Anyone found a less messy system for keeping piggies?

[eatsleepread]

Hello! We've had a rescue piggo for a few months now, and it's all going well. he is spoilt rotten
Here is an idea of our set up. He lives in a large cage in my daughters' bedroom. We pick out his poops daily, and top up his hay. There is generally no old food left to be removed, as he's an eating machine Day to day, it's not particularly messy, as we're always careful to pull out the fresh hay from the packet straight into the cage, if that makes sense.
However, it's the weekly full clean of the cage that's a bit of a nightmare. On the very bottom, we have machine washable incontinence pads. Then on top a couple of layers of fleece, which again are washed in the machine. And the hay on top.
But Christ, trying to shake it off the fleece just makes the biggest mess (particularly as it's generally the kids who do it). We have communal bins here, and there's pretty much a trail of poo and hay all the way
Obviously I can't do away with the hay, much as I'd like to. But I'm thinking that there might be a less messy/Velcro-y alternative to fleece out there. I did buy a pet laundry bag, so at least to stop the bastarding hay from wrecking my machine
Any good, cheap, mess saving tips?
Thanks!

And although we are careful with the hay, bits of it just ends up everywhere

Pigs are generally very clean creatures keeping their sty clean and having another area for a toilet

I cant think keeping him in a cage in your daughters bedroom is ideal unless he must feel like a battery pig ! No chance of having a wallow in a mud bath or pool in there or a bit of sun on his back

Can you not make a sty in the garden with an outdoor area ?

@billysboy I’m pretty sure she’s talking about guinea pigs!

I binned the fleece and just used a puppy pad in the end. You can get them the right size for a 2x4 C&C. GP had squares of vetbed in his houses to sleep on. No sawdust and just enough hay for eating. I offered plenty of chewy stuff so he never went for the puppy pad.

Changed it every 3 days or so. I just folded the pad up with everything inside it and binned it- could do a full cage change in less than 10 minutes.

Hi. He is taken to his outdoor pen for a bit most days (weather permitting - we're in Scotland), as we have a garden. He doesn't seem to like it much, as he's never active when outside on the grass (accompanied at all times, obviously).
And my children are 14 and 11, and generally pretty quiet and calm, so at least he's not in with excitable toddlers!
Their bedroom is huge, and I'm not sure what you're suggesting is ideal in practical terms.
Unfortunately he isn't very clean and this morning I had to remove poops from his fresh food bowl. He will poo all over, even in his sleeping quarters. I think he had been neglected a bit prior to coming to us.

Any tips for the hay in particular, folks?

Yeah....guinea pigs @billysboy

I ended up using puppy pads when I had guinea pigs as I could roll them and put it straight into a bin bag

No trail of hay anywhere

But I know it’s not environmentally friendly.

The only other way is to have newspaper on the floor

That way you can roll it all up and dispose. No need to use the liners. Hay will stick to that like glue

Do you have other pigs? Pigs need to be in at least pairs.

Took its's a rescue boar. It's just not always possible to pair them up with a new friend. When my pig's brother died there was no way he was accepting another boar (we tried). I thought about having him neutered, but it's risky and he was 5 by then.

He lived the rest of his days in our kitchen and TBH seemed happier than when he was outside with his brother.

My apologies !

We use guineadad liners, roll them up and take straight outside, lay flat in garden or peg on line and brush off hay using dustpan brush then a roller before washing

And maybe a fluffy toy friend for him? That with enough interaction and toys and forage will help sole pigs who can't be paired :)

I’m just here for the pics.

Yes, definitely a guinea pig!
It didn't even click when you were talking about mud baths! not with his long hair
No, he's not in a pair. I was advised that he's happiest on his own.

Thanks all. Great tips!

Also, I seem to get it wrong with the play/chew stuff that I've bought from PAH. Usually it just ends up stinky and unused, so I bin it.
I'm also intrigued by the idea of a soft toy friend for him! Would this be in the form of another guinea pig?! And are there ones meant for animals specifically, so that I know it's safe?
Would love to see your recommendations for favourite piggy toys, chews, and things to keep them amused in general

I did wonder is billy having a larf Guineas are the most untidy animals known to man, their saving grace is they are lovely little creatures

We kept ours in a Pighouse ( old playhouse) but when they came indoors ( winter nights, Guy Fawkes and in the last winter with three old hogs they were in full time)

The hay gets everywhere !
DD and I had a rule of no socks in the pigroom , you couldn't get the hay off them.

Puppy pads + newspaper + hay . Rolled up and binned daily . There was no other way to keep them tidy .

I did use fleece on the floors , gentle shake , straight into the washbag then hung outside after washing to blow the excess off .

We put a tarpaulin on the floor of the bedroom (pigs had the small bedroom, no door on it so they were feet away from DD)

Lifting a piggie out took half a pound of hay with it . And though they were good if we did the daily clean with them in the cage , they'd always run into the bedding being rollled up , and run into the hay being placed on a clean base .
They thought they were being cute but we had to stop them so they didn't get hay all over their faces and eyes .

My pigs loved a hay bed ,
Fleece and hay cookies (though tidier) was a very poor 2nd .
Hay made them happy , so that's what we did .

Though hay cookies and fleece are good if you have a pig with an eye injury or you don't want them cooking themselves in deep hay in hot weather

eatsleep when we got down to our last piggie , or when our boar was in his own cage ( 2 sows next to him but they weren't his wives . He bonded with the last sow once the bossy attacky sow died )
DD took them into her room to sit on her bed (on a puppy pad) , watch TV and help with homework.

We have a big c&c cage. Puppy pads on base in areas where they pee a lots. Fleece blankets over some of the puppy pads and hay on top. We have a full layer of thick hay every where. To clean out shake hay off fleece (it won't all come off), roll up puppy pads and bag up. Put fleece in washbags and wash in machine and hang on washing line.

The hay gets everywhere just accept it. They need to eat a diet of 80% hay. We have 3 different types - local farm hay for bedding (nice and long), marigold hay for eating (short), meadow hay for eating (short) and readigrass for eating.

We used layers of newspaper some flat and some ripped into shreds with hay on top. We put a little bit of wood cat litter in the corners where there was most wee under the newspaper.

They also had an indoor run (a puppy pen), with newspaper layers under the vetbed. The hay was confined to a litter tray again with wood pellet litter. DH has to clean out the washing machine filter a lot after washing the vet bed though. The hay stuck to it however we tried to vacuum or brush it.

We have a c&c for our 3 girls, we use puppy pads to line the bottom, 2 layers in areas they pee a lot. I use fleece over the top, and then bobble baths mats in random places as they are extra comfy. I use 2 large open litter trays for their hay, they do pull a bit out but most of it stays contained in the trays!

The also have small cat beds and a hammock in there ridiculously spoilt!

Ours are in an enclosure in the back room with newspaper, then fleece and / or bath mats. They pull out hay from their feeding thing so it does get a bit hay-y. I know what you mean about trailing poo and hay when shaking the fleeces out. I tend to bundle the fleece up drawing the sides into the middle and don’t drop much, then shake it out at the bottom of the garden. We get a pile of hay and droppings which we then fork into a bin every so often, it doesn’t really matter if it is messy because the bottom of the garden is quite messy.

Use bathmats with old towels underneath, they don't smell as much as newspaper or puppy pads. Spot clean every day & change every 3-4 days. Take a look at Mason's Cavies on Facebook, they have over 80 piggies & use bathmats.

Oh bathmats sounds a good idea!

It's not right to keep a guinea pig alone. They absolutely must have company of their own species. G pig rescues can often arrange for 'boar dating' with a suitable match or boars often accept a baby boy very well. No helpful solution to the mess though, apart from trying the really long strand hay?

@Pygmyseahorse

And maybe a fluffy toy friend for him? That with enough interaction and toys and forage will help sole pigs who can't be paired :)

We did that with our guineas but they groomed it once and then walked off, we think they thought it was a dead pig since they would groom it each time it reappeared after a cage clean out, they used to shove it under the hay and ignore it we binned it in the end.