Some questions about piggies

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xElizabethx1991

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Hi! So I have two male piggies that I am trying to get liter trained. I am just wondering what the best way to do that is. Also anybody know how to train them to come when you call their name ? If that is even possible. If you could please attach a link to the type of liter pan you would recommend with the type of liter. Much appreciated for the help and recommendations.
 
Welcome to the forum. We look forward to seeing your piggies and getting to know you.

Litter training just isn’t a guinea pig thing.
They will pee and poop wherever they want to.
I never had a litter tray for mine but some forum members do and have better mannered piggies than mine were.

A guinea pig will respond to its name as it becomes familiar with your voice.
Food is the best way to get a guinea pig to come to you.

There are some very helpful information guides which can explain this much better.
 
I am really hoping that I can get them liter trained just feel bad seeing them sleep in their pee and poop 🙄. Also I have to fully clean out their enclosure daily because they go so much. Would a bigger enclosure help ? Maybe I can get them to go in a general area
 
My boys use a litter tray or go back to the cage when they are roaming the room. I started with pee mats everywhere and when I saw where they preferred to "go" I put the tray there. It's just a cat litter tray with wood pellet litter covered with a big pile of hay. In my opinion there are no suitable litter trays for piggies as the ones marketed can damage their delicate feet and, if used as advertised, would be very uncomfortable.
Dignified Sir George is very tidy about his toileting and he taught Mischievous Master Boris to use the tray. However, when in the cage Master Boris pees and poops everywhere whereas Sir George is very fastidious and makes tidy piles. He uses two corners, one upstairs and one downstairs and the hay tray in the cage.
It seems to be very individual and somepigs (yes Master Boris, I am looking at you!) seem to like sleeping in their potty mess.
 
fluffysal said:
My boys use a litter tray or go back to the cage when they are roaming the room. I started with pee mats everywhere and when I saw where they preferred to "go" I put the tray there. It's just a cat litter tray with wood pellet litter covered with a big pile of hay. In my opinion there are no suitable litter trays for piggies as the ones marketed can damage their delicate feet and, if used as advertised, would be very uncomfortable.
Dignified Sir George is very tidy about his toileting and he taught Mischievous Master Boris to use the tray. However, when in the cage Master Boris pees and poops everywhere whereas Sir George is very fastidious and makes tidy piles. He uses two corners, one upstairs and one downstairs and the hay tray in the cage.
It seems to be very individual and somepigs (yes Master Boris, I am looking at you!) seem to like sleeping in their potty mess.
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I have noticed mine tend to poop the most in their little houses I have.
 
Master Boris pees and poops in all the beds and hammocks. I have small cheap fleeces for the beds that get changed daily and I now own eight hammocks as Sir George does NOT like a wet or dirty bed. I've seen him climb out looking disgusted and then spend a few minutes cleaning himself 🤣
Do you have pictures of your piggies, how old are they and what are they called? 😁
 
fluffysal said:
Master Boris pees and poops in all the beds and hammocks. I have small cheap fleeces for the beds that get changed daily and I now own eight hammocks as Sir George does NOT like a wet or dirty bed. I've seen him climb out looking disgusted and then spend a few minutes cleaning himself 🤣
Do you have pictures of your piggies, how old are they and what are they called? 😁
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I have no idea how old they are since I got them from a pet store but I know they are under a year. I will put some photos of them up. I have four they have to be separated since two of the other ones bully and have hurt my other two. But their names are Bean , Pork chop , gizmo and Kiki
 
xElizabethx1991 said:
I have no idea how old they are since I got them from a pet store but I know they are under a year. I will put some photos of them up. I have four they have to be separated since two of the other ones bully and have hurt my other two. But their names are Bean , Pork chop , gizmo and Kiki
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The cage needs to be cleaned out at least once daily. I clean up the favourite sleeping/sitting areas and top up hay in the morning and do a complete cage clean and replace the hay in the afternoon. Piggies poop and pee a lot! If you are using fleece smaller pee pads in the favourite places help, you can shake the poop off and replace them if they are damp without having to change the whole fleece.
 
I agree with the others.
Piggies cannot litter trained so you will need to spot clean their cage 1-2 times a day. They will pee and poop in their houses, it’s normal.
They will pee and poop while they are eating so you can put hay in tray and it will catch some
Of it but that’s just coincidental, they can’t be trained and will still pee and poop when they are walking about and in their sleep.

I’m glad you have them separated into two pairs. You won’t be able to successfully keep four male piggies together. It just doesnt work as they find it hard to form a functioning hierarchy in anything other than a pair.

A big cage is essential for boys - the cage for a pair needs to be 180x60cm or a 5x2 c&c cage. Boys need a lot of territory so as to not fall out but it won’t change where they toilet
 
piggieminder said:
The cage needs to be cleaned out at least once daily. I clean up the favourite sleeping/sitting areas and top up hay in the morning and do a complete cage clean and replace the hay in the afternoon. Piggies poop and pee a lot! If you are using fleece smaller pee pads in the favourite places help, you can shake the poop off and replace them if they are damp without having to change the whole fleece.
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Poo picking all the time is part of piggy care, but their poops, unless they are unwell, are nice and hard and crispy. I think they look like chocolate beans. So a pair of rubber gloves on standby and a dustpan are handy. In the natural environment, they would fertilise the pastures and enrichment the plant life immensely by disintegrating. In the relatively tiny cages we keep them in, they pile up a bit. But I think they are much easier to deal with than meat eating animal poop, or even our own sometimes 🫢
 
The bacteria that live in their tummies are probably very valuable to soil enrichment and plant life when pooped out into the daisies, they are like little mobile fertiliser distributors.
 
All the piggies poop and used hay goes into my 6 compost bins or scattered across the veg patch. Potatoes, corgettes, pumpkins and marrows particularly thrive on it.


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This potato was enough for 4 meals. I'm convinced the success of my veg patch is down to piggy poop!
 
I have found the best way to 'litter train' is to see if they have a preferred corner and then just put the litter tray there. My pigs tend to poop wherever, but have definitely pee corners and doubling up the fleece there goes a long way towards keeping things a little more dry.
 
My piggy used to avoid the litter tray at all costs. 😂 Wherever I moved it to, she moved somewhere else. Then, I started to use the same training method that I had used for my hamster a couple years prior. Whenever she went to the “bathroom” I would use a small dustpan I’ve dedicated to cleaning up her cage, and move the poops to her litter box. I made sure that she was watching, and that she could see where the poops were going to. After a while of doing this, she started using her litter box! I’m not saying that she’s perfectly potty-trained now, as she still just goes wherever, but most of it makes it to her tray, so I’m satisfied. Another trick you can use is getting a bigger pan, (Mine takes up a third of the space.) so that your piggies are forced to go over there if they want the space. I also moved her water bottles, hay boxes, and pellet bowl over there, because piggies usually ‘go’ where their food is. Hope this helps!
 
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