Constructing Your Own Cubes and Coroplast Guinea Pig Cage

By Bob Matthews

Guinea pigs are charming petite creatures. They make good pets, are usually easy to care for and are quite friendly if they're raised with care and kindness. One critical step in bringing a new guinea pig into your home is insuring comfortable and safe housing.



Petshop cages are an all-too-common option that a majority of people settle for. They are certainly convenient. All one needs to do is pick one and put it in the car. The major downside is that typically the petshop guinea pig cage is cramped and confining to make a healthy and spacious place to live for your pig. More spacious cages can often be particularly hard to find "and even if they are available, they can be very expensive to purchase.

An especially reasonable 2nd choice is to build up your own cage. Not only can you save a bundle of money by building your own cage, but it is easy to get exactly the cage you need by designing in any unique features you so desire.

The initial step will be to design the cage. The most significant item to be considered will be the dimensions of the cage. The following approximate de facto standards for minimum cage sizes can be found with a fast search on the web. Your cage should ideally supply the minimum sq footage suggested:

- One guinea pig: 6-7 sq. Ft.
- Two guinea pigs: 7.5 sq. Ft.
- Three guinea pigs: 10.5 sq. Ft.
- Four guinea pigs: 13 sq. Ft.

A cage construction technology called C and C (cubes and coroplast) has become more and more popular lately. This method uses steel grids to form the walls of the cage (and optionally a top and bottom). A corrugated plastic sheet is used to form the litter pan or litter box on the cage. The grids are joined using either plastic connectors designed for this purpose or tie-wrap (zip tie) fasteners.

The grids are each 14-inches square. So your cage design can be any size and shape that can possibly be formed using 14-inch x 14-inch squares. Many cage design variations are possible including squares, rectangles, triangle "and even multi-level cages with ramps for moving between levels.

From our experience as cage builders and designers, multi-level cages are the most well-liked. And most guinea pigs seem to love them.

Designing, planning and building a C and C cage for your guinea pig (s) is something that nearly anyone can do. No special talents or tools are required. All it takes is a little planning and access to the right materials. As an alternative, you can also buy a C&C cage kit online from a trustworthy seller.

About the Author:

We here at BlueStoneCommerce are guinea pig owners as well as guinea pig cage sellers. Everyone knows what pigs like and what they require in a guinea pig cage to be healthy, snug and secure. Hence if you're looking out for a lot of guinea pig cage for the money, Click one of the resources area links to visit our online stores

C&C Cage Danger Alert

By Bob Matthews

In recent times, C&C (Cubes and Coroplast) cages have grown continuously in popularity and have taken over a serious slice of the small animal pet habitat market. A fast Google search will show many web sites that now offer directions for do-it-yourself basic C&C cages. In addition, a number of C&C cage stores have sprung up online and offer C&C cages in kit form. The most important reasons for the increasing popularity of this cage technology is that 1) very large cages are available - typically much larger than those sold in pet stores and 2) C&C cages are comparatively inexpensive. By virtue of these factors "the purchaser can get plenty of cage for the money. Nonetheless as the old proviso goes: Let the buyer beware. There is one major potential danger the responsible pet owner must watch for when buying or building their very own C&C cage.



As I said earlier, several sites offer instructions on building straightforward, basic C&C cages. Most of them also list sources for materials. One or two state dep. store chains are suggested as sources for metal grids. The issue is that much of this information is now geting to be several years old and some of the grid sources have modified their products.

A few years back, one of the national dept. store chains was a great place to buy grids for C&C cages. They were sold as cube or shelving unit kits. The kits contained both the metal grids and plastic connectors required to fasten them together. The square grids were 14-inches on each side and were laid out in a 9-space by 9-space grid. So, each opening was about 1.5 inches square. And these girds made absolutely fantastic cages.

As the economy took a turn for the worse, the company had this product re-designed so as to take metal out of it and save cost. The new design now used grids that had only 8 spaces per side. Therefore, each space was slightly larger - only around a fifth of an in.. No great deal if you were building a shelf to hold stuffed animals, comic books or your hat collection from Sweden. Nevertheless that 5th of an in. was a very big deal to C&C cage builders and owners.

Just after the design change, guinea pig rescue organizations began receiving reports of guinea pig strangulation deaths. Some of the associations started issuing cautions to avoid 8x8 grids and only use 9x9 grids. Several also made contact with C&C cage stores with the same caution. In reality it was through contact with these organizations that our company first heard of this issue.

After deciding on the C&C technology, you'll have 2 choices in obtaining your cage. You can design and build your cage from nothing out of grids, corrugated plastic and other hardware that you buy yourself. Or you can order your cage in kit form and build it with the directions and materials provided. Either way, be absolutely sure to use only grids with spacing of 1.5 inches or smaller. When using 14-inch grids, be sure to use only 9x9 girds and definitely avoid 8x8 grids.

About the Author:

We here at BlueStoneCommerce are guinea pig owners as well as guinea pig cage sellers. We know what pigs like and what they require in a guinea pig cage to be healthy, comfy and safe. Therefore if you're searching for a lot of guinea pig cage for the money, Click on one of the resource box links to go to our internet stores.

Your Dog's Healthy Eating habits

By Leola Aery

It's been customary for people to feed a meal's remains for their dogs. But ever since companies had started creating pet foods, with the advances which were made in technology and agriculture, people have been bombarded with lots of different kinds of instant foods for his or her dogs. With the colorful and innovative packaging of dog foods, how does one know if you're giving your pet the best kind of nutrition? A balanced nutrition is a must for your pets, so one must think carefully before choosing pet food products for the dog.

Some wrong practices in feeding your pet include allowing them to eat an excessive amount of food and providing them with the incorrect type of food. Overeating will let your pet become fat, and allowing them to eat foods that aren't proper for his diet, will get them sick. Us, humans get sick through these practices, and so do our dogs. You have to therefore offer healthy and balanced meals that will support the health insurance and growth in your pet.

A well-balanced meal includes carbohydrates, protein, nutritional vitamins, minerals, lipids, etc. within their proper food amounts. It can be fairly difficult to compute that regarding the food that you are giving for your dog, however you might still assess whether it is only correct in accordance with his weight. You simply must carry out sure she or he is neither skinny nor excess fat. There is an aid of books that talk about the caloric wants of canines. It could be depending on understanding their breed, metabolism, diet plan, and weight.

The best dog foods must contain merely a little bit of digestible fillers and must provide the nutrient and caloric needs of the dog. It may be quite pricey but it should not be major reason for concern. Some products may contain exactly the same quantity of nutrients but be composed of entirely different ingredients. One may be made of cheaper ingredients compared to other, but both could contain the same ratio of nutrients.

When you have known the particular needs with the dog from the level of nutrients towards amount of soup up that they'd need, you should start taking deciding about which will make of commercial dog food to buy. There are plenty of them on the market also it could easily get very trying to deciding about which to acquire. The easiest way in your case is usually to do your homework about those brands. You might like to ask a shop owner for some information regarding your furry friend foods they sell. They shall be really a vast amount of assistance to you.

About the Author:

Visit our website for more information about dog health and especially for helping older dogs who have canine arthritis. Our site features Syn-flex glucosamine glucosamine for helping dogs who are suffering from osteoarthritis.. Free reprint available from: Your Dog's Healthy Eating habits.

Stick Insects

By Owen Jones

Stick insects have quite a few names. First of all the order to which they belong is called either Phasmatodea or Phasmida. Then they are known as stick insects in Europe and Australasia, but walking sticks or stick-bugs in America and Canada. Some also get called phasmids, leaf insects and ghost insects.

Needless to say, most of them look like twigs, sticks or leaves. Most stick insects come from South East Asia, but they are abundant in many tropical climates including Australia and the southern states of America. Most of the stick insects that are kept as pets are Indian (or Laboratory) stick insects and they grow to about four inches long and live for about a year.

There are very exotic species of stick insect like the Vietnamese thorny stick insect and the pink-winged flying stick insect, but they are more difficult to look after. It is better to begin with the Indian common form. They will live fairly happily in a vivarium, which is an aquarium for reptiles and insects.

Except for providing fresh food and water from time to time and taking out old food, there is no maintenance needed for these animals. They will require a relatively warm climate but that is not difficult to arrange with a heater, a thermostat and a timer.

Food is not difficult for common stick insects, The most popular foodstuffs given are privet and lettuce, but they also like ivy, oak, bramble, blueberry and raspberry. You have to put enough of these plants in the vivarium to give cover for the residents so that they do not feel out in the open and at risk but not so much that you never get sight of them.

Make sure that there are lots of air holes in the vivarium, but for the benefit of security, they ought to be covered with fly screen or netting, because these creatures can wriggle through small openings. The tanks should be kept at 70F during the day and 60F at night with moderate humidity. They can be permitted to forage for food at will, but be particular that the water supply is very shallow, because they been known to fall in and drown.

You will be surprised to discover that the overwhelming majority of Indian stick insects are female, but that they do not require a male to have fertile eggs. Young become capable of laying eggs after their sixth moult, all of which moults they consume. Stick insects can lay hundreds of eggs which just fall down among the leaves on the floor of the vivarium.

If you want to hatch them out, spray a little water on them to simulate light rain and they should hatch. If you do not want to be troubled with them, burn the contents of the tank after the last adult has passed away. You might need a permit to keep stick insects, especially in the United States..

About the Author:

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on a number of subjects, but is currently involved with finding a home remededy for mosquito bites. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.

Your Puppies Health - How To Make Sure You Take Good Care

By Travis Stephenson

Taking care of a new puppy can be like taking care of your baby you must on a regular basis feed, soak, and play with it. The very first crucial a few months will require you to definitely pay close attention to it as they tend being very sensitive in the beginning. Here are some ideas that will help you to properly care for your pup.

Dogs likewise need vaccinations for health and safety just like toddlers. There are so many diseases and trojan that could quite possibly inflict an individual dog so it is imperative that it's given it normal doses regarding meds. You will also need to constantly groom these people. This includes your family baths, toenails trims, tooth brushes, etc. This is not only regarding aesthetic purposes but it also maintains animals infestations like fleas and ticks at bay.

Give your pet food that is proper to that it is dietary demands and encouraged nutritional intake. Giving your pet your left over spots could lead these phones contract intestinal tract diseases that might be harmful to themselves. Exercise them regularly too. Give them regular walk and also let them discharge any collected energy that they will often have by allowing them inflict kind of physical exercise at least 1 hour and a half on a daily basis.

No matter how healthy your dog might seem, parasites could still be successful inside your canines body. The common ones are usually tapeworm, ringworm, and roundworm that are harmful for your dog when left untreated. Get a dog for the vet to be de-wormed. Finally, define your puppy. Know its desire for food, habits, and personality. It is then easier for you for you to detect is one thing is drastically wrong with your pet.

If you do all these things proper, it is less likely that you will have just about any problems with your furry friend. Having a happy and healthy dog will even result in a healthy and happy pet owner.

About the Author:

Puppies are cuddly and soft, but they can also be expensive andsometimes difficult. Get some great advicehere to get a grip on your puppy!

Chihuahua Clothes and Hats for Dogs: The New Pet Clothing Market Research

By Mikey Davis

All around me, I look and I see chihuahua clothes on little dogs as far as the eye can see. Well perhaps not that far, but they are everywhere right now, and more so than any other type of clothing for small dogs or little pets you will find anywhere. These clothes for chihuahua dogs and hats for dogs have taken over in terms of popularity. And what I notice is that every time a new kind of design of dog costume is released in the pet world, the chihuahuas are the first to get their paws on it.



It's a piece of cake to pick up fashion for any breed of pet dog. But if you want to find dog fashion outfits that are on the cutting edge for your little dog, chihuahua clothes normally are made from the latest trendy designs, first. Eventually, the new dog fashion is released to most other breeds in their size of dog clothes. But chihuahuas have the chance to try on the new fashion before any other kind of toy breed dogs.

Now why is this? Are chihuahuas more special than the other breeds? Well yes, they are--I joke, of course, but kidding aside, these little chihuahua dogs have a distinct advantage from a dog clothing designer's perspective: they have a much higher percentage of owners who invest in chihuahua outfits That most of the other breeds combined.

From the perspective of a small dog clothing designer, you want to test your dog clothes designs on a small segment of the market first. Then, if the design has proven successful, you introduce it into the rest of the dog market with bigger versions of the dog fashion for the other breeds. And chihuahuas make ideal test candidates for designers because they're the smallest dogs around. And so less material is needed (and therefore: money spent) to make the chihuahua outfits and the little hats for dogs like these here , to test the market and figure out if it's worth investing in the other breeds with the chihuahua clothing design.

So if you're a dog clothing lover and you own a chihuahua, you've got a big advantage: you and your little dog have access to the newest trends in small dog clothing before everyone else, in most cases. You have the chance to see the new dog fashion designs upwards of twelve months before your the other pet lovers in this world. Hats for dogs and Chihuahua clothes are the testing grounds for little dogie fashion designers, and you and your dog reap the benefits!

About the Author:

Mikey Davis is the happy foster of three chihuahua dogs and makes good use of chihuahua clothes. If you would like to know more about these chihuahua clothes, check them out over at the Chihuahua Shop!

Will Prescription Medications Help Your Dogs Anxiety Problems?

By Venice Marriott

As a last resort, dog anxiety medication can be handy in helping to lessen the effect of anxiety on a dog, but still needs to be mixed with a behaviour modification training programme to be really effective.

Usually, your vet will prescribe one of the three kinds of anti-anxiety medicines that are looked at below, but in all cases will need to be watched closely as there are potential side-effects you want to look out for which won't help reduce dog anxiety.

Clomipramine

Clomipramine comes from a group of drugs known as tricyclic antidepressants. They help by raising the level of serotonin produced by the brain, which has a calming effect. The medication can be given in tablet or capsule form and it may take almost a month before you notice improvements.

Studies have shown Clomipramine to have side effects of sickness, diarrhoea, increased thirst, sleepiness or depression and elevation in liver enzymes. It could also have interaction with other medicines, so you must tell your vet about any other medicines your dog is taking. There are other health issues where this drug shouldn't be used or where caution should be taken, which your vet should inform you about.

Fluoxetine

Fluoxetine comes from the group of drugs known as SSRI, which were initially utilised for humans and has been adopted for animal use. It is mostly prescribed for short term use, although dogs need to be given Fluoxetine for 6 to 8 weeks before it can be determined the medication is not working. Fluoxetine is administered daily and is available as tablets, capsules or in a liquid form.

The key complications are stomach upset, and others include loss of appetite, listlessness, panting, hyperactivity, shaking, restlessness, increased noise and aggression. This drug can have also react with other medicines, so always mention medications and health problems to your vet. An overdose of Fluoxetine may cause a seizure so contact your vet straight away.

Alprazolam

Alprazolam is a mild tranquilizer from the same class of drugs as Valium and comes in tablet or liquid form. It can be productive given when needed, for example a half hour before a storm or fireworks event. Alprazolam can also be utilised for longer periods of time so that owners can work with the dog on behavioural change, but should be utilized with care as high doses and extended use can cause dependence.

The drug's most typical side-effects are clumsiness and listlessness, and shouldn't be given to dogs with health issues such as glaucoma, liver damage, or to dogs that are pregnant or lactating. It's also known to have interaction with other medicines, so always tell your vet about any other drugs your dog is being given.

Making Decisions About Dog Anxiety Medication

The info given is designed as a guide only to some of the differing kinds of dog anxiety medications available. As there are upsides and downsides to all those mentioned, you have to talk to your vet before deciding what dog anxiety treatment is the best for your dog.

About the Author:

Author Venice Marriott is a writer, dog owner and runs a Dog Anxiety website, which provides help and information for dog owners dealing with the behaviour problems created by dog anxiety. Get more information about the dog anxiety medication when you visit the site.