Let's Talk About Diy Wooden Cages

[Danielle Smith]

Since we've moved house, we now have a dedicated guinea-pig room -- which is super exciting but also a little sad, I miss having them an arm's length away.

I've been looking into DIY wooden cage options (just so things can look a little more polished) and there seems to be three main options:

• Cage made from desks and shelves covered in melamine (i.e. Piggiepigpigs); this is the most expensive.
  
• Cage made from melamine-covered chipboard (i.e. SqueakDreams); this is a little less expensive but you need to have some way to cut the pieces to size.
  
• Cage made from pondliner-covered OSB and plywood (i.e. Little Adventures); this is the cheapest but also has the potential to look the least slick in my opinion (though I do like the rustic natural feel). Also needs pieces cutting to size.
  

I'm interested in hearing people's experiences building DIY cages; what materials did you use and why? If you were looking to do it as cost-effectively as possible, what did you do to make it happen (I'm thinking builder's merchant or timber yard)? What size is your DIY cage and how many piggies do you have in it?

I'll be making three cages *gulp*, hence why I'm keen to do it as cheaply as I can.

 

[Danielle Smith]

Here's the current situation; two herds in the pig room with roughly a 3x6 each (it'll likely go down to 2x6 or 2x7 when making the DIY cages as they'll be up on legs as eye-height).

So, it looks like the boys may not be going anywhere, as they are a little too old to easily bond with an older boar and I don't know if the other half can bear to let them go. They are in our bedroom at the moment and my gosh do I want them out of there. I love them to pieces, but they are so noisy (zoomies and wheeking at 3am are a favourite round here). Their cage will go down to 2x5.

The idea is the cages will go around three walls of the pig room, leaving space for me to walk down the middle and for the door to open. The cages will be on legs so things can be stored underneath. The other option is the pig room will be swapped with the massive spare room, and they'll be in there which is a sewing room/man-cave. In any case, I'm keen to get these DIY cages done.

 

[Jesse's pigs]

Not a comment on the cages- sorry i don't know but I think it's a great idea- but I just wanted to say how fluffy the boys have got!! I'm sorry I never got back to you after our last message I feel so bad. But as you know I went on holiday and the week after talking to you I had some veterinary issues with my beloved dog Molly so I kinda lost track. Both stunning. ❤ congrats on moving house also

 

[Danielle Smith]

Not a comment on the cages- sorry i don't know but I think it's a great idea- but I just wanted to say how fluffy the boys have got! I'm sorry I never got back to you after our last message I feel so bad. But as you know I went on holiday and the week after talking to you I had some veterinary issues with my beloved dog Molly so I kinda lost track. Both stunning. ❤ congrats on moving house also

Don't worry about it! Sorry to hear Molly was poorly, hope your holiday was okay in the end.

The hairdos on these chaps are hilarious! Flash (left) is business in the front (quite short and flat) and party in the back (just a mental chicken's tail feather type thing), and Quint (right) has just exploded in hair. He's a little mop! Interestingly the tips of his hair are Agouti-like (lemon-ginger-brown; like Flash's face) but the length of the hair is a light brown. Unfortunately you can't see from the photos but I'm sure you'll agree he's a stunner

 

[Jesse's pigs]

Don't worry about it! Sorry to hear Molly was poorly, hope your holiday was okay in the end.

The hairdos on these chaps are hilarious! Flash (left) is business in the front (quite short and flat) and party in the back (just a mental chicken's tail feather type thing), and Quint (right) has just exploded in hair. He's a little mop! Interestingly the tips of his hair are Agouti-like (lemon-ginger-brown; like Flash's face) but the length of the hair is a light brown. Unfortunately you can't see from the photos but I'm sure you'll agree he's a stunner

Quint's hairdo definitely has me jealous! But both boys are stunning and making me rather jealous haha. I bet they love their cage too

 

[flowerfairy]

Sounds like a lovely idea. I have my c and c cage on top of two tables from ikea. It is great having them high up although reaching to the backmis quite something. It is 8 bt 2.

C and c would be cheapest. I like the look of wood and plexi glass best.

Your guinea pigs are lovely!

 

[Julie M]

I love piggie pig pigs set up. Sugar and spice piggies had a good set up too (sadly she no longer keeps piggies.) think hers was plywood and it was painted in Cuprinol garden shades. She put a table cloth on the bottom (the waterproof kind) but she used cage liners.

 

[Danielle Smith]

I forgot about Sugar and Spice Piggies, her cage was beautiful all painted up, good source of inspiration. I did not know she no longer keeps piggies, I'm missing her wonderful videos.

EDIT: Just read her Facebook post, the poor lass. It sounds like it was for the best for both her and the piggies in the end, but oh my heart sank a little reading it.

 

[Julie M]

Me too. I really miss her happy smiling face telling us all about her piggies. She had to re home them due to personal reasons. (She thought long and hard it was such a shame.) Finlay and Tabitha went to a lady. And Clara, Arabella and Daphne (the 3 girls)went to the rescue and got re homed. It so sad. I messaged her to see if she was ok but never got a reply.

 

[Julie M]

I know. I actually cried listening to her post. She's been through a lot.

 

[Danielle Smith]

I just got a bit teary-eyed as well. It's funny how you never meet someone in person but when they're going through a tough time you really feel for them.

There's a lady who was on the forum when I joined around a year and a half ago, and she was having the hardest time with her male guinea, he was awfully unwell. In the end it was kindest to put him to sleep and it had been such a long heartwrenching saga, I was so upset along with a lot of other people here. She recently posted in the last few weeks and it really made me perk up to hear from her.

The forum may consist of "daft guinea pig people" (said a not-very-nice acquaintance of mine ), but you're my daft guinea-pig people! Rant over, sorry

 

[lissie]

Here's my wooden cage. Made from solid pine wood for the walls, painted with white water based paint. The cage floor was plywood lined with vinyl flooring.

The cage is 8ft long by 2.5ft deep. Two pigs on each level.

 

[Danielle Smith]

That looks very study and attractive @lissie! Are the supports made from pine too? I don't suppose you have any information or pictures about the build-in-progress? Was it hard to put together? Sorry for all the questions!

If you don't mind me asking, how expensive was the cage overall?

 

[Danielle Smith]

I think I have found the cage. The only issue is I'd have to get a carpenter to build it for me and I shudder to think of the expense of materials + labour... Unless @Tim's willing to help for tea and cake . Each section is 120cm by 70cm, so with the middle open, each herd would have 240cm in length, the equivalent of a 2x7 if I'm thinking right... pretty the whole length of a 8ft sheet of timber. That'll be sufficient for a herd of 4, right?

 

[flowerfairy]

That looks amazing and beautiful. I will be interested to see how much it costs.

How many stories are you thinking of?

 

[Danielle Smith]

I'm not quite sure how to go about an estimate... should I ask a cabinet-maker or a joiner? Is it cheeky to just show them the picture, give approx dimensions, and say "quote me"?

I'm thinking of three stories, so one less high than the example above. I like that it's possible to separate the cage temporarily, handy for my coming-into-the-teenage-months boar pair.

 

[Tim]

If you want to put me up for a couple of weeks (or put up with me ) I might consider building you something

 

[Danielle Smith]

I live in the heart of the Lake District, have a massive spare room with games consoles, and literally never stop making food

 

[Tim]

my idea of heaven

 

[sophadopha97]

I'm making my own melamine mdf cage in the next few weeks for my piggies. I'm getting all the wood cut to size by my local saw mills that'll cut it all down for free! It's cheaper and easier to buy the perspex online though.

It might be worth having a look if there's a saw mills by you that'd do the same as it saves an awful lot of hassle

 

[Danielle Smith]

That's a good idea! Would a timber merchant be similar to a saw mill?

 

[sophadopha97]

I guess so yeah! I think I'll still perhaps have to pay for the large bits of mdf even though they'll be cut to size but it saves soooo much time and hassle that I think it's worth it personally :-)

 

[Danielle Smith]

Definitely, I'm not lucky enough to have my own workshop in the garage just yet! I'm very keen to see the outcome of your cage. Were the melamine sheets a lot more expensive than plywood?

 

[sophadopha97]

Attached the cost of the melamine coated mdf, I didn't look at the standard mdf as I prefer the melamine and they're about to go into a newly decorated room so thought I'd treat them

 

[Danielle Smith]

£3 cheaper than B&Q, not bad! The only problem for me is I'd want something a little wider (70-75cm?). I guess I could connect two boards together down the middle.

 

[sophadopha97]

Ahh yeah you might be able to! or it might be best to start with an ikea table top and just buy the sides of your cage with melamine coated mdf to save a couple of pennies?

Not sure on that one as mine's going to be 600mm wide!

 

[Tim]

If you want it to be a touch wider, it might be worthwhile getting an offcut of Lino from a local flooring co. Costs pennies as they'd only chuck them in the skip, just a thought

 

[Danielle Smith]

Someone just told me that building new cages was a colossal waste of time and money, that I should save that effort for my (future, completely theoretical) children and keep the pigs as they are at the minute. They also remarked that I spend "ridiculous" amounts of money on my pigs and that I should be putting that money towards fixing up my house and enjoying myself, not on "the useless home comforts of little furry rats". Finally, they made another stab at the long-running "Peruvian diet" joke they always make when I mention my guinea pigs.

Normally this is all water off a duck's back but it really got to me today for some reason, maybe because I am trying to reign in my pig-related spending just a little (so I can get the house done up faster). Hence trying to look for cheaper hay sources and I'm about to start research on a slightly cheaper way to feed them veggies (currently £15-25 a week).

Is it really so wrong to enjoy our pets? I love watching them after a cage-clean, popcorning around and exploring. I like how they run up and talk to me as soon as I enter the room. The process of having to make sure they are clean and fed is very grounding to me, and it's kept me going through some really tough times. Despite all this, I still can't stop hearing the things that person said over and over .

/woe-is-me-ing over

I wish I had enough C&C grids and large tables to at least bring them up to eye-level and make the room feel less cluttered; unfortunately getting all those materials would be as expensive as building fancy wooden pens! Sigh.

 

[Tim]

Awe massive hugs dear! there are some numpteys out there, ignore them x
Ooh I'd like to see them in a boxing ring with a load of us piggy slaves

 

[flowerfairy]

I got a couple of these but with white legs and a pack of 20 odd c and c grids. Its not too expensive. Well it wouldnt have been if i hadnt just had to have 2 dolls beds 3 lack coffee tables (for hamster cages to sit on) and some bargain table tops!

ADILS/LINNMON Table White/blue 150x75 cm - IKEA