guinea pig questions

[vx220]

hi,

thinking of treating our guinea pig to some more space, his current cage is about 90cm long by 55cm wide. we have space to go to about 185cm long and 65cm wide. had a quick search, can't seem to find anything any bigger than he already has in the indoor ranges?

any ideas gratefully received!

second q... if i decided to build him a cage, what wood should i use, assuming he'll chew it, and any particular treatment to use on it?

last q, and i hope it's not stupid, as frank is on his own (he was constantly fighting with all the other guinea pigs in the shop, so he was put up for adoption and we couldn't resist!) how do you think he'd respond to a mirror in his cage? don't want to distress him in any way, seems happy enough as he is and gets lots of attention from us through out the day. i know people do it with caged birds...

[The Highway Man]

My guinea has never chewed the hutch, pity the same couldn't be said for his bunny hutch mate. I've never bothered with a mirror as he knows he's gorgeous! My hutch is made out of compressed chip board with heavy felt covering but as I said in my other topic, the hutch is getting a heavy duty - bunny proof makeover in the next couple of weeks.

[Big_Kahuna]

We had the same problem, had 2 guineas and wanted a large cage but couldn't find one.

We made a large indoor enclosure using this technique:

http://www.erodent.co.uk/guineapigcages.htm

We bought 2 of the wire racks so that we had enough to make a long and wide enclosure for them.

Our guineas loved it, long lasting too.

[Big_Kahuna]

Better pic and instructions on:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm

[SmokinV8]

you could try him with a very young baby male, guineas are very social and keeping one by himself is quite sad, every week i have people coming to me wanting a friend for their lonely guinea that has prehaps lost its mate or the owners have stupidly been sold ONE GUINEA by a shop or back yard breeder, it has to be a very young male, on no account put a adult with him, this would result in big time fighting.
sorry but a mirror would do nothing for him, if you can not get hold of a baby boar (purchase any sex) then seperate the cage off into 2 seperate cages with a wire partition, this will let him see,nuzzle and smell the other guinea but get to it.
mrssmokinv8
pedigree/pet breeder/exhibitor of guineas for 40+ yrs

[Mubby]

I also had a cage based on above for my piggie, as they cant jump you dont need a roof! unless there are dogs or cats or anything that could get in!!

this was my cage - a good few years ago! but was great!

[Mubby]

had a quick look on ebay... found these... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NW-MODERN-SHOE-ORGANISER-16-... think of the variations!! haha, you can build levels just make ramps! and put lino or a few laminate boards on bottom.. sorted!

[SmokinV8]

Mubby said:

I also had a cage based on above for my piggie, as they cant jump you dont need a roof! unless there are dogs or cats or anything that could get in!!

this was my cage - a good few years ago! but was great!

guineas are excellent jumpers, i have seen them leap out of a 18" tall box with no problem at all.

[The Highway Man]

For little fat hairy legs, my fella can't half jump!!

[Mubby]

The Highway Man said:

For little fat hairy legs, my fella can't half jump!!

they do a thing called "popcorning" which is showing they are happy which is jumping up and often "wheeking" and landing on all fours, often turning and looking very cute! usually babies do it but older piggies can too (just thier weight makes it harder! ) but their legs cant jump over a barrier for instance like a bunny could

Edited by Mubby on Monday 20th June 08:56

[SGirl]

SmokinV8 said:

guineas are excellent jumpers, i have seen them leap out of a 18" tall box with no problem at all.

Just because they can, doesn't mean they should. It's generally not a good idea to let guineas "jump" so far because they're heavy at the back end and light at the front end, and they can easily break their front legs or even their teeth if you're not careful. That's why you should always stop them jumping out of your hands if you're putting them down on the ground.

[Big_Kahuna]

Nice pen Mubby!!

We bought ours from B&Q:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

@SmokinV8 - we had no problems with our guineas jumping or attempting to jump out of this kind of pen/cage.

The only instance I've seen one of our guineas doing a large jump is when I needed to take him to the vet's.

I'd picked him up, put him in a pet carry box and left the visor lid on top of the box open.

I put the box down to put my shoes on, he jumped out and ran off into the kitchen cue me frantically chasing him to catch him so I wasn't late.

Unless our guineas had jumped out and back into the pen before we came home, as fas as I know, they couldn't get out of it, unless we had intentionally left the gate open.

[Mubby]

Big_Kahuna said:

Nice pen Mubby!!

We bought ours from B&Q:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

Unless our guineas had jumped out and back into the pen before we came home, as fas as I know, they couldn't get out of it, unless we had intentionally left the gate open.

oooh making me want another guinny wiggle!! :lol: may have to pop into B&Q in next few days

these type of cages are brilliant as you can change them when you get bored!

I know a few people who have used the cubes and never had an escapee!

[The Highway Man]

Big_Kahuna said:

Nice pen Mubby!!

We bought ours from B&Q:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

@SmokinV8 - we had no problems with our guineas jumping or attempting to jump out of this kind of pen/cage.

The only instance I've seen one of our guineas doing a large jump is when I needed to take him to the vet's.

I'd picked him up, put him in a pet carry box and left the visor lid on top of the box open.

I put the box down to put my shoes on, he jumped out and ran off into the kitchen cue me frantically chasing him to catch him so I wasn't late.

Unless our guineas had jumped out and back into the pen before we came home, as fas as I know, they couldn't get out of it, unless we had intentionally left the gate open.

My pen is 4 lengths of old chainlink fencing attached using hinges. Big enough for the beasties to run wild.

[Big_Kahuna]

The Highway Man said:

Wow, that's a pen! Your guineas must be huge

[Mubby]

looks fab I want a piggie now!!

[The Highway Man]

Big_Kahuna said:

Wow, that's a pen! Your guineas must be huge

Just your normal 2-3lb in weight, but very active so they get plenty of space and toys to play with.

[vx220]

update on cage situation. went to pets at home, special offer on the exact same cage he has already, so bought him one. an hour or so with the angle grinder (any excuse!) and a file, resulting in two neat holes that are a tight fit for his chube (chewable tube) meaning he has double the space, and it all fits in!!!

and he loves it! a bit wary at first, but we gave him a couple of hours to explore and he's all sorted.

left it as bare as we could, so he can do "laps" but with a shelf so he can have somewhere to hide if he's in there

will post pics soon

[Mubby]

excellent!