ACOMODATION

The Herd's Cage

The herds cage is a large, square shaped enclosure that measures 6foot x 6foot and is 36square feet. This cage is a DIY enclosure and was built by my grandad. It was built using the same pannels as the old cage as it was very easy to alter and expand. I really love this cage because it can very easily fit in alot of hides and still has plenty of room for the guinea pigs to run around and popcorn. Havinga big cage that I can sit in has also helped me to bond with them and they have all become much more confident around me since being in this cage. I also think that this cage provides plenty of room for the guinea pigs to display all of their natural behaviours. This cage is built from wood, and has unique water bottle holders (Not photographed) that hold the water bottles very well.

The Herd's cage (Old/Previous Cage)

The herd live in a very spacious L-shaped cage. The cage measures 20square feet and is a good size for 5 guinea pigs. This means that each guinea pig has double the space than the legal requirments. It is very important for guinea pigs to have plenty of space to be able to display their natural behaviours and have there own space to get away from the other guinea pigs if they would like to. Guinea pigs are not always the biggest fans of all slepping in the same place, therefore your cage should also be big enough to fit in a big enough hide for each guinea pig. For example, my cage needs to be able to fit 5 hiding places in because i have 5 guinea pigs living in the cage. The cage is a DIY cage built by my grandad. The cage is made from wood.

The cage is built in 6 sections, meaning it can easily be dismantled and new sections can easily be attached to the cage. I'm very happy with this design because we are planning on expanding this cage to 36 square foot, square shape cage when we introduce Pippin and her babies. This will provide them with much more floor space, with guinea pigs, it's floor space over height. This is because guinea pigs like to have a flat , large space to run around and popcorn in. Also, guinea pigs are not the biggest fans of ramps and will often not use the upper level(s) because they do not want to use the ramp.

Alvin & Dusty's cage (The boys cage)

Alvin and Dusty live in DIY cage which is 4.5foot x 2.5 foot and has an area of 11.25 square feet which is just under triple of the legal requirments. I can comfortably fit 2 spacious hides in the boys cage aswell as 2 tubes and plenty of toys, and still has plenty space for them to run around and popcorn.

This cage is made from wood and mesh and was again built by my Grandad. We decided to add mesh to not only the front of the cage, but also the sides of the cage, so that the boys were able to see out of the cage from all angles and so the cage gets plenty of light. Also, the cage has an open top, which i like because it gives me easy access to the boys. Not only does it have an open top, but the entire front of the cage pulls out for easy cleaning, which is great and makes cleaning very easy, even with 2 very messy boars.

I think that DIY cages are great because you can make them to fit exactly what you want and what works best for you and your guinea pigs.