Cage Cleaning- How Often?

[PigglePuggle]

I've had Piggle and Puggle for 38 hours now and they still wont come out of the nest box when we are there, but there is a lot of poopy evidence that they have been out and about eating every scrap of food they can find when we're not watching! How best to balance cage hygiene with not upsetting them? Would just scooping out the poopy areas and adding a bit more wood shavings be ok? How often should I disrupt the nest box for a full cage clean?
Hopefully their floor play pen and woven grass hidey tubes will be delivered today which will give us more options!

 

[Claire W]

I poo patrol as and when needed during the day. I do his by removing wet shavings and poo and replacing with fresh. I then clean the cage out fully once a week but it depends on your piggies and the size of your cage on how often they need cleaning

 

[Wiebke]

I've had Piggle and Puggle for 38 hours now and they still wont come out of the nest box when we are there, but there is a lot of poopy evidence that they have been out and about eating every scrap of food they can find when we're not watching! How best to balance cage hygiene with not upsetting them? Would just scooping out the poopy areas and adding a bit more wood shavings be ok? How often should I disrupt the nest box for a full cage clean?
Hopefully their floor play pen and woven grass hidey tubes will be delivered today which will give us more options!

Hi! Give them 2 days to settle in and get their bearing before you poo patrol. Turn feeding, poo patrol and cage clean into rituals with a distinct call and melody (piggies listen more to the tune), so your little ones learn to anticipate and make sense of their new world.

Put them in the play pen during cage clean if necessary, although a pet carrier or a laundry basket with a towel for flooring and a towel on top will probably go down better at first; piggies like confined, 'safe' places when they are out of their depth. Using a pet carrier that way is not a bad way of making your piggies familiar with it, so they are not quite as frightened during a vet trip.
You may want to cover any play pen with a blanket or sheet at first and dot some of their smelly stuff around so it feels more familiar. If you can, please wait with the run until they are happy and confident in their regular cage, otherwise it is too much foreign and potentially hostile territory to cope with.

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[Merab]

I’ve always given new piggies a few days to settle in before cleaning.
Now it’s a full clean every 5 - 7 days and small cleans in between as needed.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Thanks! We already have a song for when we are going in the room to open the cage and feed them (PigglePugglePigglePuggle time!) so they can distinguish that from us going in the room to do something different (such as feeding the giant african snails who live there too).

The laundry basket is a great idea, we'll start with that then work up to the playpen and outdoor summer hutch gradually once they are happy with their cage