Simple, Cheap Guinea Pig Run

Hello!

My daughter recently rescued a Guinea Pig which had been left inside its hutch in a shed. I decided to let it have some freedom by building it a large run.

This Instructable shows the steps to make a simple, cheap sectional run for a Guinea Pig or Rabbit.

The whole project cost me only £15. The nearest thing I can find to this run retails at about £60!

The materials you will need are:

6 Lengths of 2"x1" smoothish sawn timber in 1.8M lengths.

32 2.5" Countersunk wood screws.

3M x 60cm Wire Netting (Square holes, see photos).

16 Self tapping "eyes" with a 10mm or so hole. (see photos)

4 Coach bolts with nuts (4 inch or so).

Staple gun with U tacks or a hammer and a bag of U nails for attaching the netting.

Tools:

Hammer

Drill with 1.5mm wood bit and 4mm wood bit

Staple gun (mentioned above)

Cross blade screwdriver

Saw

Wire cutters for netting

Somewhere to cut your wood (table etc)

Right....lets get started!

Step 1 Cutting the wood

The size of your run depends on the length of your netting and the length of the wood you have. There are no hard and fast measurements to this!

You now need to make a rectangular frame for the sides of your run.

Lay a length of your wood on the ground and lay the netting onto it starting about a half inch in from the left end of the wood and rolling the netting out along it so that when you chop the netting it will end a half inch from the right end of the wood. This gives you your run length. Chop the wood to this length.

My netting came in 1.5M lengths so both sides are going to be made 1.5M long.

Cut all your side lengths (4) from this piece, this will ensure that your sides are equal.

You need to decide how high you want your run to be now, I estimated 30cm high as my netting is 60cm wide. You are basically making a long rectangle with netting for the middle.

Comments

[Jayefuu]

Awesome ible Sam! I made a similar but larger run when I was younger. It would have been too big when folded so I hinged it again in the middle of opposite panels so it would fold down smaller. My only criticism of the ible is that the first step is quite hard to read, perhaps a separate step for the materials and tools? :)

[Tvmender]

Hi Jayefuu, Thanks for the comments, I will take that into account when I write my next ible. Thanks again! - Sam

[AndyGadget]

I made a similar run a while back out of scrap wood - yours is a lot neater.
One thing I would suggest is to make a mesh top to the run to protect from passing cats and have a section covered as protection from the sun or showers.  Also, how about making an open ended wooden box as a place of refuge if startled (which tends to happen quite a bit with guinea pigs) and to allow them to get off the grass on damper days.
Finally, they are communal beasts so how about getting a friend for yours from your local rescue centre or RSPCA?  Not the brightest of creatures, guinea pigs, but rather cute - We have 3.

[Tvmender]

Hi!

Thanks for your comment!

It is a good idea to make a top for the run to stop pesky cats tucking into the Guinea Pig, I have actually made one but didnt include it in the instructable.

We have put all her toys, tunnels and a house to hide in inside the run and she happily runs around in there munching grass. We are going to get her a pal as soon as I can as I bet she gets lonely.

I have noticed they are very skittish and a noise in the garden makes her run for the hills but she soon comes back out.

Thanks again for the comment!