How Often To Clean?

thebiscuitpigs

thebiscuitpigs

Junior Guinea Pig
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Staffordshire, UK
I've got a pair of baby sows, and at the moment I'm having to full clean them every day! I've heard that full cleaning once a week is enough, but they're so messy that I have to clean the whole hutch every day. Is this normal for people or do I have messy pigs? Their substrate at the moment is newspaper (I swapped from using straw all over as it was too messy, but I've ordered some fleece liner so its just temporary), with some straw in their bed and the newspaper just shows up all the mess (which is kind of good as I can see where to clean) but they just wee all over the place. I was thinking about litter training them - does anyone know how to do this? Thanks :)
 
I have to change the bedding of our piggies' hutch every 2 days. It's mixture of straw and wood shavings. Below the hutch is an attached run which is fleece blankets. I have to sweep that 2x a day (morning and night) and the vetbed on top of a small part of that has to be replaced everyday. Under the fleece is just thick layers of newspapers. We're lucky we have relatives and their neighbours who provide us with newspapers weekly. I then do all the complete thorough cleaning every Sunday. I currently have 2 girls and they are messy. I have to put hay on hanging racks because if I leave it on the fleece bed, they would scatter it everywhere, especially that they have a full free run on our living room.
 
I hate newspaper - it’s not really very absorbant and it stinks when wet with pee. I use a hemp based bedding substrate which is brilliant at soaking up pee

I do use paper at weekends when they are in my dining room, But I fully change twice a day!
 
Guineapigfeet said:
I hate newspaper - it’s not really very absorbant and it stinks when wet with pee. I use a hemp based bedding substrate which is brilliant at soaking up pee
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That's the only problem with it. Under the newspaper is a plastic lining. But for me, its the straw and shavings that stinks after 2 days and not really the papers, hence I had to replace it that often.
 
anyar.dris said:
That's the only problem with it. Under the newspaper is a plastic lining. But for me, its the straw and shavings that stinks after 2 days and not really the papers, hence I had to replace it that often.
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The bedding I use (Aubiose) doesn’t smell at all - even after a week I have to get my nose right in a pee-clump to get any smell!
 
I use fleece cage liners for my 2 boys. I Hoover the poops at least once a day. If it's my day off it will be twice a day.

The litter hay tray gets changed daily and the fleece liners I change twice a week on a Wednesday and Sunday.

I used fleece before and it didn't work for me. I now have a handheld Hoover and I wouldn't go back to sawdust now
 
RJ004 said:
I've got a pair of baby sows, and at the moment I'm having to full clean them every day! I've heard that full cleaning once a week is enough, but they're so messy that I have to clean the whole hutch every day. Is this normal for people or do I have messy pigs? Their substrate at the moment is newspaper (I swapped from using straw all over as it was too messy, but I've ordered some fleece liner so its just temporary), with some straw in their bed
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I thought Guinea Pigs shouldn't have straw as it can cause eye poke and they shouldn't really eat it or have I got that wrong?

I find using a litter tray of hay and substrate really helps keep the cage clean, I spot clean every few days and replace the tray because they tend to sit and wee in that :)
 
TheLottiediarys said:
I thought Guinea Pigs shouldn't have straw as it can cause eye poke and they shouldn't really eat it or have I got that wrong?

I find using a litter tray of hay and substrate really helps keep the cage clean, I spot clean every few days and replace the tray because they tend to sit and wee in that :)
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My piggies never eat the straw. Also, the ones we buy are fine cut ones. My piggy, Bunny, had once had her eye poke that we had to go to the vet for treatment, but the culprit was meadow hay. It happened again recently but good thing the meadow hay didn't really get stuck like the first. My piggies have too much hay in their house to think of eating the straw from what I can see. Plus all the grass we give them at times. I tried using all fleece bedding in the past but they mostly prefer to stay in one of the runs where the straw and shavings were (We have 2 runs on each side of the living room, one side is purely straw & shavings, and the other side is the one with fleece attached to their hutch in straw and shavings as well). They would always end up staying in the straw & shavings especially at night time. That's why I only replace the fleece once a week because it doesn't get used much.
 
I shake out their cage liner every day and wash it once ot twice a week depending on how much they have wee'd on it.

They have hay trays with hemp bedding and hay and do most of ther wees in those. They are changed every few days.

Hay trays are used for eating in and the fleece cage liner (under their ikea dolls beds) are used for chillin' which they do a lot of!

Mistletoe in eating mode.

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Thank you everyone! I have ordered fleece so I won’t be using newspaper and straw for much longer :) by the sounds of things it’ll be less full cleaning when I do get the fleece! My girls are either very messy or it’s the newspaper which makes it look worse!
 
RJ004 said:
Thank you everyone! I have ordered fleece so I won’t be using newspaper and straw for much longer :) by the sounds of things it’ll be less full cleaning when I do get the fleece! My girls are either very messy or it’s the newspaper which makes it look worse!
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You won't look back! Plus fleece is so pretty.

My boys currently have dinosaur fleece 20180131_201534.webp
 
RJ004 said:
It looks so good! I love how mine looks when I clean it but it never lasts very long! :))
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Sometimes I really can't help but complain because they mess everything. Hahaha..I had a piggie, Meemee, who used to tip all the bowls and throw all the pellets then poo and pee on it. We used to have bowls that you can hang on the railings but she would bite it and remove it from the railing and throw everything. So we had to buy ceramic bowls for the fruits and veggies. She was a pain in the butt. :lol::lol:
 
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