Be very careful; you don’t want to cut all the way through (see photo).
You’ll notice that your marked lines intersect at each corner of the coroplast to form a 6-inch square (15 cm) (see photo). Cut right through one line of each square. Now flip the coroplast over, and fold up the scored parts to form a box. Tape the corners securely with good quality duct tape or vinyl-coated cloth tape. What you’ve just made is a shallow tray with 6-inch (15 cm) sides. Set the tray inside the wire walls and presto—you have an inexpensive, spacious guinea pig cage! The last step is to reinforce all the adjoining grid sections with zip ties (top, bottom, and center). This gives the walls added strength. Be sure to trim those zip ties so that you and the piggies don’t get scratched.
If you have space for an even larger cage—one that will allow you to use the whole sheet of coroplast without trimming off any part of it—stick with six grids for the long walls, but use three grids for the short walls. The third grid at each short end will have to overlap the second grid and be secured to it with zip ties.
When scoring the coroplast, be careful not to cut right through it.
To make a corner, cut through one line of each square.
What about a lid or cover for the cage? Since guinea pigs aren’t champion high jumpers, you don’t really need to add a lid. But if you have other pets, such as a cat or a dog, you should top the cage with a cover to keep your cavies safe. Two lengths of epoxy-coated wire closet shelving will make a fine cover. The length of the cage will determine how long the pieces of shelving need to be. If the shelving overlaps the cage by a few inches,
