Buying a store-bought guinea pig cage has its drawbacks.
For one thing, most of the ones found at my local pet store or department store are not very big, but yet they cost $59 and up. Also, the ones I have found are not very stylish. In fact, they’re all pretty plain and boring, and they all look the same with little variation from one to another.
With a little bit of effort and creativity, however, you can create a great-looking home for your guinea pigs that is larger, cheaper, and a lot more stylish than what you can find in the stores. Keep in mind, this can take a bit of time, but, if you are willing to put the work in, or even if you want a cool unique side project, building one these little guys can be really fun.
Here are some pictures and videos of some great guinea pig cages that others have built. Use them to get your creative juices flowing, and create something even better. Then please come back here and share your picture with us!
If you are looking to buy a guinea pig cage, check out my article all about guinea pig pages here.
Website: Instructables
This is a 3-story decorative house made of wood. I would be hesitant to build one out of wood because of the ability of wood to absorb liquid and odors, but if it’s lined well, it shouldn’t be a problem. Very pretty!
This awesome guinea pig cage was created by AGPT reader Joshua Cain.
Website: tierische-eigenheime.de.tl
This website is all in German, but you can translate it with Google Chrome or Google translate. I have found loads of wood guinea pig cage ideas over there. Some of them are small and look impractical for housing guinea pigs, but there are some great ideas to get you started on designing one that fits your needs. Remember, if you have more than one guinea pig, you are probably going to need a bigger cage to accommodate your guinea pig’s needs.
Website: guineapiggies
This is a variation on the “take 5 pieces of wood and make a box” theme. This one has a nice cut-out in the front with a piece of plexiglass for easy viewing.
Website: Yuku
This looks like it will take some time and skill to build, but it’ll be worth it in the end because it’s very stylish. Check out the website for another variation on the same style.
This is a good example of how your guinea pig cage doesn’t have to be complicated or require a lot of materials. Just take a corner, add a boundary, and voila – spacious guinea pig cage!
This is a good example of putting your creativity to work to come up with something practical yet stylish.
Build it with Plastic & Cubes
Website: piggiepigpigs.com
These are some great examples of guinea pig cages that can be quite large if you wanted them to be. They are stylish, easy to construct, airy, and infinitely expandable. Plastic is easier to keep clean than wood, as well. The only downside is that the materials are quite pricey. See some prices at Home Depot here. You could theoretically end up spending quite a lot of money to make one of a decent size.
Website: Wedding Bee
Another nice layout uses wire cubes lined with a waterproof liner.
Build it with Cheap Household Items
Website: Guinea Pig Cages
This is an easy-to-make guinea pig enclosure that offers plenty of space and is easy to clean. The person who made this one claims that they paid $12 for the pool and $17 for the fence, but you can find those pools for free a lot of times on classified ad sites or craigslist.
Website: Guinea Pig Cages
You could potentially get a free used cabinet or other useful furniture (shelves, etc) and re-purpose it into a guinea pig cage. I would line the wood with a plastic liner to aid in cleaning and eliminate the chance of the wood absorbing liquids and odors. And remember that guinea pigs are not agile climbers, so don’t make it so tall that a guinea pig could fall off and get hurt.
Build it with PVC Pipe
PVC pipe is inexpensive, durable, and easy to assemble. Some of these cages were built for other types of animals, but you could easily design one to fit your needs for guinea pigs.
Website: Sahja
Here’s an example of a large cage constructed with PVC pipe. The website lists materials needed along with instructions, so check it out.
Website: Agothicrattery
Here’s an example of a very stylish cage constructed with PVC pipe.
Website: Angelfire
This one’s not finished, but it’s a good example of a nice frame. You can then take some wire frame and attach it via zip ties to enclose it.
Of course, there are literally thousands of examples online. I wanted to show you a few of the nicest ones I’ve found using different types of materials to give you a starting point to designing your own unique, stylish, functional guinea pig cage.
My personal favorite is PVC pipe. I’ve built many things around the house using PVC pipe because it’s inexpensive, easy to use, durable, can’t be chewed, easy to clean, lightweight, and stylish.