Guinea Pigs. Help me turn them from chore to cherished!

[SavourTheDay]

We have 4 Guinea pigs (one was pregnant when we got “him” from a friend who was going to flog them on gumtree). We kept the babies (boar and sow) as I couldn’t bare to not know what would become of them .

The two boars were neutered and put with a sow each. They seem settled in their pairs albeit one male is a bit of a bully to his sister who is just lovely.

I digress. Anyway, they are currently in a c&c cage which has two levels . The top level is slightly smaller than the bottom . The bottom half is used as a run during the winter (in summer they go outside to play) and the pairs are swapped over so they each get equal time in the run.

The problem we have is the mess! I hate it. There are wood shavings everywhere and they are dragged through the whole house. The vacuum struggles with it. (We use suitable wood shavings and the piggies have never had any issues).

I’ve tried using fleece previously but it was far too high maintenance and it didn’t smell nice when it was wet.

I need to find a solution.

My thoughts are:

Put them in a two level indoor hutch; this will look a lot better than the c&c, aesthetically. But would I have the same issue with the shavings being kicked all over the floor?

Or:

Put them in an indoor hutch and line with fleece.

Or:

Replace the plastic bottom (correx?) on the current c&c to make it higher. Line it with fleece and get a poover. I’d also need to buy spare fleeces to replace every other day? This may have a large outlay initially but save more in general. Do people just put the fleece in their normal machine?

Is there a way to keep the hay off the fleece? It’s a real pain to remove it all before washing.

Thoughts?

Also, any tips on how to make the c&c look less “ugly”?

Must've been a heck of a shock to find your 'boar' was in fact a sow and harbouring some stowaways ! But having boar/sow ( castrated) pairs is lovely .

They are messy little gits . There's no way round it . They don't do litter trained like rabbits (but they make up for it in so many other ways )

C&C are airey and very adaptable .
I had C&C and a big plastic based /bar top cage depending on what guinea pig groups I had .

With the C&C , I put tarpaulin on the floor and lined the base /sides with cardboard folded to come up abput 5-6" . It needs lined to protect the little paws .
I used newspaper and puppy pads to line the base .

Fleeces (rough ones , IKEA are good ) cut off any blanket stitch edgings so they don't eat the thread .
I used either wood based rodent safe cat litter ( big yellow bag from the Range) which is cushioney but stays in place , or equine card bedding (EcoBale) . Any piggie safe paper got shredded for them too (but that gets everywhere !)

To get off hay/pooh./fur , shake in a binbag and use a rubber brush ( Lakeland Buddy Brush ) .
I washed mine in a zippped PetBag , I poured some detergent in the bag , used Ecover non scented .

Mine were sometimes fobbed off with a few hay cookies (they liked the square/cube ones better than the round disc) But really they loved loose hay . So a big cardboard box of hay , contains the mess (a bit)

And just daily cleaning .
Roll up and dispose of the waste . then nice fresh bedding .

My pigs had the Pighouse and the small bedroom (no door and radiator off) . In winter they were in at night and in the shed by day ( had to clean the shed and put fresh bedding in the morning -room temperature so it was nice - with a little fan heater and some SnugglePads)
When they got old they stayed in all the time .

I used to love doing the fresh bedding (more so when I had time ) . DD and I it organised , either the pigs in the run/s , get the pighouse cleaned and aired , or taking them up to the house and one of us would clean. (We had guinea-pigs each)
Then see them run in, look at what I;ve shifted "For the love of Jeff , she's bloody moved things again "
Then they'd do a huge pee and dive into the hay .

My vacuum got clogged with hay , I had to poke the tube with a stick .

DH used to whinge about their mess but now we have cats ( guineas have all gone ) he doesn't seem to notice their tracking litter . Or fur everywhere .

With the C&C , I put tarpaulin on the floor

By floor I mean outside / underneath the C&C not on their floor , little toads would chew anything !

I used to scoop up copies of the free newspaper on the Underground , especially any left at the end of the day , DD was but I have no scruples !
Then sit there with the staple remover hoiking them out over Coronation Street