mucking out

[Craig David]

hello people.

had my pigs a week now. I'm just enquiring about how you guys muck them out. I am going to do a big clean tomorrow, but wow the cage has got full of poo everywere, i have tried emptying a bit out eachday but its just full of it @)@)

when people give it a little 'muck out' in the week what exactly does this entail, do you throw everything out and put fresh in, and do a big clean once a week. ?

i need to find a routine.

 

[nutmeg]

The amount of poops my lot do, it's a couple of 'full' clean outs per week, sometimes more depending on cage size and occupants. Can't be doing with picking up a bit here and a bit there. There is never only a 'bit' here. lol x

 

[Lixies_mum]

are you using wood shavings?
I only got my piggies just over a week ago, and only used wood shavings for about 4 days, as I found it far too messy and smelly, I changed to using towels and fleece (soon going to change to inco pads since people on this site say thats even better ) I bought a poopa scoopa and just scoop them up once or twice a day withthat, if its really bad i get the dust pan and brush on it, I keep telling myself I'll change them once a week, but I've throughly cleaned them out about 4 times since I've had them.lol but I have been rearranging their space alot to try to get the best set up with the space I have for them...

 

[Craig David]

i have been using wood shavings and yes they are very messy. i dont like them so I'm switching to carefresh tomorrow i am hoping this is better for them.

it gets so messy though its like poo city

think i may have to do 2 big cleans a week. its going to cost a fortune in that carefresh stuff haha it costs a bomb xx

 

[fritsthegirl]

It'll depend a lot on what you're going to use in the cage. I use a combination of newspaper, Carefresh bedding and lots of hay. I started using carefresh a few weeks ago instead of sawdust. It's quite expensive but it's not as dusty and you don't need to use as much because it's very absorbent. When I clean them out once a week I throw everything out give the cage a quick wipe with a cloth and then put in the newspaper, carefresh and hay, they LOVE it when they can go back in. I do have to pick up the occasional poo from their play area every few days, my new guinea pig is very messy! The play area is covered with various things to protect the floor, but the final layers are newspaper and blankets, so the newspaper gets replaced, and the blankets washed every 3-4 days. Some people on the forum use different bedding materials so you'll have to read their mucking out routine to see what's going to work best for you. Took me quite a bit of trial and error finding the best and quickest way to do the weekly clean!

 

[redd1800]

trial and error is the best way to get your routine just right. My routine has changed many times with changes in the no of piggies, their living conditions, their health, even the weather (living in a wooden shed, so up the hay when its very cold). I always judge how often to do a big clean by the pee patches on their fleece :red They do have litter trays, but are messy girls.

At the minute, I do a major clean - everything fresh and clean - every 3 days for my 10 roamers, and every 6 days for my hutchbound pair. Both groups have litter trays that are changed twice a day (newspaper and Hay), and both groups are swept out (so many poopies) every evening.

 

[hopperhaven]

Using newspaper with hay on top makes cleaning out easy. You just roll up the newspaper with all the mess inside it. It needs to be done at least twice a week though for a pair, or three times for a trio. Once a week per pig i my rule.

Wood shavings are a no no. They give of fumes that are damaging to the piggies liver and respiratory system. Carefresh is an option, or paper, or chopped straw which is what we use outside at the sanctuary. It gets soft going through the machine. We use paper inside. Don't be stingy with the hay, they need loads so they can make tunnels through it and jump in it and eat it and poo on it.

Louise
www.hopperhaven.org.uk

 

[tinky75]

Hi I used woodshavings for first few weeks until I read about it causing piggy's problems, i changed to newspaper with hay on top - but found everyday that the newspaper was a horrible soggy mess. I then changed to fleece and it was the best thing I have done - of course it's not everyones cup of tea but i cut my daughters old waterproof bedsheet up in two and put this in the bottom, followed by 2 old towels, then fleece, I have the fleece hanging over the cage so there is no worry of the piggies tunnelling under the fleece; it looks lovely now nice and pink for my girlies |)|).. I put a load of Hay in their bed area for them to tunnel in and snuggle down in and munch on and also 'fresh' hay in a rack and a hanging ball. I have a litter tray and am lucky that they use this for wee's but poop is everywhere and I do a poop clean out throughout the day. I change the towels & fleece everyday (although I could get away with keeping the fleece on for a couple of days) but I have four of them so just wash all of them together.

 

[Niki]

I clean mine out once a week. They are bedded on newspaper covered in short cropped straw which is topped with lots of hay. My pairs & singles live in 5ft x 2ft hutches to give an idea of space

 

[Craig David]

thanks for this its given me some ideas.

i am going to clean it out properly today. Going to ditch the sawdust definitely. I'm hoping carefresh is better will use newspaper and Hay. Got some timothy hay for the bedding as i was using the excel herbage dandelion and marigold which the piggies seem to love but it but not exactly cheap and iv used a whole bag this week.

i guess things will come together the more i do it.

Going to sterilise my bottle and bowl today with the milton as well. Do you need to boil the water does anyone know?

 

[Mackers]

Can I recommend the washable incontinence pads and fleece for lining the cage? I only change the pads once a week and I brush the poops off the fleece morning and evening (takes about 2 minutes). I chopped one inco pad into four and use a small piece of this covered with vetbed in the corners where they tend to wee most. I change the small inco pads and vetbed in the pee corners daily. But it's simply a case of whipping them out and replacing with fresh - takes 30 seconds.

In my opinion, far, far easier than carefresh, newspaper and hay, plus - in the long run - much cheaper since carefresh is EXPENSIVE! However, if you like carefresh you may also like Megazorb which is a similar product but WAY cheaper. It's a horse bedding made from wood pulp but it's soft and very absorbant. You can get it from many horse feed merchants and I use it to line all my bunny litter trays. Fab stuff - only about £6 for a HUGE sack (80 litres?) and it absorbs smell and wee like theres no tomorrow.