Guinea pigs in bedroom?

[Spicy.Meg]

Does anyone keep their guinea pigs in their bedroom and what do you use? I would like to use fleece but I don’t know how often I have to change it and if it smells. Can i see your indoor set ups as an idea?

 

[sport_billy]

Fleece needs changing every 2 days or so normally in a 120cm sized cage

 

[Spicy.Meg]

Fleece needs changing every 2 days or so normally in a 120cm sized cage

Thank you, I’ve seen waterproof fleece for guinea pigs should I get that or should I just get normal fleece?

 

[Lorcan]

I've kept boars in the bedroom - particularly in summer as the bedroom was much cooler than the lounge. Still kept them on Megazorb or Carefresh though, it's not like they smell any more or less in certain parts of the house. The bigger problem is the noise they'll make.

 

[j's fur family]

Hi have my pigs up stairs there in c&c cages all on fleeced they don't smell I spot clean and changr wee pads every day and change and do a full cage clean ever 2 days xx

 

[j's fur family]

Hope this helps hear my set up x

 

[Spicy.Meg]

Hi have my pigs up stairs there in c&c cages all on fleeced they don't smell I spot clean and changr wee pads every day and change and do a full cage clean ever 2 days xx

Do you use waterproof fleece? All I can find is that and I don’t know if that right or if I just should get ordinary fleece.

 

[j's fur family]

I made my own waterproof fleeces love with mattresses protectors I used fleece then a towel inbetween and mattress protector at the bottom it did take me a while to make them as i ddi them by hand but got for my self a sewing machine if u was thinking off making them there is lots of videos on YouTube you can watch to see how it's done that what I did i did a lot off research on it before using if not there if alot off people on ebay that sell them type in water proud cage liner love hope this helps xx

 

[Sparklepetal]

You can also have separate layers of fleece, absorbent layer and waterproofing if that's easier than having the whole thing sewn together. I find it easier to be able to spread out the separate layers when drying after a wash. I've bought a lot of my fleece from tiaknightfabrics.co.uk which seems reasonable for prices. You're just buying by the metre and cutting to size. This is helpful if you want scraps to have a go at sewing beds and stuff! Look for the anti-pill sort.

 

[Spicy.Meg]

You can also have separate layers of fleece, absorbent layer and waterproofing if that's easier than having the whole thing sewn together. I find it easier to be able to spread out the separate layers when drying after a wash. I've bought a lot of my fleece from tiaknightfabrics.co.uk which seems reasonable for prices. You're just buying by the metre and cutting to size. This is helpful if you want scraps to have a go at sewing beds and stuff! Look for the anti-pill sort.

I know that people use puppy pads at the bottom of their cage but if I use waterproof fleece would I need it? And wouldn’t the pee stay on top of the fleece?

 

[squeaksandcarrots]

I've always kept my piggies in my bedroom, I love keeping an eye on them I use fleece and it doesn't smell too bad

 

[Sparklepetal]

I know that people use puppy pads at the bottom of their cage but if I use waterproof fleece would I need it? And wouldn’t the pee stay on top of the fleece?

Yes it would stay on top if you used waterproof fleece - and that's just exactly what you don't want! The fleece layer is supposed to wick away the moisture from the piggies, allowing it to go straight through to the absorbent layer below and not leave them walking in the damp patches. Don't buy waterproof fleece because they will get sad wet paws and possibly urine scald and bumblefoot . You wash freshly purchased fleece around 3 times to make sure it is letting the water through. The fleece will get dirty and need changing, but the damp should be locked into the absorbent layer - either another washable layer or something disposable depending what you choose. It's the same system I used with my human babies who had fleece liners in their washable nappies - and actually I use old prefold cloth nappies as my absorbent layer in the hutch now . The waterproofing then needs to be the other side of the absorbent layer, to protect your flooring. Many people have correx bases for their grid-based indoor cages to do this job.

My piggies are not normally indoors, but we took them away in a caravan with us for a week last month and they weren't too smelly. I changed their fleece twice during that week but the disposable puppy pad underneath lasted all week.

Hope that's helpful!

 

[Spicy.Meg]

Yes it would stay on top if you used waterproof fleece - and that's just exactly what you don't want! The fleece layer is supposed to wick away the moisture from the piggies, allowing it to go straight through to the absorbent layer below and not leave them walking in the damp patches. Don't buy waterproof fleece because they will get sad wet paws and possibly urine scald and bumblefoot . You wash freshly purchased fleece around 3 times to make sure it is letting the water through. The fleece will get dirty and need changing, but the damp should be locked into the absorbent layer - either another washable layer or something disposable depending what you choose. It's the same system I used with my human babies who had fleece liners in their washable nappies - and actually I use old prefold cloth nappies as my absorbent layer in the hutch now . The waterproofing then needs to be the other side of the absorbent layer, to protect your flooring. Many people have correx bases for their grid-based indoor cages to do this job.

My piggies are not normally indoors, but we took them away in a caravan with us for a week last month and they weren't too smelly. I changed their fleece twice during that week but the disposable puppy pad underneath lasted all week.

Hope that's helpful!

Thank you so much! I was also wondering if reusable puppy pads would work so I wouldn’t have to keep buying the disposable ones?

 

[Bill & Ted]

Newspaper under fleece works very well too if you can get hold of some regularly x

 

[Sparklepetal]

Thank you so much! I was also wondering if reusable puppy pads would work so I wouldn’t have to keep buying the disposable ones?

I haven't tried them myself but I'm pretty sure others do.

There are plenty of people on the forum who have chopped and changed bedding methods for different reasons. It's tricky to know exactly what will suit you before you plunge into doing it for real! I went with washable because I had done washable nappies in the past so it seemed kind of natural. I am washing more frequently than I expected though, which can be a pain depending on drying conditions. If I ever changed away it would be to something compostable as I have compost bins in the garden... however they are already full with old hay and guinea poops!

 

[PigglePuggle]

Thank you so much! I was also wondering if reusable puppy pads would work so I wouldn’t have to keep buying the disposable ones?

We use washable reusable puppy pads, the Vetfleece IncontiPet brand we buy from Amazon. They are very absorbant and we've been washing and reusing the same ones every week for over a year other people use incontinence mattress protectors too very effectively the same way, much less non recyclable waste!