C & C -wide spaces & top?

[readthebook2]

We put together a C & C cage for our new hedgehog who will arrive in 2 weeks. We made a 2 x 2 square. There is quite a bit of room between the two bins, and I would think at least a baby hedgehog could escape through that. We still have to pick up the cloroplast - is that in part why you put it up the sides of a C & C cage, to make that gap inaccessible?

Also, since it's a square, we have nothing to support the top. We were thinking we could make some type of "latch" on top so we could swing each section open, but without a support in the middle, it would just fall down on itself. We could add another "wall" inside the cage for that support -- I don't know whether the hedgie would like that or prefer it to be all open? Do most of you put tops on your cages? I just worry about him escaping and nobody being here, but is that a real fear or should I not worry about that? We do plan on putting the cloroplast at least 6-8" up the sides as was recommended.

[hanhan27]

Coroplast is needed in C&Cs for escape prevention. Hedgehogs can be real escape artists. I think the recommended is about 8" high walls, but I personally went with 10" high coroplast walls. Sometime soon I'm going to re-do the coroplast in my C&C and I think I will go with 14" coroplast walls, which will completely cover all 4 sides of the inside of the cage, to help hold in the heat from my CHEs. One of the biggest issues with C&Cs is that they don't hold heat in well - by making the coroplast walls higher, it might help a lot, especially if you combine that with using something to cover the top of the cage.

You could use a coroplast divider type thing inside the cage to help support the center. I doubt hedgie would mind. If your C&C is a 2x2 cube size, that makes it 28" wide x 28" long. I would make the coroplast divider 20" or so long, to give a 8" gap for Winston to get from one side to the other.

Lids really are recommended since hedgehogs can escape from the most unlikely of places. On the flip side, there are several members here who don't use lids and have never had an issue. I have a 3x2 cube C&C - The back cubes that make up the lid are zip tied to the back wall, but I left the front ones unattached and have 1 cube in the front that doesn't have a lid at all. (Picture shows it) With the combination of 10" high walls and not putting anything at all under that one open space, Milly has never escaped. Also, you'll notice that I used the plastic connectors that came with the cubes on the lid - I have her aquarium light and a CHE on each side of the cage and the plastic connectors support that weight easily. That's all just my personal experience though, and there may be someone who did something similar and encountered problems.

[readthebook2]

Another question along the same lines.... when you put your bins together, did you keep the connector on the bottom of the cage and put the chloroplast over it, or did you not use the connector on the floor of the cage? I'm thinking we shouldn't use it to keep the floor level, but wanted to make sure I'm thinking about this correctly....

[hanhan27]

I don't think it really matters. I used the connectors and zip tied the crap out of it all The coroplast floor isn't uneven so it worked out fine, plus I like to think using the connectors made it a bit more stable.

[LarryT]

You sent me a PM but I cannot respond, you have getting messages turned off. Here's a few DIY pages
http://www.guineapigcages.com/howto.htm this one shows all the stuff you need http://www.guineapigcages.com/cubes.htm
http://wymyczak66.hubpages.com/hub/how- ... guinea-pig

[JustOnePost]

I just want to add that the image shows five squared grids for the C & C cage which as a roof can be acceptable however avoid them for walls even with corrugated plastic hedgehogs can be surprisingly good at climbing.

The recommended grids are 9 square grids, to my knowledge there are 3 types of grids

5x5
8x8
9x9

the 8x8 is acceptable, however the 9x9 is the best if available

[readthebook2]

Thanks for your help. We have a square cage with the 9 square bins, so it's approx 28 x 28 square. The connector on the middle floor of the cage sticks up, so I wasn't sure what people did about that when putting the chloroplast down.

I keep reading that people use zip ties but I'm not sure why -- those really won't pull the separate bin pieces tighter (I tried)? I'm confused...

[Nancy]

The zip ties help hold the grids together. The connectors often come loose but adding zip ties makes it more secure.

Take the connector out from the middle of the floor. You can use the zip ties to hold it together and they won't bump the coroplast up.

[readthebook2]

Thanks everyone. Larry, checked my pm says settings are correct, sorry. I was looking at the photo of your C & C cages and it looks like you take the chloroplast and put it into the connectors to help stabilize it up the sides? Do you have other holes in it for zip ties or how else do you secure it? What do you put on the floor of the cage then?

So the zip ties are just additional stabilizers? Maybe because our cage isn't very big it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, but I'll add them - is it to add stability to the structure or to close up the gaps? Because they don't pull the connected sides any closer together.

The cage is 2 bins x 2 bins all around, so approximately 28 x 28.

[LarryT]

Originally Posted by readthebook2

Thanks everyone. Larry, checked my pm says settings are correct, sorry.

The settings you are using are not allowing any one to PM you.