Cleaning - whats your routine?

[dangerman]

Spent 20 mins writing this then it refreshed itself and I lost everything so second time lucky lol.

Struggling to sleep so I thought I'd ask a question that's been on my mind lately and see if I can cut down on cleaning time. Ill post my routine and hopefully others will and it will help me decide on a few things like bedding etc.

I have a shop bought cage with newspaper at the bottom, towels then vetbed. It seems to work ok and doesn't smell, I clean them weekly however I do spot clean every day. I am really considering switching to a c&c cage but need more amo to convince the gf it's money we'll spent

My weekly clean goes like this:

Set up the run for the pigs. Soak all stuff in the cage like water bottle, bowl, hay/litter tray.

Vac the bits from the vetbed and bung towels and vetbed into the washer.

Bin the newspaper and disinfect the cage.

Then wait for the vetbed to dry and replace everything. I only have one piece of vetbed so I have to wait for this

It takes about 4 hours in total.

What's your cleaning routine?

 

[Amylittlehands]

I'm struggling keeping up with the routine so thoroughly but I do it regardless, I think I'm just doing it a harder way.

I have a C&C Cage with Newspaper > Towel > Fleece.

I basically try to spot clean it once every two days and thoroughly clean it once a week.

Deep Clean:
* I shake off the poops back into the cage from the fleece to towel to newspaper.
* Try to get as much hay and stuck on poop from the fleece off as possible.
* Make a solution of bi-carb, lemon and hot water and spray the cage, give it a scrub.
* Throw the dirty fleece & towel into the piggy's very own 'Wash Bag' (So not hay escapes into the machine!).
* Lay down fresh newspaper (Two layers) a fresh old towel & fleece.
* Rearrange piggys cage, clean water bottle and food bowl.
* Fill them up along with a huge stack of fresh hay and meadow grass.
* Place the piggys into home and watch them popcorn!

It's a hefty task as the cage is on the floor and half of it isn't easy to access (Had to cat proof it with a fixed lid & other side being able to open). :...

 

[Lilly]

My 2 boys are indoors in a 2 story wood and wire hutch with attached run. The bottom of the hutch and run is completely open and sits on a tile floor. The upper story has a wood floor. So, both areas are covered with terry towelling waterproof mattress protector and then vetbed on top. A fleece ramp tunnel covers the ramp between the 2 stories. They also have a variety of fabric thingies - cosy cups, stuffed toys, baby socks stuffed with baby flannels, snuggle tunnels - with washday spares of everything. So, twice daily poop pick-ups at about 10 minutes each time. Once a week complete changeover of all fabric things taking about 30 minutes. It is the laundry that takes the time as there is at least 2 loads of piggy things. But I just pick a day to do all the laundry so it doesn't seem like just a piggy chore.

All their food dishes are ceramic so go into the dishwasher. The veggie dishes every day, the dry food dishes every 2nd day. I do have spares of everything. As it all gets washed with the human dishes doesn't seem like a piggy cleanup chore.

The water bottles are not actually bottles but flip top containers. I just rinse them every day but once a week they go into the dishwasher as they fit very easily on two prongs of the upper rack. Again, I have spares of them as well.

Basically what I have done is invest a lot of money up front to get machine washable things and spares of everything so the washing does not have to be done immediately. But over the long term it works out cheaper and less labour intensive.

I had previously done the loose bedding thing and found it a recurring heavy expense, time consuming and worry for the piggies health and comfort.