About us

Hi — we're the humans
behind the habitats.

We're Avia & Gong, two guinea pig parents who got tired of zip ties, loose grids, and cages that looked like temporary storage. So we built something better — and shared it with you.

Avia, Co-Founder
Avia Co-Founder · CEO

Co-leads the company. Primary designer and engineer behind the habitats themselves, the website, and most of the brand's creative direction. Tends to wheek out about the details.

Gong, Co-Founder
Gong Co-Founder · Operations

Runs supply chain, manufacturing, and the unglamorous spreadsheets that get a habitat from a prototype to your living room. Also very good at hay logistics.

Years ago, we adopted our first piggies and went out searching for a habitat that actually fit them. What we found felt like a choice between "too small to be humane" or "a pile of wire grids and zip ties on the living room floor."

Traditional C&C cages give guinea pigs the space they deserve, but they come with real trade-offs — loose grids, safety issues around entrapment and chewing, and a finished product that never quite looked like it belonged in our home. Just bars — like a jail. If our piggies really meant as much to us as we said, why didn't their home say that too?

So we started sketching. Clear acrylic so you can see your piggies — really see them, no wire grids in the way. A one-twist bolt for easy assembly and reconfiguration. Modular tiles that grow as your colony grows — because colonies always grow. Disposable liners so cleanup is a five-minute job, not an all-morning event.

We wanted a habitat we'd be proud to keep in the living room — one that took our piggies seriously as members of the family.

Critter Colony Club exists to lower the barrier to proper guinea pig care. Too many pigs end up in cages that are too small simply because pet stores don't stock anything bigger, and the better options feel overwhelming or just ugly. That's the gap Critter Colony Club exists to close.

Meet the colony

The actual piggies you keep seeing on our reels.

Every product we ship was first chewed on, snuggled in, or aggressively wheek-reviewed by the colony. They're our co-workers, our quality assurance team, and our reason for the whole thing.

Baby Pig

Baby Pig

The Cuddler

A puddle in human hands — melts the moment you offer a head scritch. Around other boars he postures as the big bad wolf; the three girls he lives with mostly find him annoying.

  • 3 years old · ♂
  • American
  • Favorite: any veggie + a head scritch
Badger

Badger

The Big Brother

Bonded to Baby Pig as a baby, then outgrew it — the boys unbonded and he moved in with little Kiwi. He's taken his big-brother duties seriously ever since. Big personality, bigger opinions.

  • 2 years old · ♂
  • American
  • Favorite: bell peppers
Tiger

Tiger

The Matriarch

Came to us neglected, raising five babies on her own without the resources to do it. Now she leads her colony with quiet, gentle authority — and still makes sure her daughters eat before she does.

  • 2 years old · ♀
  • American
  • Favorite: mixed lettuce
Nala

Nala

The Quiet Bold One

One of Tiger's daughters — calm and a bit of a loner, happier near her colony than playing with them. With humans, the opposite: first in line for hand-snacks, the least flinch-prone when arms come in for a cuddle.

  • 2 years old · ♀
  • American
  • First in line for hand-snacks
Koala

Koala

Chief Wheeker

Tiger's other daughter — the sweetest fluff in the colony, and by far the loudest. If a wheek goes up across the room, it's Koala. She can get both colonies going from a standing start.

  • 2 years old · ♀
  • American
  • Loudest wheek in the house
Kiwi

Kiwi

Badger's Apprentice

Came to us as the shyest piggy in the room. Badger pulled her out of her shell — she's picked up his swagger one habit at a time and is growing into a bold little thing of her own.

  • 1 year old · ♀
  • Werewolf skinny pig
  • Favorite: parsley
Our philosophy

Three principles we build on.

Principle #1

Start with what works.

We build on proven C&C standards — 14×14″ grid panels and a scalable modular system — as the backbone of every habitat.

Principle #2

Fix what's broken.

Eliminate inhumane, cramped cages and hidden hazards — and replace them with safe, spacious designs that invite piggies into your home's social spaces.

Principle #3

Innovate with our community.

We listen to guinea pig parents and small-pet experts to help guide our roadmap — every design and tweak springs from their feedback, testing, and stories.

By honoring these principles, we create habitats that genuinely improve guinea pig welfare — and deliver delight to pet parents.

How we got here

A short, slightly hay-strewn timeline.

  1. 2022

    Smitten from the start.

    We brought our first piggies home and were instantly hooked — captivated by every wheek, each joyous popcorning hop, and trust-earned cuddles. Then we spoiled them with fresh veggies and cardboard playgrounds, and discovered store-bought cages were inhumanely small, unsafe, and frankly ugly.

  2. 2024

    Kickstarter goes live.

    After months of designing, prototyping, and rebuilding — clear acrylic tiles, a custom one-twist bolt, refinement after refinement — we launched the Guinea Colony Starter Kit on Kickstarter. Fellow piggy parents funded it past the goal!

  3. 2025

    Critter Colony Club opens its doors.

    We launched our own website and started shipping the Starter Kit direct to colonies across the country. The first happy mail goes out — and the first reel goes up.

  4. 2026

    The Roof Lid joins the lineup.

    The Roof Lid arrives this July — our most-requested add-on. A clear, ventilated top that keeps curious cats out and adventurous piggies in, while keeping every sightline into the colony intact.

The colony, online

Come hang out where the piggies live.

Care tips, colony history, new drops, the daily silly and cute. We cross-post — pick whichever you actually use.

Shop for your piggies

Bring Guinea Colony home.

Modular habitats, expansion packs, kitchens, liners — everything your colony needs.

Shop Guinea Colony