BluestoneCommerce's First Penthouse Pig Pen

BluestoneCommerce’s First Penthouse Pig Pen

Scooter and Pepper now needed a larger cage than the cramped pet store cage that Pookie had lived in. We went online and found a wonderful guinea pig rescue organization called Cavy Spirit. On their website they included instructions on how to put together a C & C cage. The mysterious name C&C originates from the two main materials used to construct this category of small animal cage: Cubes and Coroplast.The frame and wire lattice portion of the cage is built from wire grids normally used in the assembly of wire grid storage cubes. The grids are usually 14”x 14” coated metal grids with nine 1½ inch spaces between the bars. The second C in C&C comes from the other fundamental material used in C&C cage construction -- Coroplast. Coroplast is a trade name and is essentially a contraction of the product description: corrugated plastic. Coroplast is corrugated polypropylene plastic sheeting and is used to form the litter pan or bin in the bottom of the cage.C&C cages are almost always built as do-it-yourself projects and tend to be very much larger (and therefore healthier for your pig) than standard manufactured "pet store cages".

We had some chrome grids left over from the wire grid storage cubes that were in the study and bought some more black ones from the store. Then we called a sign shop to order the Coroplast cut to the size we needed. Now my husband came up with the idea of having two levels of storage cubes for the base of the cage and one level 28” wide by 56” long by 14” high for the actual cage where Scooter and Pepper would reside. This design really worked out well for us and the pigs. By raising the cage level up 28 inches with two levels of storage, the cage was at waist level and easy to feed the pigs and clean the cage. Since, we did not have a cat or any other pets that could harm the pigs we had an open top with no lid. Without a lid it was easy to walk by and give Scooter a pat on the head, which he loved. Pepper was always the nervous type and would run into her nest box. The two levels of storage gave us plenty of room to store their food, hay, treats and cleaning supplies. We had this cage for over five years until we ended up with five piggies and needed a larger cage. Of course, that is a whole other story!

*** Important Safety Note *** We were notified by a guinea pig rescue organization that the Target department store chain now sells grids that are a safety risk for the pigs due to a chance of strangulation. The wire grids need to have 9 spaces across by 9 spaces down or 1 ½ inch spaces between the bars. Target grids are now 8 spaces across which makes the spaces large enough for a pig to put their heads through and choke. Last time we checked the Chrome grids at Target were still 9 spaces across. If you decide to build your own C & C cage make sure you use the grids with 9 spaces or 1 ½ inch spaces between the wires. BluestoneCommerce Cages always uses the wire metal grids that are safe for your pigs!

To Happy & Healthy Pets, Nancy