I have a Kavee 2 grid by 4 grid for 2 Guinea pigs but I really want to make it bigger from all I hear about how much room they need. I can make it 3 grids by 4 grids but I can’t make it longer due to room size. Would that addition work? I keep seeing longer to be bigger but not wider. Do cages need to be longer vs more square? This is the cage set up for far. I also worry it’s too crowded for good running around?
Cage criticism? Is wider not longer okay?
- Thread starter Sah919
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Lady Kelly
Senior Guinea Pig
It's about overall floor space, it doesn't matter if that floor space is round, rectangular, square or higgidy-piggidy to fit bespoke areas of the home. The only space you want to avoid is pinch points where piggies are forced to pass each other extremely closely e g. If you had two square bits of cage that were joined by a long 1 grid width corridor. If tensions run high it would be pinch points that may escalate things further
No, it doesn't matter whether a cage is square or a rectangle, especially in floor cages. As long as it is not a 1 grid wide corridor, which does not really work as ground space.
The wider cages allow zoomies in circles, so you want to have tunnels but not huts on the perimeter whereas a longer cage encourages straight races from one end to the other. For younger piggies I prefer wider layouts as they give better romping options if possible.
Where it can make a difference are raised cages, where two grid wide cages are much easier to clean and support than three grid wide ones - that is usually wider than your arms can comfortably reach.
Many people have limited indoors space which fits longer but narrower cages better.
Here is a picture of an older set-up of mine. As you can see, I have 3 grids wide group cages on the ground floor but two grid wide cages on the tables.
Lorcan
Forum Buddy
I had two boars in two Midwest cages, each one is 4x2. I used the setup three different ways depending on a few factors, but that meant I'd had them in an 8x2 space, a 4x4 space, and in a corner/L shape.
As for being crowded - if your pig wants to make a zoomies circuit they'll make it around and through any obstacles they want. Comet would repeatedly knock hideys out of his circuit path when Blitzen was trying to sleep in them. I'd be more wary that some of the stuff in there would be dangerous for them, it doesn't look cluttered to me otherwise.
It definitely doesn’t matter as long as any cage meets overall size requirements (and isn’t one grid wide), and that’s the great thing about c&c cages - they can be made to fit whatever space you have!
My boys live in a hutch with a c&c enclosed space in front (in my shed) so their living space is effectively a 5x5.
My boys live in a hutch with a c&c enclosed space in front (in my shed) so their living space is effectively a 5x5.
My Piggies
Adult Guinea Pig
I agree. It's overall floor space that counts. My three are in a 4x5 instead of a 2x10 as we simply don't have the space for a cage that long, but it's still the same floor space 
D
Deleted member 148946
Absolutely 
that will work... they will have plenty of room. For a pair 10.5 sq FT is advised
that will work... they will have plenty of room. For a pair 10.5 sq FT is advised
D
Deleted member 148946
I have more in a 2x5 c&c plus extension duplex of 2x2, they love it, ramps on either side and they treat it like a racetrack. Up and down and up and down... they don't stop, so maybe instead of building out, build up!
D
Deleted member 148946
Girl, you've got like 15 guinea pigs in that, I have about that for two, how are people getting judged for the size of their cage when you aren't even following the rules?
Youve said your cage is a 2x5 which is big enough for three sows or two boars (upper levels don’t count towards the cage size) (approx 14 square feet for a 2x5 cage). Each of the separate ground level cages in Wiebke’s picture are bigger, being 3x5 (approx 21 square feet), and given wider cages cover a larger surface area, they can each hold more piggies per cage. There will be only the right amount of piggies in each one of Wiebke’s cages to meet space requirements.
(even if this was just one cage it would make it a 9x5, which covers approximately 61 square feet so would be big enough to house in excess of 20 piggies still with plenty of space to spare and/or add piggies)
In relation to the OP, this person has a 2x4 and wants to make it a 3x4 to give more space. Expanding out is the right way to do that - either by making it wider or longer (going wider giving more space than going longer does) . Expanding up doesn’t give more space as upper levels don’t count towards the cage size (they are a bonus space only).
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poggle
Adult Guinea Pig
I'm wondering, could you be looking at the wrong picture? Wiebke's old set-up looks to contain two 2x4 areas and three 3x5 areas; the cage the poster was looking to expand is 2x4, much closer to 2x5.
Hi
With all due respect, my cage sizes are totally compliant with welfare recommendations and have been passed for adoption by good welfare standard rescues from all over the UK - and would also be accepted by the highly recommended US rescues which I am in contact with. All 3x5 grid ground floor pens have direct access onto a time shared roaming ground (which is a lot larger than your own cage space by the way). All my piggies have extra exercise time according to their age/health needs; including the ones in the table cages.
I am however most definitely NOT a 'girl' to be condescended to by a casual stranger. I do provide a good home for guinea pigs that are otherwise not rehomeable/unbondable, which helps to free up much needed rescue cage space to quite literally save lives in the fast growing flood of discarded and neglected pets. I do have the patience and experience to rehabilitate them and to find them company that they accept and are happy with for a good long life in many cases. My last two losses were both 8 year old, so I must surely be doing something right, considering the often horrible background of many of my piggies?
Which is a consideration and answering a need that you are very obviously not aware of nor is it a service to community you yourself are providing when looking after just two piggies. I assume yours are newly bought and not recycled?
There is a huge gulf between between 'only the very best is good enough' and 'dire reality'. My set up and my ownership are very much on the correct side of both equally valid aspects at this time and age.
Anyway, I would recommend to you to be more careful with your comments to total strangers in any place you are new to; it is essentially you who are showing yourself up, not the person you are commenting on without knowing their background and circumstances. Whether you are face to face or not shouldn't make any difference whatsoever about how you deal with people because it is still the same people with the same feelings on the other side of the screen after all.
I would also like to remind you that we have a clear concept of polite and respectful interaction on this forum and that rude and disrespectful comments can get you banned. You have ticked (and are very much supposed to have actually read) our explicit forum rules in this respect when you were signing up because we are a friendly and supportive place which as a community helps everybody in their own journey of welfare to achieve their individual optimum instead of demanding the ultimate as the only possible way.
By being scornful in your remarks about other people's efforts, you are sadly very much not helping towards improving welfare, which is in practice any improvement that anybody can reasonably make within their own means towards the wellbeing of their pets and which everybody can work on to some degree or other - which this thread is actually proof of us doing exactly this for the poster. Welfare is not an absolute term but a constant journey in learning more and improving conditions that every single one of us to make for ourselves. It also comprises a lot more aspects than just space - companionship for instance is every bit as important as space; and that is what I offer all my own piggies, even if it takes hard work to get them as far.
When compared to the conditions I started out my own piggy journey 50 years ago (so much for your patronising 'girl'), we have come on a very long way indeed in half a century, both in terms of care and understanding; even though I and my family have been considered good owners for the standard of the time all along the way. The welfare journey is by no means finished but at times you have to make certain choices as to what you prioritise and which specific aspects of welfare you want to support most. Putting somebody down over making different choices than you yourself will only show up your own shortcomings - do you really like the person you present yourself as when you read this thread with fresh eyes?
All we can ultimately do is to invite as many people from all over the world in a friendly and encouraging manner to join us on this journey, but at eye height and not showing off down from a tower of unassailable virtue, which is the most effective killer of any interest and cooperation. All the now defunct forums and stale groups have proven that point amply. There is a good reason why we have survived as a forum.
None of us is in possession of the ultimate truth and the absolute welfare practice. We haven't been judged yet by future times as to whether the choice to pamper the lucky few by the increasingly fewer people who can afford that high level of ownership in an increasingly overpopulated world or to help fight the senseless waste of the many overproduced and unwanted pets in a massive throw-away society is to be considered the better choice by those who come after us.
Personally, I think I have found the compromise that works best for for me in respect to both aims. I do have certainly nothing to prove to anybody in my long term commitment to practising and promoting both down to earth welfare for anybody wherever around the world and doing my own bit for rescue awareness and the plight of no longer wanted guinea pigs within my own personal limitations. Good care and welfare is so much more than just cage space; especially if it comes at the cost of other piggies' equally valid piggy lives.
What an incredibly rude person you are. Wiebke is a much respected and valued expert on this forum, whose advice is sought after and trusted. You on the other hand need to learn some good manners.
Betsy
Anniversary Herd
How rude are you? Wiebke is well liked, respected and an expert on guinea pigs. She is a valued member of this lovely friendly forum and my guinea pigs live a better life than they would have thanks to her expertise and advice. You really should go and crawl back under the rock you came out of or learn some manners!
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My piggies are in a square setup, as someone above said, it's great for doing laps when they have the urge to zoom. I've got three tunnels around the perimeter. it's like watching the Monaco Grand Prix when they get going. I have two in there and it's about 12 square feet in total.
Tiamolly123
Senior Guinea Pig
See boss I,m being good & not joining in.
Wheek!Wheek!
Junior Guinea Pig
Definitely, 3x4 is a great size for guinea pigs
D
Deleted member 148946
How am I not following the rules? I have two guinea pigs in an 11FT Sq space...
poggle
Adult Guinea Pig
Rather than a welfare compliance issue, the problem here related to what are considered acceptable social behaviours on the forum.
In the UK, to begin a sentence, "girl..." is generally considered impolite, particularly where the sentence is negative or critical. Whether intended or not, your comment regarding Wiebke's set-up came across as rude and patronising, neither of which are acceptable on this forum - not to mention the unfounded nature of your criticism.
Hopefully this clears up the misunderstanding and we can now move away from this negativity.