| Project by DaleM | posted 107 days ago | 856 views | 3 times favorited | 9 comments |  |
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I find it odd that the first guinea pig cage I have seen posted on here came only a couple of days before I was finished and ready to post mine. This one was for my wife’s friend. It’s 1/2 inch shy of 6 ft. long, 5 ft. high, and 2 1/2 ft. deep. It’s two pieces. I completed and delivered the top/cage piece months ago, but just finished the bottom/cabinet piece. It’s all pine, with luan panels on the bottom. The wire on the top was squares that were sold as a set to be made into storage cubes, but I cut the outside wire frame off, bent all the wires at a 90 degree angle, and inserted them into the wood frame (predrilled and glued each hole, ughh!) The top has a small door in the center, but the entire front is hinged on the bottom also to fold down with chains to stop it horizontal to the ground to slide out the coroplast tray onto the door for cleaning. The bottom is identical to the top except for luan instead of wire panels and two doors, and I added a small shelf in the middle, plus the top has a real table top of glued up 3/4 pine. I painted the inside cabinet pieces white for better illumination. All the latches, top and bottom, are identical and are actually sold as window latches, but I thought they would work well for a cage. This was a good practice in mortise and tenons. By my count, there are 120 m&t joints. I cut two tenons with a handsaw, about a dozen with the bandsaw, and the rest with the router. This was an enjoyable project to build. I’m definitely open to criticism, good or bad.
-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY
9 comments so far
kolwdwrkr
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2249 posts in 483 days
posted 107 days ago
WHOA, that is one spoiled guinea pig. His house is nicer then mine. Well done
-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~
a1Jim
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16683 posts in 470 days
posted 107 days ago
It must be for the king of guineas
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
unklegwar
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78 posts in 107 days
posted 107 days ago
Wow! Those peegs have THE LIFE!
-- Eric ---- Wise Words T.B.D.
darryl
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1392 posts in 1219 days
posted 107 days ago
I like the idea of painting the inside of the bottom white, that’s a clever idea.
great looking cage, I need to make sure to hid this post from my sister though before I end up making one for my niece!
-- www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.darrylmasterson.etsy.com
DaleM
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402 posts in 277 days
posted 106 days ago
For Kol and Jim, there is more than just one pig. She has four now but wanted room for more I believe. I almost built it two story, with half of the bottom level a cage too, with a ramp to the top but for some reason plans changed. Thanks for the comments guys.
-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY
Karson
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25792 posts in 1294 days
posted 106 days ago
When I first saw this I was thinking hamsters. (Man, they are all going to get out) Then the guinea pig title crept in. A lot bigger animal.
Nice job on the construction. Looks like they have plenty of room to roam and hide.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Joe Lyddon
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481 posts in 945 days
posted 106 days ago
I used to raise guinea pigs… about 45 years ago… I just used hardware cloth.
My cage was almost your size, except it was only a little over a foot high (they don’t climb around :) ).
I also had an aluminum sheet (tray) that slid into the cage… made it much easier to clean.
I had hardware cloth partitions wired across it dividing it into about four sections…
We had Rough Coated animals… funny looking! We had lots of fun with them.
It’s amazing how they can be born, with fur, able to run around, eat and everything! In only two months!
Your cage is very nice… Looks more like a miniature Circus floor! :)
What kind of guinea pigs do you have? Pictures?
-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"
DaleM
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402 posts in 277 days
posted 106 days ago
Joe, these pigs, and the cage now, belong to a friend of my wife. We told our kids they can’t have any until our rabbits are gone. My sisters had some when I was a kid. I remember the babies looking just like miniature adults. It was a big contrast to the mice and rats they had which were blind, pink and almost furless.
-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY
ToGoMan
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48 posts in 137 days
posted 106 days ago
Excellent idea – our hamster is in plastic and a more substantial cage like this may be the way to go for us, too.
Looks great!
-- ToGoMan ------ "No ONE of us knows as much as ALL of us." (anon.) ----