Absorbant Padding

coconutfoxx

coconutfoxx

Junior Guinea Pig
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Ive recently adopted two rescue neutered boars and OMG I never knew guineas pooed so much 😂 I've had to buy myself a cheap hand held vacuum to pick up poo twice a day! Ive done my second clean up and the rescue centre have given us some vet bed and some cage liners. The first change I used the disposable liners and for this change ive put in a reusable one... putting liner first and the the vet bed. My question is, do I have to use the vet bed at all if I'm just using liners? I don't mind it but it's a bit of a faff to wash.
 
Hello how lovely …I’m biased but I love boars - I have 2 atm
I use washable liners and use vetbed as I have a skinny pig (but I didn’t when I had furry boars )
Before him I used just the liner with pee pads placed here and there and in their hideys
I change one half of the cage one day and the other half the next day - that makes sure the cage always smells of them so they are less likely to scent mark as a new fully cleaned cage means they often do
I’ve had boars for 6 years and never had problem with smelly boars - I hope this helps 🙂

Oh and we love to see pigtures of piggies ….what are your boys called?
 
Ah I didnt know about the scent marking its good to know. I dont mind using the vet bed but I just wondered if I could just do cage liners and clean it more frequently...but I do work full time as a teacher so I dont want to be doing it every day.
 

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Welcome to the forum

I’m a boar owner too!

If by reusable liner you mean a washable puppy pad, then ideally they will need something on top of it - whether it’s the vet bed, a fleece or just hay.
If the liner itself is fleece and has the absorbent layer sewn into the middle, then it doesn’t need anything else on top

Boars are very territorial and they need their space to always smell of them.
It takes two weeks for them to reestablish their hierarchy in a new space (they do this even if they have always been together) - so if you have only just brought them home then they will be within that time.
Cleaning the whole cage in one go can cause a new round of dominance every time - which is stressful for them. So it is a good idea to only clean half at a time so their scent always remains.
If you have to clean the whole cage in one go, then rub the new bedding with the old bedding to transfer their scent back onto it

Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment
 
A lot of people use bath mats as well as fleece
I’ve got a fleece with zorb lining and that’s works very well !
 
Piggies&buns said:
Welcome to the forum

I’m a boar owner too!

If by reusable liner you mean a washable puppy pad, then ideally they will need something on top of it - whether it’s the vet bed, a fleece or just hay.
If the liner itself is fleece and has the absorbent layer sewn into the middle, then it doesn’t need anything else on top

Boars are very territorial and they need their space to always smell of them.
It takes two weeks for them to reestablish their hierarchy in a new space (they do this even if they have always been together) - so if you have only just brought them home then they will be within that time.
Cleaning the whole cage in one go can cause a new round of dominance every time - which is stressful for them. So it is a good idea to only clean half at a time so their scent always remains.
If you have to clean the whole cage in one go, then rub the new bedding with the old bedding to transfer their scent back onto it

Reacting to group or territorial changes: Dominance and group establishment/re-establishment
Click to expand...
Ahhh this makes a lot of sense. So I have a bit of a weird cage where it has two parts and did have a partition which I removed. So when I put the liner in we only have it in the larger section. The boys dont tend to wee or poo in the smaller section but do on occasion. As this is the case I'm wondering whether I continue cleaning out the larger section by washing everything, but use not clean as throughly in the smaller section. Do you think this would work?
 
Hi Coconut, welcome to boar life! I also adopted two elderly boars from the RSPCA about a year ago and had to learn about all this bedding stuff from scratch. This forum was so helpful, so you're in the right place!

I wrote a blog all about fleece liners here, it might be helpful to you. Fleece Cage Liners for Guinea Pigs: The Ultimate Guide for Happy Pets
I also wrote something about spot cleaning which might help, I show my whole process and how it works for my 2 boars: The Ultimate Guide to Spot Cleaning Your Guinea Pig Cage (in Just 2 Mi
 
Furry and Frightful said:
Hi Coconut, welcome to boar life! I also adopted two elderly boars from the RSPCA about a year ago and had to learn about all this bedding stuff from scratch. This forum was so helpful, so you're in the right place!

I wrote a blog all about fleece liners here, it might be helpful to you. Fleece Cage Liners for Guinea Pigs: The Ultimate Guide for Happy Pets
I also wrote something about spot cleaning which might help, I show my whole process and how it works for my 2 boars: The Ultimate Guide to Spot Cleaning Your Guinea Pig Cage (in Just 2 Mi
Click to expand...
This is great thanks...where do you get your pee pads from I'm struggling to find ones with zorb in.

Also I bought myself a hand held vacuum for £10 off amazon and I used that to get rid of the poos twice a day which has really helped. The pigs are very used to it now and they dont even care about being around...I used to usher them into a safe corner with a hide but now they just carry on their business haha.
 
coconutfoxx said:
This is great thanks...where do you get your pee pads from I'm struggling to find ones with zorb in.

Also I bought myself a hand held vacuum for £10 off amazon and I used that to get rid of the poos twice a day which has really helped. The pigs are very used to it now and they dont even care about being around...I used to usher them into a safe corner with a hide but now they just carry on their business haha.
Click to expand...
I make them myself and sell them online! We're not allowed to promote ourselves so just google my name and you'll find my store :)

I also do the hoover sometimes when I don't feel like emptying out everything from the pee pads - I got this one which is amazing, it even sucks up the long hay pieces! And yes, if you do it often enough the piggies just get used to the noise!
 
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