Easy DIY Rodent Hideouts

My guinea pig, Remnar, is rarely out in the open, unless he is looking for food. If he hears a bag rustling or, heaven help us, the fridge door opening, he is right there, wheeking incessantly until he gets a handout. Otherwise, he prefers to watch the world from the safety of his cage. Even when he plays, he mostly runs from cover to cover, only stopping to explore ares he deems safe.

Rodents are naturally skittish creatures. As prey animals, it makes sense that they prefer to have cover. If you own rodents, you will absolutely need to provide hideouts--areas where they can go to feel safe. Here are a couple of super easy hideout ideas.

If you have a cage with an open area, meaning it does not have a top, the simplest thing you can do is drape a blanket over the side of the cage. I used a small, no-sew fleece throw, but any blanket will do, as long as it fits over the side of your cage.

This happens to be Remnar's favorite hideout. He spends most of his time snoozing here, and it's big enough to share with his stuffed animal friends (or other piggies in the future...).

I like to tuck some of the blanket under the cage for my pet to lay on. This keeps the floor clean, and makes it easy to pick up any stray droppings.

Speaking of droppings, Remnar seems to like "doing his business" in privacy. In an attempt to potty train him, we made a privacy curtain for the corner of his cage. It has helped to keep the mess contained to mainly that corner. Although, he often takes naps there, especially when there is a lot of activity in the room. He likes being able to keep an eye on everyone while still feeling safe enough to doze off.

For this type of hideout, you need a cage with a wire top, and a high-corner litter pan. Measure the height of your cage. Add 5 inches to allow room for tying at the top and tucking on the bottom. Now measure across the front of the corner litter pan. Subtract 5 inches to allow for entrance/exit room on the sides. From a scrap of fleece, cut a triangle using these measurements.

Cut 1/2 inch off the top of the triangle, then cut a 3-inch slit straight down to form the ties. You can use the hideout as-is. Or, if your pet likes a little more visibility, cut a hole in the center of the triangle big enough for your pet to fit through with some wiggle room. Leave at least 3 inches in-tact on the top and bottom to make sure you can still secure it to the cage and pan easily enough. The nicest thing about this hideout is that it doesn't have to be perfect. Your measurements do not have to be exact, and it's okay if you cut it a little crooked. Fleece is very forgiving in that regard.

To install it, tie it to the top corner of the cage. Drape it down over the pan and tuck the bottom edge underneath. All you have to do to change the bedding is pull out the pan, dump it, refill, and tuck it back into the corner. No need to undo the ties.

Best of all, both of these hideouts are super easy to wash! When they get full of hair and other rodent by-products, just shake them out and throw them in the wash with your towels.

Summer Tips for Guinea Pigs: Help Keep Them Cool

It's time for more guinea pig tips! It's been hot lately. We usually run the air conditioning, but our piggy, Remnar, overheats easily. So, first, we make sure he has plenty of fresh water. His water dish sits on a couple of bricks I bought at the hardware store for 5 cents each. After he's done sprinting around the living room in the evenings, he likes to lay on the bricks and drink his water while he cools off.

During the day, if the heat gets really bad, I give him a cold pack to lay on. I've been selling rice hot/cold packs on my Etsy shop for a while now. My husband and I like to put the neck wraps in the freezer and use them to cool off at night. I decided to give Remnar his very own small rice pack. He likes to use it as a pillow.

For this purpose, the rice packs are much nicer than the chemical ones because they don't get too cold to touch with bare skin. They are just cold enough to feel refreshing. They stay cold for up to an hour, depending on the size of the pack and how hot the user is. I love that I don't have to worry if the piggy decides to nibble the cover a little. He shouldn't eat the rice, but it won't kill him if he gets a little bit (unlike the chemical packs).

Now, a video montage I put together to show off my little piggy's antics!

My apologies for the poor quality. If you are interested, the music is the intro theme from Kirby's Adventure. Stay cool, and enjoy your summer!

DIY Critter Tunnel

Meet my guinea pig, Remnar! He is about seven months old, and loves to snuggle in anything soft. Since we got him, I've been experimenting with all sorts of burrow bag designs. I'm sure my friends and family think it's excessive. In fact, I know it's excessive, but I enjoy myself. It's fun watching him explore new things. Although, his favorite still seems to be a simple fleece blanket draped over the side of his cage. So much for all my efforts, silly pig.

As a result of my experiments, I ended up with tons of fleece scraps in all different shapes and colors. So, just for fun, I decided to use up some of those scraps by making a tunnel for my piggy.

If you don't have scraps on hand, the remnants section of the fabric store is perfect for projects like this. And if you don't see anything you like there, just get 1/2 yard of whatever strikes your fancy.

Next, pick up some aquarium tubing from the local pet store. The fabric needs something to keep the tunnel from collapsing whenever your critters decide they'd rather trample it than snuggle in it. Aquarium tubing is just the right size, and provides flexible stability. It's also fairly cheap, and it comes in varying lengths and colors to suite your needs.

Before you get started, you need to make sure your sewing machine has a free arm. That means you can take off the larger workspace to expose the arm, like so:

You will need to be able to fit the tunnel around the free arm. If it's too tight, it is pretty much impossible to stitch the tubing in place in the final steps. Thus, you may want to measure around the the free arm before you begin. Yes, I learned this the hard way while making a smaller tunnel and ended up hand-stitching the cuffs closed. Lesson learned.

Now, to make the tunnel! Take your main color fleece and cut a square big enough to fit around your pet, plus an inch or so for seam allowance and wiggle room. (My piggy is fairly small, and he fits comfortably in the 15 inch tunnel I made. In fact, with some effort, he manages to turn himself around inside of it.) Cut two more squares the same size from a contrasting color. Now take one of those squares and cut it in half.

Next, cut four sections of aquarium tubing the same length as your square. Cut a small slit in one end of each section of tubing, about 1/4 inch long.

Put a little craft glue into the end with the slit. I discovered that a hot glue gun will not work for this. Fast-drying craft glue, such as Beacon 3-in-1, works much better.

Stuff the other end of the tube into the end with the slit. It takes a bit of twisting and pinching to get it in snug, but it can be done! Once it's in, set it aside to let it dry completely.

To start the tunnel, fold the exterior fleece square in half, right side facing in, and stitch down the long side to form a tube. Trim the seam. Repeat with the interior fleece.

Turn the interior fleece right-side-out and stuff the exterior  fleece inside of it.

Line up the seams and stitch it in place.

For the cuffs, fold each piece in half and stitch along the side to form a tube. Trim the seams.

One at a time, fit each cuff over the main tube.

Line up the seams and stitch it in place with a slightly larger seam allowance to hide the last line of stitching. Trim the seams.

Turn the tunnel right-side-out.

Slip two tubing rings over each end and fold the cuffs over so the rings are inside.

You want the cuff to cover the seam with about 1/2 inch overlap. Stitch the cuffs closed, as close to the original seam as you can.

Now, feel inside for each ring and line them up so that one sits in the folded edge of the cuff, and the other sits next to the inside seam. Stitch along the open edge of each one to hold them in place. It helps to use the zipper foot or move the needle position to the right or left to get the stitching closer to the tubing.

Of course, you can make your tunnel whatever size or length you want, depending on what your critters prefer. I had enough scrap material, I decided to make a skinny, longer tunnel as a gift to a friend who has rats.

I had to coax my piggy in with some treats to begin with, but now he loves it. It's perfect for play time, when all he wants to do is sprint in and out of small spaces. I would imagine that other little critters who like to burrow will enjoy tunnels of their own.

Guinea Pig Burrow Bags

My wonderful husband got me a guinea pig for Christmas! His name is Remnar (if you like outdoors-type movies with twisted humor, watch Escanaba in da Moonlight).

Since we brought Remnar home, we have tried giving him several different beds, trying to figure out what works best. We've discovered that he loves to burrow in fabric--clothing, blankets, pillows, anything soft and warm. So we ditched the plastic barn that the pet store sold us and gave him a cardboard tube that I lined with some fake fur. He loved it, but it got nasty pretty quick. It turns out rodents poop a lot. He definitely needs something that is easy to wash. So I took a trip to the fabric store, got some fleece remnants, and made him a couple new beds that we are all happy with.

The first one is just a bag. It doesn't work so well as a place for him to sleep (I think he gets too hot if he stays in it too long). It does work great for lap time. I can pick him up easily while he is in it, and he doesn't try to run away. Then, while I am holding him, he has a safe place to hide if he wants to. Plus, he has fun just poking around in the corners.

The second bed is a bit more complicated, but definitely a success. It sits in the corner of the cage and ties to the top of it. Looks like a guinea pig teepee.

Here's how I made it:

Drape a tape measure in the cage; top to bottom, let a few inches lay on the bottom, then back up to the top. Now decide how far out you want the teepee to come and measure across the corner of the cage at the point you want it to stop. Cut a rectangle using these measurements.

Cut two 3-inch strips of fabric that measure the length of the rectangle, plus 6 inches.

From the rectangle, cut a triangle out of each skinny end, with the point measuring about 1/3 of the way down the length of the fabric.

Pin and stitch the sides of the triangles closed.

Attach the 3-inch strips to the inside edges of the bag.

Then fold them over and stitch to the outside to finish the edges.

Even out the overhanging strips at the top and cut slits down the middle to create the ties.

Remnar loves sprinting in one end of his teepee and out the other. It's also big enough for him to take chew blocks and toys into it with him.

The only problem is that he still poops in it. A lot. Luckily, it's easy to clean out and wash frequently. I suggest making at least two of these so the piggy has a teepee to hide in while the other is in the wash.