MrsMe Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 We just got two guinea pigs that are paper trained. Inside the cage we're using that pine bedding and I hate it, hate it. That stuff is EVERYWHERE, down the hall, on the floor. Is there just something that doesn't stick to them or something like just a towel-type liner I can use that they wouldn't chew or could I just line it with a towel? They're peruvians....long hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougarmom4 Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We have two guinea pigs and use towels/fleece. I went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of old towels--(it takes about 4 bath towels to cover our cage w/2 layers)--and then we have fleece (just from Walmart, you have to wash it a few times before using). Supposedly the fleece lets the urine soak right through to the towels and keeps the top layer dry, so they aren't sitting around in it. I lay the towels down, then the fleece and use clothespins to attach to the cage (they love to get UNDER the fleece, but can't figure out how to get out of it and so are stuck until we notice!). We vacuum the poop daily (we...ha ha...my kids NOT me!) and change the linens once a week. They poop a. lot...way more than I ever imagined they would! So then I do one load a week of piggy linens--use bleach & wash load twice; then do an empty load w/bleach to clean my washer. Probably don't need to do that but I just hate the idea of their stuff all over my clothes. I hang-dry the towels/fleece. My neighbor just uses newspaper for her piggies...cheap option if you get a paper, but I notice it smells sooner than ours does (we are currently piggy-sitting so we have four piggies at our house right now)...and it looks pretty nasty. With the fleece, you don't really see urine spots--and if you scoop/vacuum poop up regularly, you can keep things looking relatively clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We just use bath towels. We made a 2-story cage like they have at http://www.cavycages.com. The bottom layer is 4 grids x 1 grid and the top layer is 2 grids x 1 grid. We use a large bath towel on the bottom (it's about 5' long) and a regular bath towel on the top (that one gets bunched up). We have 5 sets of towels, so I wash when we get down to our last set. We change out the towels every day. We got the piggies when they were just 4 weeks old. We changed out the towels every 3rd day back then. By the time they were 6 months old, we needed to change the towels every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooblink Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We used the pine bedding, which is a mess, that's true. I'm chiming in just to share that our sweet little guinea pig died last summer due to vitamin-C deficiency. I knew she needed Vit-C and made sure to get food that was fortified with it, but we switched brands and it apparently didn't have enough. I didn't know to supplement with orange peels (or even Tang, according to the Vet). We were heartbroken. And felt so guilty. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 Piggies can be litter box-trained. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted July 17, 2010 Author Share Posted July 17, 2010 We used the pine bedding, which is a mess, that's true. I'm chiming in just to share that our sweet little guinea pig died last summer due to vitamin-C deficiency. I knew she needed Vit-C and made sure to get food that was fortified with it, but we switched brands and it apparently didn't have enough. I didn't know to supplement with orange peels (or even Tang, according to the Vet). We were heartbroken. And felt so guilty. :( Awwww... so sorry to hear that. I got these from a lady that shows them and she mixes powdered vitamin C (1/4 tsp) in a gal of water and that's the water they drink. They also love, V8! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted July 17, 2010 Author Share Posted July 17, 2010 Oh yes, been to that site with all the neat cages. Way neat cages. They're in dd's bedroom, because of our cat, but we have a 3' and a 5' wading pool. DD has them in the 3' pool when she's in her room and cages them at night and now they're in the 5' (because the cat is outside and the doors are locked). We made a drinking stand out of pvc and put their sipper on that when they're in the pool. :tongue_smilie: They pee on newspaper. So yes, they're pretty trained. I have another question though..... That cheapie compressed paper-ish pee-pee bin...the cheap kind you throw out is non-toxic, but they want to eat it. Is that bad? I removed it so I could check on them eating it, but I wanted to put newspaper in it as a test to see if I could get them to pee in a box. It's nice to know towels will work. I picked up some granulated bedding, It's less than that Carefresh stuff, but more than the pine. I'm so done with the pine. It sticks too much. I definitely think I'll do the towel route since they mostly go on the newspaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We used fleece blankets also. Stinks a whole lot less, is neater, and more comfy as far as I can tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 my sister had Guinea Pigs , she had them in a hutch outside. She moved it to a new bit of lawn every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinmom Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 You can buy chewable Vit C tabs for guinea pigs from Oxbow. You can't get them in pet stores, generally, but they are available from Amazon and/or other online pet sites. Piggies love 'em! I use the fleece and 2 towels technique here and it works well for us. Two piggies and a big cage means the bedding was going to be super-expensive, so we tried fleece and never went back! We have a little hand vac that we use to sweep up the poops daily, then wash the bedding/disinfect the cage once a week. Stays pretty clean and generally not smelly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted July 17, 2010 Author Share Posted July 17, 2010 You can buy chewable Vit C tabs for guinea pigs from Oxbow. You can't get them in pet stores, generally, but they are available from Amazon and/or other online pet sites. Piggies love 'em! I use the fleece and 2 towels technique here and it works well for us. Two piggies and a big cage means the bedding was going to be super-expensive, so we tried fleece and never went back! We have a little hand vac that we use to sweep up the poops daily, then wash the bedding/disinfect the cage once a week. Stays pretty clean and generally not smelly. I'll try the fleece. They seem to like white diapers (the old fashioned kind too). I love that hand vac idea. :w00t: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycalling Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We use horse bedding pellets. We use towels when we run out of pellets and I can tell within half a day when we switch...it stinks. The pellets absorb so much they never smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted July 17, 2010 Author Share Posted July 17, 2010 Mmmmm....now I'll have to go check that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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