Looking for an alternative insert for a Guinea pig cage

[Ash98]

I had a Guinea Pig cage made to a specific size. However, I am having trouble finding an insert cut out for the cage that will basically be reusable. At the moment, I'm using corflute board that are taped together to fit the cage. However, it took us over 4hours to sort of put it together and it's not going to last long.

Any suggestions and options will be much appreciated.

[Jason]

Many thanks for your question and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Ash98. It's terrific to have you join us.

We're looking forward to reading about all your projects and plans for around the house and garden. As we have loads of clever and creative members on the site, we're sure you will get plenty of helpful information, advice and inspiration, including ideas for your Guinea Pig cage.

Let me tag helpful members in @Brad, @TedBear and @Noyade to see if they might like to kick off the discussion with their thoughts. 

@MitchellMc will also be more than happy to assist when he is back on the site on Friday. 

Thanks again,

Jason

[TedBear]

Am I correct in assuming that you are making an shelter in the enclosure for the guinea pigs? If so, I would suggest thin MDF,  which will be more robust than Corflute. It is fairly cheap, comes in 6mm thickness,  can be joined to create an enclosure using pine strips & short screws. The Corflute would be good to keep as a top to the enclosure since it offers light and some shade from sun. It could also offer draft protection at the sides if attached outside, when need be, without robbing them of light. (I hope I am addressing the actual problem.)

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Ash98. It's fantastic to have you join us and many thanks for your question.

As @TedBear has mentioned previously, I'd like to understand what you are using the insert for. Perhaps you could take a picture for us? Is it a bottom liner to help clean the enclosure? We'd most likely need to see what type of cage they have built for us to offer some brilliant solutions to your issue.

We look forward to hearing more about your project and providing help.

Mitchell

[Ash98]

Hi, 

The guinea pig cage is specifically indoors only. It's made out of timber, think of it as a planter box. There's gaps within the box that I'm trying to figure out what to use as a base so the guinea pig urine/poop don't go through/damage the cage. I'm using corflute board (from real estate) as a temporary fix. However, it takes too long to piece them together. 

[Ash98]

Hi Mitchell,

Please see image for reference. I'm currently using corflute board (from real estate) as an insert. Think of the cage as a planter box, there's gaps within the box that I'm trying to figure out what I could possibly use as a permanent solution. Corflute board just took too long to assemble but it works as an insert for now. 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Ash98,

Many thanks for the additional information.

You could paint the base and up the side walls with Protite Fibreglass Resin. It might take a few thinner coats to fill the gaps between the boards, but this would leave you with a waterproof layer in the unit. Some layered newspaper on top would absorb excess moisture. To clean, you would remove the newspaper and wipe the fibreglassed timber down.

The only alternative to that I can think of is building an insert that might last longer than the corflute. Perhaps polycarbonate sheeting could be used.

Mitchell

[Ash98]

Hi Mitch, 

Thanks for the help, I think it's best for me to place something down that I can regularly take out & give it a good clean. I'll try to give the polycarbonate sheet a try.

Thanks again.