How often to spot clean and change entire cage of bedding

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bklynbee

bklynbee

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Hi, I am a new guinea pig parent and was just wondering about bedding. I have 2 males and am currently using carefresh bedding. I have tried fleece but it smelled like poo even though i swept it 2x a day. I now spot clean where they pee daily and scoop most of the poops out with a pooper scooper. Should I be spot cleaning daily? Someone told me its not good because males like to mark there territory so I shouldnt do it that much. Also by scooping all the poos out can I get away with changing all the bedding once every 2 weeks rather than once a week. The cage i have is big so one full change takes half a bag of bedding. At this rate i will be going through 4 bags of bedding a month which will be almost 100.00 a month. Just wondering if this much cleaning is necessary. Also open to any suggestions about the fleece. I swept it twice daily changed it completely every 3 days. It would start smelling like poo a couple of hours after I changed it, the piggies started smelling like it too. thanks:)
 
Hi, Welcome to the forum :)

We spot clean daily and do a big clean on our trio's cage every 6 days with woodshavings. However, they are often in the run for one day or two overall in the week so it helps keep the cage cleaner and its a big c&C cage so that helps keep it cleaner too

Our single girl on fleece needs changing fully every 3 days and it gets damp...

Hopefully some others may be able to suggest a cheaper bedding option as carefresh can be expensive..
 
I change fleece daily, maximum every 2 days. I sweep poos 2-4 times a day. My male doesn't smell. We'll see how that goes when he's in with the 2 girls though. I've only had the girls a day so can't tell you how they'll do on fleece long term. Carefresh is extortionate! I love fleece bedding :)
 
You could try megazorb or aubiose as alternative beddings. They are sold in huge sacks as used as horse bedding. I use aubiose and get it from a feed supplier. It's more expensive if you want it delivered.
I use a mix of fleece areas and aubiose/ hay areas. I change the whole lot every 3-4 days (spot clean the fleece daily). However, my foster pig is only on aubiose and hay and I change the hay midweek so the aubiose lasts a whole week.
 
nine are on fleece or om mewspaper and hay - I change them daily as there are 7 of them and they live in the lounge - if I don't they smell,as most of mine are big drinkers - so big wee ers.
 
Finacard and Fitch are another two options for potential beddings, better than carefresh and a lot cheaper!
 
Carefresh is so expensive - I would investigate the cheaper absorbant horse beddings such as megazorb, aubiose, one the flax or hemp based beddings. But my trio of boys are very stinky! Even when I have just cleaned them out they are stinky almost immediately. I'm not sure why! Maybe its hormones! x
 
I scoop out the wet bedding daily and replace it with fresh, and I pick out most of the poops.. Full cage clean once a week :).

Any hay that's been trampled on also gets taken out because I don't like them eating hay which they've wee'd/pooped on.. It also prevents urine burns on those bald feet!
 
Thank you for all of your suggestions. I did some research and saw that alot of people use aspen and then put a layer of carefresh over top. I decided to give it a try and it seems to be working out well.
 
bklynbee said:
Thank you for all of your suggestions. I did some research and saw that alot of people use aspen and then put a layer of carefresh over top. I decided to give it a try and it seems to be working out well.
Click to expand...

Let us know how it works out for you.
 
hi there i use newspaper and hay as a bedding during the summer and newspaper and fleece during the winter, i have now 20 boys and they do smell but i clean them out every day, by just taking out old paper and putting clean paper in, they do not smell as bad as they did when i used woodshavings, some of mine got an allergy to the shavings, they get a proper clean out twice a week, using cage cleaner, and can i say much more affordable, to get paper, my family and friends collect newspaper for me, even through they do not like my piggies, its easy for they to get rid of their load of papers i do not argue, my piggies are happy.
 
I would give my fleece a sweep every day after I got home from college. It's unbelievable how much mess they make in a small amount of time rolleyes lol. I would change fleece every 2-3 days I think. So about twice a week. That was with two pigs in a 2x4.
 
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