3/01/2006

Cavy Suites Inn

RADO (Raisin's Cavy Slave) has expressed an interest in the accomodations for the piggies over at Chez Fishmonger. I've taken a few pictures to show the setup. Please forgive the poop level in the cage, we're on the downhill side of the cage cleaning curve right now. OK, it's no Guinea Pig Hilton, but the Cavy Suites Inn is serving us well. (click to enlarge any of the pictures)

So, Picture 1. An end view of the cage. IT's a 2 unit by 4 cubes and coroplast cage, with a 2x1 hayloft accessed via a ramp. We started out with three hiding spots for the piggies, not wanting to crowd the cage. But after adding in the blue tube, conflicts between our conflicted pigges dropped off dramatically. The blue tube stays, however crowded it seems. These gals have some unusual privacy issues. Note also, the top-filing water bottle. It's got a special nozzle so it doesn't drip as much. But it still drips enough for me to put a patio block under it to soak up drips. There's a back up block too, to allow drying time if the block gets soaked. Oh, and the black bar to the left of the cage is a light. During the darker winter months, the girls just slept all the time. So, we left a light on for them during the day for fear they'd keep us up all night. So far, only two late night outbursts. Both were weird chirping sessions. I still don't know which one was making the noise, but damned if it didn't sound just like a bird!


Picture two, reveals the storage area under the cage. Right now, the C&C rest on a trimmed down sheet of plywood, which rests on more cubes. It's a little wobbly (and untidy looking), so we'll eventually be building a wood frame with a fabric skirt to hide the area beneath.








Picture three is a closeup of the ramp. It's just bent grids zip tied together, with a reconfigured placemat binder clipped in as a liner. It was too steep at first, so I propped it on a pair of pavers. Now, they do just fine. The wall extension near the top is to keep Taffy from jumping to her death, as she tried once in the early days. Dumb pig.







And finally picture 4 is a closeup of the hay loft, a favorite hangout. The two get all the water, hay and pellets they want, plus fresh veggies morning and afternoon. They seem pretty well-adjusted on the food front, and I don't think they've gained any weight since they moved in. I've heard some piggies don't know when to stop, and feeding has to be more measured.

And that's it! A palace fit for a pair of piggies!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have way too much time on your hands.

TheFishmonger said...

Trust me, time to build this contraption was hard to come by. But I think it was worth it. The gals are just so happy in there!

Anonymous said...

awesome job on the piggy palace - it looks sensational

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