Maggots in hutch !!

[looseleaf]

We clean almost always twice a week but this week I think I forgot on Fri so not done since Mon and just found maggots where all the pops were! Poor piggies :( just made it lively and fresh but that'll teach me to be more careful in this heat!

Check their bums as well looseleaf
Flystrike is a bigger problem with rabbits but GPs can suffer especially if they are elderly and/or a bit chubby so cannot groom themselves.
And if they have loose pooh /dirty bottoms.

It only takes a matter of hours for maggots to hatch and start eating their host

Absolutely second what 70isalimit (great name) says. Having worked as a vet nurse I have had the misfortune of having to chase maggots around the backsides of rabbits and piggies that have been literally eaten away by them. It is a vile and disgusting thing to have to do, but more importantly i can only begin to imagine how painful for the poor animals, many of whom end up having to be PTS or succumb to infection :( I am always surprised to how many owners don't realise that this can happen. It only takes one fly to lay their eggs.

You sound pretty vigilient though OP, so thats good - I think its useful to highlight the problem. Definately keep a check of bottoms because this is more of an issue (and often missed) than poos in the hutch.

So glad I posted! Will have a proper check now and maybe give them another bath after lunch (gave them one last week and they seemed to quite like it with this heat. Lovely how they shake the water off afterwards!)
Poor piggies- I hate flies anyway and do hope was only on their bedding!

I did already take most hay out and their main bedding now is a freshly laundered incontinence pad (a tip I was given on here and seems to work brilliantly ) They have a fleece too and lots of hay in their rack but it usually travels into the hutch quite quickly

Their bottoms looked very clean and healthy, phew. Just gave them both a cool bath and they really loved it- one didn't want to get out!

We gave GP1 a (very quick) bath before he met his new cagemate.
He was very judgey

grim on the maggots, glad their bums are ok! flystrike is the nastiest thing ever! What a horrid way to go, really nasty!My rabbit isnt too happy that I keep looking at her bum - shes rearguarded but in this weather I do worry-theres flies everywhere!

When it's hot it's a good idea to give the hutch a quick clean every day- even if its just scooping out the dirty bits. Then you can give a thorough clean and disinfect once or twice a week.

Not everyone will agree, but I actually think that good quality, soft, dust-extracted barley straw is a better bedding than hay, because the urine and poo tends to drain through it rather than being absorbed to make a soggy mess.

Soft I used to use golden barley straw in the back and sides of my boys haybox to bulk it out , then hay in the middle.
It keeps it's springiness better and insulates in winter.

Pricewise hay=straw so no financial benefit but they used to trample the hay flat within a few hours.

I know aload of people don't agree with straw but TBH it was softer than alot of the hay that was in the bags and mine were lardy adult boars at the time.

70 Your guinea-pigs always sound extremely well cared for :)

Thank You soft

TBH my DD is very hands on with them and though I said right from the off that I would do the cage cleaning, she'll be the one helping me , doing supper, bathing, cutting nails and when GP2 was ill, she was helping me syringe feed him.

We got GP1 & 2 from Rescue. So when we had to get GP3 (GP2 died) we got him from rescue.
We could've got a hareem of sows from Rescue but she didn't want to neuter GP1 (fair enough)

So now we have this little '0-60 in a blink' baby boar . I had piglets at her age (mis-sexed adults and a pg adult when we got her) so I think she was a bit envious. GP3 fulfills the piglet-fix.
He's sweet and as barmy as a box of frogs.