New Guinea pig questions

[Pegase]

Have a couple of questions hopefully someone can answer for me. We have just started guinea pig ownership with 2 piggies in a large outdoor Chartwell hutch and run.

Firstly- has anyone bought a ramp for guinea pigs or rabbits? The run attaches to the hutch but obviously they can't jump down as hutch is on legs. They are locked away in the hutch itself when we aren't supervising in case of foxes, even though the run is supposedly fox proof, but at the moment they can either be out or in as I lift them - they don't have the freedom to choose.

Secondly we currently have hay on newspaper throughout both the bedroom and main area which is a bit of a mess. Is there another disposable option? I know sawdust is a no no and I don't want anything that needs to go in the washing machine as ours is already on its last legs!!!

Should add - of course they will continue to have plenty of hay to eat!

We have two pigs in two cages - male and female and they are not allowed to meet!. One will climb and jump on and off the roof of the covered area the other will not. She will not attempt a ramp at all.

Guinea pigs don't generally like to climb so it might take a while for them to feel comfortable enough to try.

Newspaper isn’t very absorbent so will end up wet quite quickly. They can have wood shavings just not sawdust the stuff from pet shops is fine.

We use fleece and wash in a pet bag so nothing goes in the machine.

I have two guinea pigs who live indoors. We use wood shavings from Pets at Home as they do big bales of the stuff quite cheaply. We also use the mix of Timothy hay with meadow as they prefer it and add plenty of fresh veg and herbs. Our boys never liked ramps so we ended up with just the one level cage but I've heard others love them. I suppose they're like children - they just like what they like. I'm not sure if wood shavings can be used in hutches but I think there are washable beddings available as I've seen some other people using them. Hope this helps.

I heard they can get bad feet from the wrong bedding - is that sawdust but wood shavings are different?

We use wood shavings for our girls who live indoors . One of them is a long haired breed and the hay gets trapped in her fur quite badly if we use it as bedding. Newspaper can smell quite badly too.

Welcome to the World of Guinea-Pigs

Guineas don't cope well with ramps unless they're shallow, wide , easy to grip and if you can, enclosed . Guinea pigs can injury themselves badly in a fall. If they;re too afraid to use it they'll just keep themselves in one place .

I never gave my guineas the choice of being in/out . They had outdoor runs with houses inside the run (Bunny Business that we secured with heavy tent pegs ) you need to keep a check because although your guineas won;t dig , other animals (foxes) can dig in.
So we chose when they were out , especially now the grass is damp and colder they are very respiratory sensitive .

With bedding we layered cardboard as a base , puppy pads , newspaper and hay.
If I used a loose base it was equine card bedding (EcoBale) or papper I shreddded (cross cut)

I didn't use shavings or sawdust , tried Megazorb ( again an equine bedding )

You need to make sure it isn't scented .
Dusty bedding can irritate the respiratory tract .
Shavings can dry their feet out
I think you're thinking of BumbleFoot its a bacterial infection and often associated with dirty wet bedding or mesh flooring .
If you use C&C grids with a base you need to heavily line them. ( I used cardboard cut to size)
C&C is great but lets all the debris out

Newspaper (without staples ) changed daily and fresh hay worked best for our pigs . They ignored everything else for a haybed .............

Now you know about the Photograph Rule ?

Hmm might try the ecobale with some hay in their sleeping house and obviously hay feeders. Will try for photos today - DD has just been doing videos. They are still very shy indeed. Think it's going to take them a long time to get used to being handled.