Guinea pig mansions got a refurb and Orson is just cute :)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lisajazz

Lisajazz

Senior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
6,072
Reaction score
14
Points
675
Location
Cardiff
Thought I would finally take some photos of guinea pig mansions since we refurbished it.

We changed all the corrext from the white / yellow mix to sleek black and i'm really pleased with the results.

P1020781.jpg


P1020780.jpg


Can you see on the middle floor on the left we added a hay loft mezzanine floor which they access by getting on the roof of the wooden house next to it. It took them a few days to notice it but now they all love it up there. It is making use of the space above the ramp - maximising cage space and providing a little more enrichment in the cage - things to do.

Here is a picture of Lola enjoying it

P1020777.jpg


Nibbles (top girl) was one of the last to discover it - she only found it yesterday and then she spent a few hours guarding it on top of the box roof. I think she was intent on keeping it to herself - but she couldn't keep that up!

Here is the top floor where we currently have Orson in a small slice of the cage

P1020778.jpg


He's only small so this is okay for now but he wont be able to be neutered for a month, maybe two. Then a month on his own - so he wont be able to stay where he is for three months - he's going to be too big for this space. I am currently thinking of places to stash him where he will have enough room for a roomy place and still have some interaction / smell of the girls. Maybe on top? Dunno anyway - if anyone has any ingenious ideas please let me know!

Here is the handsome Orson

orsondec14th09.jpg


orsonandfooddec14th09.jpg


He's put on 50g in less than a week. I'm pleased! He's not too shy and because he's by the girls and can see them and interact through the bars he doesn't have that hermit / petrified single piggy behaviour that some of my others have had while they have been quarantined.
 
That looks an absolutely fabulous set up. Orson is a darling.
 
I love your new correx and the cages look so neat and tidy!

Orson is so cute and looks very happy. Is he getting on ok beside the girls? Glad to hear that he has put on weight and I'm sure he will continue to do so. :))
 
Yes he's great next to the girls. He's interested in them and they with him. It's the best he can have right now. I just want to find a way to make his world bigger - only thing I can think of is a temporary fourth floor.

Half for him and half for the girls so he still sees them.
 
WOW - and here I thought my cage was huge; but you're having the same, just one level up!
My piggies enjoy their mezzanine floor as well; they get a towel over for the night and so like to snuggle in!

Orson is a real sweetie, and I am glad that both parties like each other; that bodes well!

Either a fourth floor or a traditional cage on a table next to the cage for Orson? Perhaps somebody can lend you one that is a bit small for two piggies?
 
Our cages are the same size and house 7 pigs each too!

Where the cage is situated I can't put a table next to it, more's the pity. I don't want a permanent 4 level cage either - I mean it would be silly and really hard work too cleaning wise (it takes me an hour to do a full clean as is)

HMMM Glad I can think on it for a few weeks as neither is a brilliant solution.

Keep coming with any suggestions (please :) ). Something will sound right and be workable soon i'm sure.
 
Lisajazz said:
Our cages are the same size and house 7 pigs each too!

Where the cage is situated I can't put a table next to it, more's the pity. I don't want a permanent 4 level cage either - I mean it would be silly and really hard work too cleaning wise (it takes me an hour to do a full clean as is)

HMMM Glad I can think on it for a few weeks as neither is a brilliant solution.

Keep coming with any suggestions (please :) ). Something will sound right and be workable soon i'm sure.
Click to expand...

I know - mine takes a similar amount of time! At least, the piggies have got used now to me fiddling around all the time!

Have tried several things in mind re. Orson, but haven't found anything practical yet! :{
 
Glad it's not just me taking an hour. Sometimes they go in the run when I clean out, sometimes they stay in and I do floor by floor. Mine are used to me being in and out all the time.

Thanks for thinking of Orson solutions anyway! :)
 
Lisajazz said:
Glad it's not just me taking an hour. Sometimes they go in the run when I clean out, sometimes they stay in and I do floor by floor. Mine are used to me being in and out all the time.

Thanks for thinking of Orson solutions anyway! :)
Click to expand...

Most of my girls prefer the floor to floor approach! Ceri is always snooping from the ramp to see how I'm getting on! inbreeding
 
Ha ha Sizzles and Charlie do that here and when i'm sweeping Sizzles loves to follow the brush!:)

It's so cute isn't it? I love them snooping on my progress :)):))
 
Wow, that's fab! I am having a rethink about my set-up as I am due to get a couple of new girls (taking total to 1 boy & 5 girls!rolleyes) after Christmas and so need to have a complete redesign......I am very inspired by your palace! I was thinking of going for a 2 level 5x2 cubes as I have a couple who like to sprint laps! So, the lower sides flip up for cleaning - are they just using cable ties as hinges?
 
moola said:
So, the lower sides flip up for cleaning - are they just using cable ties as hinges?
Click to expand...

Yes the strongest ones. They aren't pushed into the connectors. I have some slide / lock type things (don't know the name) so you lift the flap and secure it up with them.

Good luck with yours! Photos when you're done please.
 
Orson is very cute. He's such a character! He really doesn't want to be picked up at all but he has started to eat on my lap now so he's getting braver.

Still no ray of light on what to do with him to give him more space. If anyone else has ideas on more space and still seeing the girls and interacting through the bars please let me know.
 
Hm... I don't know either! He's gonna have to be separeted for quite some time too, bother!

Can you maybe get a cage off freecycle and keep him in and then just let him sleep in his little space with the girls? Mine never sleep through the night so I think they would get some interaction then?

You have other pets too, don't you? Otherwise I was gonna suggest a run for daytime.
 
I do have a run for indoors that isn't much bigger than their cage but the girls go in it and he's in a cage that sits by the run and is bigger. I'm setting it up again in a bit actually.

But I really want his living area to be bigger - I think it's going to have to be another floor - just temporarily. Going to get another 2 packs of grids this week anyway and maybe I can think of something. I am considering maybe giving the top floor an overhang area if it can be done safely - so the top floor only is 2 x 5 grids. I would make the whole thing 2 x 5 grids but I don't have the floor space. I could even give him one more grid so he has an L shape maybe?

Maybe i can give him an upstairs only - and a ramp. so he has 2 x 1 over 2 floors.

HMMMM decisions decisions.....
 
The only way is up! You'll have to keep going until you have a piggy sky-scraper! Empire State Piggies!
 
Okay decided. He's getting a mezzanine 2 x 1 level (much like the mezzanine one in the first picture). We're going to make an external ramp so he loses no floor space at all. So he'll have 2 x 1 over 2 levels, one for food and one for sleep.

Then when we move the grids we'll leave the mezzanine giving them 2 of them plus a new ramp. It's going to be such a cute cage!

Getting the grids tomorrow and hopefully tomorrow night we can get him settled in his new pad. That's if i can convince my husband to make it!
 
fantastic Lisa.

Very very impressed and will be taking some of your ideas for my own new C and C cages!

If you remember the name of those clips please let me know.

Layla
 
Layla thanks! I can't take the credit at all. I just said how I wanted to happen and my husband made it happen, he's very handy in that way.

The clips are apparently called

carabiner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabiner

We got ours from a pound shop.

Good luck with yours. We are re-doing the garden next year and i am getting a shed, I want one like yours. What you are doing just sounds amazing. The insulation, water and triple glazing, wow. I want mine to be like that.
 
Okay Orson has his big space now - he's wary of the ramp at the moment but I'm sure he'll come round. he's happy to go up but not down.

Morks2floors.jpg


Here he is upstairs - he has the downstairs too - same amount as he had before so a smaller downstairs than upstairs.

Here's how you get in the downstairs to clean / add hay etc

orsonsopening.jpg


Here's the ramp

orsonsramp.jpg


And here he is eating his dinner after the girls have finished theirs - talk about under pressure!

orsonunderpressure.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top