Cleaning Out Cage Or Hutch

[Maisy and Poppy]

How often do you clean out your piggys cages or hutches? I normally spot clean daily and change cage completely once a week but by then the hutch is really smelly and poops are everywhere! I read in a book to clean out the whole cage every other day but do you think is is too much? Spot cleaning with hay is soo hard ....
Thanks.

 

[The Furry Godmother]

Depends on the size of the cage and what you use, normally you shouldn't have to do a full change until a week is up as long as spot checks are done.
As I have a 2x4 c&c I change my fleece and Fitch once a week


If you are only using hay, then that probably will need to be done every day due to the fact hay doesn't absorb/drain urine.

 

[Maisy and Poppy]

I use hay and fitch underneath.

 

[Flutterby]

Mine are on fleece so they are poo picked twice a day and their fleece and towels are changed when needed which is around every 4-5 days. Spot cleaning with loose substrate can be difficult. I think there is no right or wrong way, as long as the piggies are clean.

 

[The Furry Godmother]

I'd just change the hay daily then and spot check as best you can, I find it quite hard with the Fitch spot cleaning, so do the best I can

 

[Maisy and Poppy]

Thanks.

 

[Flutterby]

Yeah if you are just on hay then I agree with Heather to change it daily.

 

[Maisy and Poppy]

Okay, so I change the fitch once a week?

 

[The Furry Godmother]

Okay, so I change the fitch once a week?

Take out any soiled patches everyday other day, but yeah, one main whole Fitch change a week

 

[Veggies Galore]

I spot clean daily - this has become my "daydream time" - so I love doing it. My trio are in a 6 ft 2 storey hutch & they all move to the other storey while I am spot cleaning. I remove all damp hay and spot clean the wet patches. I sometimes have a bit of fleece in the hutch too - which I find needs changing after 2 days. I do a full clean once a week . I don't notice a smell with this routine .

 

[biscandmatt]

i spot clean twice a day and do a full change every second or third day (i use fleece and/or fitch). i don't think any bedding should be left for a week. it may be dry and not smell, but there will be alot of bacteria by then. i remember years ago on here someone posting a pic of poop with some white 'stuff' on, which was mould. and someone said poop can grow mould in as little as a few days! with fleece poop is easier to remove, but traditional bedding is more difficult. and obviously urine is the main issue what with the ammonia and bacteria. and with piggies being prone to uti's and with their chests being so close to the ground, i wouldn't leave any bedding for a whole week. damp can cause illness, even if the surface is dry. that's my personal opinion though and what i feel comfortable with.

 

[Coco&Luna]

years ago when I had my pigs in a store bought cage they would be reekin of ammonia after a 1-2 days no matter what I done, lol. I even asked in a petshop and they told me only to feed them veg once a week to fix it, Hmm, Petshop assistants are always full of such wise advice! I got a C&C not long after and I havn't noticed a stinky smell since . I think the bigger the cage the less it's gunna smell.

 

[Carrotyd]

I spot clean my cage twice a day, and we use all fleece, with removable hay trays that get taken out and cleaned through out the week. I do a full strip down of the cage and a thorough clean each week.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly, but I have correx, then a layer of waterproof tarpaulin (at my other half's insistence), a layer of overlapping puppy pads, some old towels and then the fleece. From a layering perspective, do you think that's overkill?

My other half insists I include the tarpaulin because he's worried their wee might still find its way out of the correx on onto the carpet below.

 

[Chief Guinea Pig]

Fleece- cage liners or loose should be changed every 3-4 days. This is the same for vetbed. The urine will build up, regardless if you can smell anything at all, it is very unhygienic because of the bacteria.

Once a week for fleece or vetbed is simply just not enough.

Loose bedding can be changed up to once a week, but personally, I would change it every 4 days, just because the poo gets flicked down, and leaving it longer than 4 days when I used woodshavings was an awful sight. Of course you need to spot clean a few times a day though, remove soiled bedding and replacing it. (Corners or regular spots)

 

[7squeakers.]

The C and C cage in my bedroom gets a vacuum every morning and spot cleaned in the afternoon. I have fleece cage liners on the floor. These are turned over when one side gets too dirty and changed after that. The piggies on Pro-fleece have it swept every morning and changed once a week. Pro-fleece is anti-bacterial so no need to wash them more often. How often you change your bedding often depends on what sort you've got and how many pigs are on it.

 

[NPadgham]

I use fleece liners with towels beneath and hay trays.

Hay trays are changed and cleaned twice daily when I poo pick. Full clean out every third day. I'm a clean freak though so the slightest smell and it's all change!

 

[Claire W]

I spot clean and change the hay trays daily or more if needed and i do a full cage clean once every 5 to 7 days depending on how the cage is on day 5. I have a ferplast 120 double.

 

[MushiiPeas]

Hey, my guys live in 120cm cages and i clean damp bits out mid week also check each day buy their not normally damp and do a full change once a week, i also use fitch but i don't put hay on top as i found it smelt more, they just have hay in the hay rack.

Do you use anything under the fitch like newspaper or puppy pads?

I use a layer of newspaper underneath and seems to help a lot with the smell and absorbs the pee better, i don't find they smell til about day five and even then it's not awful and i know to clean them out then. I've got six of them in my bedroom so them not smelling is really important to me... wood-shavings and fleece just smelt too bad.

 

[PiggySmitten]

Hi I'm not using Fitch at the moment as I have changed to Aubiose the last 5 weeks but when I did I put a layer of cardboard and then layer of newspaper underneath. I changed the Fitch every week, never left it longer than that and sooner if I noticed any smell or if I felt the amount of poops was unsightly! The change was always an entire change, new cardboard, new newspaper and all new Fitch.

I didn't put a layer of hay on top though.

I change the girls who are on fleece every 3 or 4 days (we have two pairs on Aubiose, were on fleece and a group of girls on fleece). @Carrotyd Under the fleece I just have towels and then correx. I used to put puppy pads underneath but they were usually mainly dry when I came to change (as are the towels) and someone on here pointed out the environmentally unfriendliness of using them which was a consideration for me. I'm pleased to report no issues as a result of not using them any more.