First clean out

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Gemmab

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all,

Currently our new piggies are in an outdoor hutch with a thermal cover on (uk) we are planning on getting an indoor c&c cage for the colder weather. We brought them home wednesday evening and noticed they were coming out slightly more yesterday. The most shy fudge, whilst out seemed fine with me sitting by the cage as he ate but our other more adventurous piggies biscuit who we have seen the most was very skittish and ran back into his house. I know it takes time to train and for them to be comfortable and trust us enough to stroke and take out. . .

But my question is... they need a hutch clean tommorow which will be their first. I'm a bit concerned about picking them up and moving them into a different area indoors to clean it for them. I don't want to scare them and then them not trust us. Is it ok to take them out to clean or Not?

Any Tips or advice to make it easier for them and us would be much appreciated.

Thanks all :)
 
Ive always cleaned mine out with them still in their hutch, I just don’t make any sudden movements, they’ve just got used to it now.
Moving to a different environment often means they have to adjust all over again so moving them as little as possible is often best particularly while they are new to you. My piggies are quite happy moving from their hutch to their run but (my two live outside permanently - in a shed) I have had to bring them indoors occasionally over the summer when it was too hot outside and they were so quiet and were not comfortable in that new space so I don’t like to change their environment unless absolutely necessary now.
 
Thank you so much for the tip. I want to try and avoid anything which may make it harder to bond with them. Also habe 2 kids at home who are being very well behaved and quiet around them so far but desperate for any glimpse they get of the boys.

We have a 2 level lathe hutch. We originally put them both in the top level but found that one has taken residence upstairs and one down. Slightly worried that they are not interacting as I'm not sure they are actually venturing any further than the level they are now in.

Many tips on that at all. Originally we had one food bowl at the bottom but as we couldn't be sure it shy piggie was going downstairs we now have one top and bottom. And this did seem to bring fudge out of hiding more.
 
some piggies just don’t like ramps- they aren’t naturally climbers. Does your ramp have sides/is it covered? They are more likely to use it if they feel safe/don’t feel like they will fall off. They won’t use it if it is too steep either.
In terms of them interacting with each other, what sex are you piggies? My two boys don’t come together very often, they like each other but you’d never see them sitting together at all!
 
Ah that makes sense. It does have sides to the ramp. Maybe we could try putting a cover over it. They are also two boys. I just don't want them to get lonely.
 
Ive seen some people put tunnels up the ramps, that often helps. They know each other are there, so they shouldn’t be lonely, if they have chosen to sit separately.
The biggest thing with boys is just making sure they are happy to be together (even if not snuggly with each other) and they won’t be lonely. How old are your boys?
 
I have a two tier indoor cage. I have a ramp tunnel over my ramp and a wooden block under the ramp to make it less steep and my two love to do zoomies up and down the ramp :)

As for cleaning them out, you could put them both in the upper level whilst you clean out the bottom and vice versa.

My piggies are older and free roam in the hallway at clean out and run time but you will get in to your own routine that suits you and your piggies :)
 
My piggies were indoors, but at first I always used to put them on the couch during clean out time. It worked well because I could keep an eye on them but they had somewhere else to wander about for a bit (they got floor time as well, but I wasn't comfortable leaving them in the hall without supervision, and the living room wasn't piggy-safe so I couldn't leave the door open). That stopped after Comet tried kamikaze leaps off the sofa twice. I had two Midwest cages linked together, so I'd clean out one side and replace the bedding, then clean out the other side and replace the bedding. I didn't have to block each side off, really, they were quite happy to stay on one side til the new bedding was down and then go "exploring" on the clean side, so I could do the remaining dirty side.

The actual moving them shouldn't bother them as long as wherever they're going has places to hide. If you don't want to freak them out by directly lifting them out, you could try putting a cosy into the cage and see if they'll go into it, and then lift them out in the cosy. Same works for a carrier. Leaving them in the hutch isn't a bad idea either, but I'd prefer that indoors to outdoors. There's always a chance (however small) that somepig would jump or leap from the hutch and that's bad enough indoors (Comet was a git sometimes), I'd be really paranoid about them doing it outdoors. But if they're on another closed off level, that wouldn't be a problem, it'd be more of an issue with single-level hutches.
 
Thank you for the tip. They haven't ever really been handles and are very skittish so don't want to risk them jumping out. O can try with a cosy but equally not sure if they will go in it when needed. We will give it a go and see what works.

Thanks all!
 
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