In October 2017, we decided to get our daughter Guinea Pigs for her birthday. We did this as we thought the longer life span and easy maintenance would suit her well. We could not, however, have been more outdated in our information. Firstly, it is now discovered that Guinea pigs need to live in, at least, pairs, preferably herds (fortunately, we did find this out before buying them). Secondly the space required for a pair of Guinea pigs by UK standards is 7.5 square feet (minimum), but 10.5 square feet is preferred. We however did not know this, so, we bought a cage very similar to the one in the picture below and a play pen that measured 1 square metre/9 square feet.
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| The Cage form the pet store |
If we had known this at the time we would not have even bothered buying the cage and let the guinea pigs live in the Pen. The cage measured about 1/2 square metre, the equivalent to 6 square feet, which is too small for two fully grown Guinea pigs. Granted that when we bought our two female guinea pigs (Oreo & Tink) they were tiny - and very cute - but within about 5 weeks they had nearly doubled in size and we realised, quickly, that we had a problem.
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| 9 square feet playpen for 2 Guinea pigs |
We decided to set up their play pen at this point and let them live in this. They seemed much happier and were slightly more sociable with us too, but again within another 5 or so weeks, they had again doubled in size, at this point I set about expanding their pen by taking the top of their previous cage and cable tying it to the pen sideways (also cable tying the back so as Oreo and Tink were not walking across the wire frame. Below is that expanded pen which now gives them 12 square feet to wander around in. Again, they became even more sociable and now we open the front and give them supervised floor time which is even better for them.
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| Now 12 sq feet but I felt it could still be bigger |
I worked on a design which would give them 18 square feet, this was one of my hardest builds as one part of the enclosure was so big to try and work with on my own but I did it through stages. Each stage made the enclosure slightly bigger than the last.
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Stage one had the hay trough attached to a pen they could run around in
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| This was the finished build |
We then decided to add a 3rd sow to the herd so there were amendments made for temporary enclosures. This could not stay like this as it took over our whole sitting room but it was a temporary measure.
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| The old stage one run was added beside the two girls so as they could get to know Belle, our new adopted sow. |
As time went on I tried the acclaimed c & c cage and it was ok. We changed it about several times but again, it just seemed to swallow our sitting room .... until we found another baby sow to add to our herd.
Finally in January of this year I decided enough was enough and we changed the sitting room around to suit both us and the Guinea Pigs. They now have over 24 square feet to run around in and it doesnt take up the living room any more.
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| Finally everyone is happy ! |
When considering getting guinea pigs I highly recommend building the cage yourself first (I wish I had done this), or using the play pen (only, if you do not have predatory animals) for your guinea pigs to live in. It did initially cost me over £200 to buy the guinea pigs and all of the accessories but I could have saved £75 if I had realised just how quickly our two piggies, would out grow their cage. If you can, I would recommend having the hutch inside and giving them a run to some sort of hay trough. We removed one of the doors so as the 4 girls can come and go as they please and I have never seen them more active. Although they are currently missing out on 4 square foot of space as none of them go up to the top level in the hutch, this still leaves them with 20 square feet.
In total over the years I would guess I have spent around £300 on different enclosures trying to find the one that suited everyone, Like I said, I wish I had not spent the first £75 on a shop cage, but to be fair, I need the C & C for their current run and I have used the hay trough again form the first DIY build so it has been worth it (apart from the pet shop cage). Take my advise,use other enclosure methods, the C & C cages are great but in my experience, a hutch with a run is brilliant for bigger herds.
I hope this has helped you if you are looking to upgrade your Guinea pig enclosure or even if you are looking at buying guinea pigs. Their enclosure is the hardest part to get right for indoor pigs which is why I have shared my many different options over the last few years.
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