Bottlebrush Hills Guinea pig Rescue! Can it be done?!

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Ooh, and I just found this awesome one on special: Villa Chicken Coop A chook villa lol. You can also add extensions to the run. There are plenty of others like it on this site. Shipping is pretty cheap (I got quoted $30), and you can get it now and pay in installments.

Do your research though, this is just one site I happened to stumble upon, there may be better/cheaper options elsewhere.

Makes me want to get chooks again lol! :luv:
 
Sorry, I know that's a bit above the $100 you wanted to spend, but I've been looking around (for myself mainly - I'd love to get chooks again) and that's the best price for something of that size I can find. AfterPay might be an option - just remember that this will cost you more overall than if you save for it though. :tu:

I'm also not sure how easy they would be to put up (I imagine no more difficult than flatpack furniture lol) or whether the wood is safe for gnawing pigs... Maybe if you contact the people on the site they will be able to give you some advice.
 
Just one consideration for you when it comes to keeping piggies in sheds (although I see it is a way off for your own five pigs before they go in a shed). Temperature is an important consideration when it comes to keeping pigs in sheds.
My shed gives me trouble when the weather is even moderately warm. It is well ventilated (large double doors and two large windows) but it still radiates and accumulates any heat (which is great in winter but a nightmare in even moderately mild temperatures). We are in the middle of autumn and our days have been around 18 degrees recently - perfect piggy temperature outside but even this amount of heat is accumulating in my shed and it is getting to around 25-26 degrees in there despite is only being 18 or so outside, so I am having to get my pigs out of the shed every day at the moment (and some days they are coming in the house when I can’t be home to leave them in their outside run) as it is just too hot to let them stay inside.
 
piglette said:
Ooh, and I just found this awesome one on special: Villa Chicken Coop A chook villa lol. You can also add extensions to the run. There are plenty of others like it on this site. Shipping is pretty cheap (I got quoted $30), and you can get it now and pay in installments.

Do your research though, this is just one site I happened to stumble upon, there may be better/cheaper options elsewhere.

Makes me want to get chooks again lol! :luv:
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That's gorgeous, but I'm really not sure its big enough :(

If I remember rightly Teazle's current set up is a (roughly) 1 m^2 hutch over a 1.5 m^2 run - but the 5 pigs don't tend to come down into the run very often so they're living in the 1 m^2 hutch and falling out. To meet the recommendations any new home for them needs a /hutch/ that's a bare minimum of 1.3 m^2, and preferably 1.5 m^2 (based on the forum's cage size guide).

The run of the Chicken Villa is 124 x 70cm, which is only 0.86 m^2 and the hutch looks to be under 0.6 m^2, which is significantly smaller than the current set up :(
 
The Cabana or Manor Large here would definitely be big enough. Some of the others might, but you'd need to get the measurements of the enclosed areas. They're all significantly over your budget, though, unless you can raise some more funds.
 
Good on you for wanting to take on a rescue, there are so many piggies out there needing help so the more the merrier! All the above advice is spot on - it is most definitely a challenge at the best of times but also very rewarding.
Money is a massive issue to consider though - despite our fundraising, its never enough to fund our sanctuary alone and so some of the things we need I pay for with my wages. Any donations we get go straight into our vet fund which we save for emergencies! An emergency consultation after 12am on a weekend costs us over £220 just to walk in :0

Do you drive? I think that's one of the essential things for running a sanctuary, to get pigs to a vet at any time (day or night) and for collecting /dropping off pigs.

We have space for 11 pigs (withough emergency cages in use) and 6 of those are currently full with long term elderly and disabled guineas - could you build a foster network in case?

I don't really have much else to add on the other folks above but it's super hard work for sure! I get home from work about 9 and it's straight into sweeping, feeding, medicating, floor time etc 😅

If you plan well (it always costs more than you think) and don't mind having no social life/all the hard work then it can be super rewarding 😍
 
It is best if you have some of your own funds in case of emergency. You can always do fundraising as well as adoption fees & some people give donations when they surrender their piggies. Get forms done for Surrenders & Adoptions 7 on the surrender form near the bottom ask if they'd like to give a donation. When I started doing this the surrender donations doubled.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Do you mean for A permanent cage? It would just about ok for a cage in the house (couldn’t be used outside) but, and this is a big but, it only meets the absolute bare minimum size for 2 guinea pigs. The recommended size cage for 2 piggies should be 150cm.
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@Piggies&buns is right - the website does say OK for 5 pigs but it's nowhere near big enough for that many.

@Tangle linked the forum's cage size guide above: Cage Size Guide

As an outdoor cage, they have nowhere to shelter and I also doubt it's snake-proof. A medium-sized python could squish through the gaps around the doors.

Did you also see the wooden GP/rabbit/ferret hutches advertised on this site? One of those might be good?
 
I’ve just looked at the biggest wooden rabbit hutches on that website and they aren’t big enough for five piggies either.
To fit all five of yours in, the recommended size would be a cage measuring 250cms x 60cms.
It’s the single level space which counts and the attached runs don’t meet the correct size anyway, but you will also have to bear in mind the upstairs space given that is the only sheltered area on those particular hutches. The sheltered areas on those are far too small.
 
Most rescues or serious boarding establishments pay a carpenter to build suitable hutches to meet their requirements. That way you can be sure you get what you really need.
 
Teazel 2017 said:
My word! Do you suggest I do DIY then? Would that be cheaper?
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Probably - if you have the skill to actually do it yourself.

Here are a couple of DIY designs that I came across. Neither is perfect (guinea pigs need a solid floor and you don't want partitions, and you might want to have at least some of the front solid for shelter, and/or build in an option on "shutters" for when you need it), but they could be a starting point to a good design for you.

A Kid-Friendly Rabbit Hotel
Building a Sectional Rabbit Hutch

If you'd need to pay someone they may well prefer to be involved in the design (they're the one that's going to have to build it, after all - or they might want you to give them a finished design, you'd have to ask) and may also give you a price for a finished product. But if you're going fully DIY you'll need to cost up the materials for yourself before you can say whether this would be cheaper or not.

I'm sure if you wanted to draft up a design experienced eyes on here would be happy to go through it with you to make as sure as possible it will do what you need it to do :).
 
The DIY I want costs around 109.16 dollars, so thats okay. It's sort of like a tabletop cage with a roof, running across the length of a wall outside. It is 60 cm by 2.4m and is 30cm high, plus being 60cm off the ground. Is that a good idea?
 
What if I start a small animal pet boarding buisness? Would that be a good idea? Any tips? Could I use it to help save up to start a rescue?
 
Whether it would be cheaper would depend on the cost of materials in your area. My dad has actually built your rabbit hutches and runs for me over the years when i haven’t been able to buy ones big enough. It hasn’t worked out cheaper to build them but it has meant I’ve got perfect sizes and designs.

Regarding starting a small pet boarding, the same considerations still apply and possibly more ie the need to make sure pets are vaccinated before you allow them to come in for boarding, that you can handle any of the long term health conditions which may be present.
You say small pets - are you considering all small pets or just certain types. Do you have knowledge of all types of small pets that you could board? You would still need a lot of space and multiple cages and runs of varying sizes to accommodate the variety of pets
You will still need various types of insurance and access to a good vet who could help a wide variety of pets who could potentially become ill while you’re looking after them.
 
Teazel 2017 said:
The DIY I want costs around 109.16 dollars, so thats okay. It's sort of like a tabletop cage with a roof, running across the length of a wall outside. It is 60 cm by 2.4m and is 30cm high, plus being 60cm off the ground. Is that a good idea?
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When you say "cage" do you mean as in all four sides are open wire? I think they'd need more shelter from the weather (as would the contents, or your bedding will get soaked when it rains!)

Do you have the space to make it a touch bigger? That comes out at 1.45 m^2 - which should be OK, but if you're potentially having fall outs from living in each others pockets then bigger can only help. I wouldn't want to go any smaller, though.

$109.16 is a very accurate figure! What materials are you using? Who would be doing the building?
 
You would still need to make a significant capital investment before you could start an animal boarding business. One of your biggest hurdles with a rescue is having accommodation. But the animals coming on holiday would need somewhere to live, too, that you would be expected to provide.

I still think you need to make heady way on proving some fund raising ideas before you start any kind of animal-based business.
 
My allergies are fine. Straw sets me off, not hay. Yes, I have considered all small pets. The hutch would be undercover and made of premium pine and cage mesh. And on legs.
 
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