Hypertufa for Guinea Pig house and ramp?

18 years ago

I've never worked with hypertufa, but I've been fascinated by it and keep wanting to start a project. Anyway, I have an idea now, but I want your opinion about toxicity. I'm thinking of adding a second level to my guinea pig's habitat. That means I'll need a ramp. I also thought it would be fun to build a den for her with arched doorways and a guard on the roof so the ramp could go up to the roof, then change directions and head for the second level. My problem is that guinea pigs might chew and I don't want her house to poison her. Does anyone know if a guinea pig would be able to chew off some of the hypertufa and if so whether it would be toxic or not? Please help.

Thanks,

Mariann

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Comments (23)

ltd123
18 years ago
I don't know the answer to your question but if I remember correctly, lots of zoo habitats for guineapigs and other small animals look like they are made from concrete. You might research some zoo design sites for answers to your question.
Good luck!
Laura
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butterflybush
18 years ago
I don't know, but my guess would be to use concrete, not tufa. Tufa could be used where the piggy wouldn't chew, for decoration and design. And concrete reinfored with rebar for the ramp would be a much better choice for strength. Sound like a very interesting project, I hope you will share photos of it with us if you do this!!!
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tufaenough
18 years ago
I doubt concrete will harm your Pig but your local pet store can answer that for you.
I make little houses from concrete. Bird houses and toad shacks.:)
I do it gingerbread house style using 1/2 inch thick pink styrofoam to shape the walls and roof slabs then instead of icing I use mortar mix to join the pieces together.
It's fun and very easy to do but not very tasty.
Concrete pigments can give you color.
Yellow for a roof then drag a wire brush down it a few times and it looks exactly like straw.
For stone walls you can put down a thin 1/8 layer of white concrete slurry (on plastic) then press in your wall stones close together then cover the backs with a strong mix filling to a depth of 1/2 inch or so. After a few days curing you can peal off the plastic then wire brush the surface and it will look just like an old English stone cottage.
There is no end to the creations you can make with Gingerbread Tufa.
You can even find the plans for real gingerbread houses on the net and use those.
I'm developing this as method for kids to make bird houses with need hammers and saws.
Have fun with this and I would love to see pictures of your pig in his new Tufa digs.
Although you might want to avoid Peat Moss he might like chewing that out of the concrete.:)
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tufaenough
18 years ago
Hi Mariann
Here is a picture of a brick bridge.
If you make each side out of a slab of concrete you could make a curved floor over a form the same way. Scratching in the brick pattern would be pretty easy.
Then mortar the floor inbetween the two sides and you have a bridge and a hiddie hole underneath for your pig.

You got me all excited about this idea, I want to make a little stony bridge myself now.
I would love to do a minature English village some day but until you mentioned a bridge I never thought of adding one.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:73430}}
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MKitten
Original Author
18 years ago
Wow! Thanks for all the ideas. I'm really excited about it. I'll do a little more research before I get started. I promise to post a picture when I'm finished.

Mariann
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tufaenough
18 years ago
Hi Mariann
If you are thinking of the Gingerbread approach I suggest you can avoid a lot of newbie problems by using a readimix product like Quikwall instead of mixing your own recipe.
Maybe other folks can suggest other products that make good slabs.
Laura is our resident Quikwall expert here at Gardenweb.
Hopefully she will pop in here and give her tips on using the stuff.
I can't help you because I can't find any of this wonderful stuff in my area.
If you want to use your own recipes and need some pointers I can certainly help you there. I roll all my own recipes.:)
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MKitten
Original Author
18 years ago
I'll check out Quickwall and see if I can find some. I had some hardware cloth in the garage that I'm using to make the armature of my building and ramps. I plan to cover it with whatever mix I end up using, then sculpt it to resemble bricks. I think that'll be fun for all the arched doorways.

I'd like to keep the weight down so I can easily lift the whole thing out to clean the cage. I'll also need to make sure it doesn't absorb urine if she decides it's a good place to pee.

Quick question: Will the quickwall be a claylike consistancy that I can just mold to the hardware cloth? Is it similar at all to working with paper mache (celluclay)?

Thanks,
Mariann
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tufaenough
18 years ago
Hi Mariann
I do know that Quikwall is water proof so it might be pee proof as well.:)
I know Laura has used it with great success with fiberglass mesh. It might be easier to use than hardware (wire) cloth.
As to it's claylike consistancy all I can say, not having used that particular product, is Quikwall should be more claylike than a concrete product.
Drop Laura an email, I'm sure she will know if Quikwall is the 'Right Stuff':)
I have no problem talking about stuff I know absolutely nothing about, but I'm getting so jealous of those people who can get their hands on Quikwall.;-)
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butterflybush
18 years ago
If I may offer advice? Quikwall is an excellent sculpting mix, and it is an excellent TOPPING, as it is used to top exteriors walls with a stucco appearance. Unfortunately I think the mix is not strong enough to use for the entire slab. You would be better off to make places the pig walks and chews out of strong concrete, and use the Quikwall to make the exterior walls and roof look like rock or straw or whatever. Quikwall can be easily gouged by screwdriver, but CONCRETE is much much harder. Just trying to save you some trouble by sharing my experience with it. I love it for making faux bois or fake rock, but I do use a plain conrete for the support, and sculpt the Quikwall onto it. Quikwall has a bonding agent in the mix and fibers. For smaller stuff, like a mirror frame or something, it may be strong enough used by itself, with diamond mesh ebmbedded. But for a bridge or a ramp...... Well... especially for a little piggy to be on it....Now, Quikcrete is en entirely different product. I don't have experience with that. So be sure what it is you are buying, and for what purpose.
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MKitten
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks BB. My guinea pig weighs between 1 and 2 pounds. I have formed a house out of wire mesh and the ramps will also be wire mesh. I may also buy some strong narrow gauge metal rods to help support the structure. At this point I'm leaning toward making it out of paper mache and then putting a coating of quickwall, concrete, or hypertufa on the outside for sculpting and waterproofing. The main thing is that I want it to be lightweight and I think it would get kind of heavy if I used straight concrete. Any opinions on whether this will work? Would I need to put the concrete on while the paper mache was still wet, or would it cure ok if I put it on a dry paper mache structure?

Thanks again,
Mariann
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butterflybush
18 years ago
ROFLMAO...... I was thinking it was a miniature PIG (on another forum, we were talking about a real pig.... I got confused!!! Sorry) For a guinea pig, you would probably be okay with Quikwall, and you could even use Hypertufa for making it light. Sorry. You could even use styrofoam with the mesh and cover it with Quikwall. I am still ROFLMAO BB
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tufaenough
18 years ago
Hi Mariann
You can use light weight concrete replacing most of the sand with Cryogenic perlite. It is perlite that is about the size of sand or sugar.
Vermiculite would be a poor choice as it would absorb the pee.
Dry paper mache can suck moisture from your concrete causing it to not cure properly so you would likely need to rewet it before applying the concrete.

Have you considered Papercrete. This is paper mache made with Portland cement instead of glue.

I suggest you experiment with small amounts of your materials before tackling your project. I do it all the time with new recipes.

If Quikwall isn't up to the job then I suggest finding a top grade TOPPING CEMENT and trying that.
If you want to make your own recipe let me know and I'll post one that I think will meet your needs.
The reason I'm suggesting a readimix product is because Portland is usually only avalable in 94 pound bags. Then you need sand, Perlite, admix, etc.
But if you want to jump in with both feet and make your own mix I can suggest a few.
If you aren't sick of research look up CONCRETE CANOES. No I'm not joking. These are made with the ultimate in strong lightweight materials and hundreds of universities and colleges are happy to share their recipes for making their lightweight concrete.

Have fun in the mud!:)
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tufaenough
18 years ago
LOL!
BB you had me worried there.
I was wondering what kind of giant guinea pigs you had in your part of the country.:)

Can you buy a sanded QuikWall, or add sand for strength?
Quikwall is rated at 3500 pounds that is pretty strong stuff.
I read you can add admix to it.
If so I think Mariann should add admix because it will make it stronger and most of all make it more 'Pee Proof'
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MKitten
Original Author
18 years ago
You guys are great! Papercrete might be a good thing for me to try. I guess it would need a more waterproof layer on the outside. Are there some good recipes out there? I'll have to run to HD to see what they carry. I couldn't find the info on the internet. What is admix? Is it readily available? I probably better not invest too much on this first project or I'll have my husband to deal with :).

Thanks again,
Mariann
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bznmygarden
18 years ago
Hi Maryanne,

I'll be watching your progress with interest...

I have SIX cavies (all rescues) and just hate what their plastic pigloos look like after a while...ugh! I just moved all 5 sows into one enclosure, and I'm sure they'd just LOVE a ramp and second level.... Hey, wouldn't we all?! LOL! PLUS, your idea for a concrete or tufa ramp may help keep those little piggie nails trimmed, too!

Please post pics of what you do!!!

- Lisa (with Harriet, Chloe, Bessie Mae, Hattie, Gracie, and Jed)
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tufaenough
18 years ago
Hi Lisa
I agree!
I wish I was doing Tufa when I had my Hedgehogs. Trimming those nails was a horrible job.
You and Mariann almost have me convinced to get another one.
I could make tufa bridges and tunnels, and cute little houses.
I'm so traumatized when the little guys get sick and die I've been avoiding getting another little critter.
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MKitten
Original Author
18 years ago
Well, I couldn't find Quickwall. For some reason I couldn't even find Quikrete! I thought our HD carried it. Anyway, I bought some sanded concrete and I'm soaking some shredded newspaper. I don't know what recipe I should use so I may have to go with trial and error. I found a site that said papercrete is 60/20/20 paper/cement/sand -- and enough water to make the right consistancy? Good luck to me :). This project may take me awhile, but I promise to post pix.

Mariann
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rockyn
18 years ago
Howdy all

I'v had lots of fun with papercrete. It is quite strong enough for a herd of guinea pigs and lightweight to boot. I would put a layer of regular crete over it and then seal it for the poo & pee resistance.

Try Lowe's for a large selection of masonry items. I was quite surprised to see that they carried selections of stucco, joint compound, sands, cements, and several Quik products. Home Depot had cement and quikcrete and that was about it.

How about a castle with a drawbridge and a moat? A dungeon could be the hidey-hole.

Have fun!
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myloki
18 years ago
Hi Mariann,
I just wanted to mention that I made a little toad house using one of my son's castle shaped sand buckets as a form and something chewed on it. I am guessing it was squirrels. You can see several teeth marks on it. I don't know about toxicity, but you may want to research that further before you use it. I'll try to post a picture of the nibbled castle...
It sounds like a really neat idea and I hope you can find a safe mix to use.
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myloki
18 years ago
Mariann,
Here is a pic of my nibbled toad castle. I made it last year from equal parts sand, peat, perlite and portland mix. I painted it with a watered down wash of acrylic paint. The lighter, gray areas are the areas where it was chewed. Somebody found it pretty tasty...

{{gwi:73431}}
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MKitten
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for all the comments. I haven't found a mix yet that I like. I might go ahead and make a temporary building out of paper mache -- then she can just eat it and I won't have to worry about it! Hopefully I will come up with something that will work.

Mariann
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rockyn
18 years ago
My papercrete vessels are 1/1/1 cement/dampshredded paper/perlite plus whatever fibers & admix and oops paint is handy. Very sturdy.

But you could easily do more of a papier mache using a tough glue ( just bought some of the Tite Bond water resistant to play with) and then spread a cement/sand mix on the outside layer.

Methinks the toad castle should be coated with jalapenos!
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tufaenough
18 years ago
TiteBond III is great wood glue for waterproofing and should make great paper mache.
It costs far less than poly glues and so far has proved to be completely water proof. I did a wheel barrow handle repair with TB3 and fine sawdust and it is like new a year later.

TiteBond III is in a class all it's own and worth a try.

Here is a link that might be useful: The ulitimate paper mache glue?
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Hypertufa for Guinea Pig house and ramp?

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