Talk to me about your Guinea pig’s house!

[Lowin2024]

We have decided to rescue two Guinea pigs and they will live indoors in a C&C cage.

When I grew up rabbits and Guinea pigs lived outdoors in small hutch with wood chippings. Now I’m seeing the people use fleece and other materials instead.

What do you put in your Guinea pigs cage? What do you recommend for the most cosy home, but also to make your life easier when cleaning out. Pics especially welcome!

Hi,

I use fleece bedding which I originally made myself using fleece and adult bed-wetting liners but nowadays I buy them ready made. They are double-sided with an absorbent layer in the middle.

This means when I clean them out (twice a week) the bedding goes through the wash in a horse-blanket bag and I need two sets.

I also looked into using newspaper and some kind of manufactured bedding so that I could bundle it all into the bin/compost heap but it turned out I had no way of getting enough newspaper.

So that’s what I do. My gold-standard is also to spot clean for poops every day but that can slip sometimes and they don’t care as much as I do 😉

Hey i have the 6x4 c&c cage in my living room and a 4x4 spare cage for holidays. I collect newspapers from my granparents to line the bottom of the cage, i used to use puppy pads but its a lot more expensive. Then i put bobbly bath matts from b&m as a liner. Then blankets and hideys and tunnels to play and sleep in.

i got my cages and hideys from kavee theyre stuff is decent and washes well. The downside is theyre not based in the uk even though they make out they are and last time i ordered 8 things they sent me 8 separate packages and 3 of them took weeks to get to me as they were stuck in france. I dont think id order from kavee again personally.

i wish you and your new piggys the best x

Those of you who wash your piggies' fleece, blanket etc in the washing machine - how do you avoid leaving poo pellets and bits of hay in your washing machine, which would then go on to your human laundry items?

Honestly im a veteran pig mum for almost 6 years im past caring about hey and poo on my person belongings. I think some people use wash bags but i just accept the messy pig life. The only thing im bothered about is cleaning products for their skin and bums so i just make sure i use non bio powder and laundry cleanser its pretty cheap in lidl or aldi x

Thank you all this is helpful.

My husband gets the train daily so he’s under strict instruction to get a Metro every morning and evening standard every evening to line the cage 😂

I did look at Kavee and it looks fab but interesting about delivery times. I think I’m going to make the cage myself with C&C grids from Amazon and maybe get fleece liners from a small business on Etsy. I don’t want poo and hay on our clothes so I’ll be getting an animal wash bag from Amazon to wash them in.

aww lovely. im really happy you decided to adopt they are such special little creatures. If it wasnt for the vets bills id be over run with pigs. Good luck and enjoy your new pig babies :) xx

They really are great pets if you can put the time in to tame them. I find rescues are often tamer too.

The most important thing is big piles of hay. You absolutely can't have too much, they should be able to burrow in it, sleep in it as well as eat it. They will also poo in it (alot!) but just top up daily and clean out regularly.

I use old towels with old fleece blankets on top (well washed so they wick) and a thick layer of hay. When cleaning tip the hay into the compost and shake out the blankets, into a wash bag before being washed. I use biological washing powder for the pigs bedding (just a cheap unscented one) as this gets any smells out best.

I also like aubois hemp bedding, although it is a bit hard, and have been meaning to try ecoshred.

At this time of year they love fresh grass and safe weeds and get very excited at the prospect of a dandilion flower 😁.

Perfect! I was going to ask about washing powders as there are some really pricey pet ones out there which probably aren’t necessary.

what do you all use to clean the cage? Is it ok to use just a standard cleaning spray or is it better to use something like white vinegar? What’s safest for the piggies?

Ive only ever bought cheap washing powder and laundry cleanser and its never caused skin issues even after operations they never get infected.

I use the green johnsons clean and safe spray for small animals its £4 in pets at home, ive been using this since day 1 its great stuff.

i clean my cage fully out every other day but do a spot clean and remove 2 bath matts and hideys with the most pee and poo everyday. My washing machine never stops It can seem relentless but its honestly a pleasure to do it they get so happy when they have a fresh bed x

We have 2 x5x2 c&c cages. We use newspaper (from our lovely neighbours), wood chippings and loads of hay. We have an extra coroplast bit in the end of each cage, so we can roll up the newspaper and bedding into a sausage and lift out the extra bit in the end to carry it. It then goes in the garden waste bin.

Ours love to hide in the hay and should be eating mostly hay, so it's important to have lots.

There's no way we could cope with the extra washing of fleece.

I used to by a cage cleaning spray, but it was £5 a bottle, so I've switched to mixing washing up liquid and water in the old spray bottle. Give that we can eat off plates that have been washed with it, I think it should be safe, buried under the hay, chippings and newspaper.

I've had pigs for 5 years. At first we used fleece liners I'd made myself, sat on top of an old bath towel. We'd turn the fleeces over one day and replace everything the next. It felt like the washing was never ending, particularly as on the other days I'd usually be washing one of the (huge) mats we put down for floor time. We then switched to aubiose with hay on top, and it's definitely messier but so much easier. We only clean out once a week, and I can do the whole thing in under 30 mins. Far better for me that the endless washing which used to drive me mad.

We started with wood chips but these took ages to scoop out the cage and made a mess and created vast quantities of rubbish. Disinfecting the cage took ages too. We changed to newspaper under home made fleeces, I brush off the fleeces with a dustpan and brush and wash in a wash bag. But still loads of rubbish and difficulty in sourcing newspapers too. So we invested in kavee fleeces, which are expensive, but the pigs love them and the original ones we bought are good quality and are still going strong after nearly 2 years and many many washes. No problems with delivery, though yes, it is an import. I simply roll the fleece up, take it outside and shake and brush it off, put in laundry bag and wash, it takes 15 minutes max, including wiping down the cage with pet safe disinfectant. I sweep up the excess poo once a day between washes too.

We use fleeces and also a bathmat where the kitchen area is and wash them inside a bag to stop hay bits clogging the machine. I do bath mats after 4 days with one of the two fleeces alternating. Just on a 30min wash.
We have amazon bought C&C caging and kavee correx (because DD liked the colour and I indulged her).
Tarpaulin all over the floor to make sweeping easy.
Hay still gets tracked everywhere though.

They are very cute but they do take a lot of care, they poo everywhere and there is lots of it. Also hay just doesn't stay in the one spot, I'm forever picking up hay. If that doesn't bother you then go for it as it can be rewarding.

We use bath mats from IKEA, kind of bobble ones, I find the cheaper bath mats aren't as absorbent. I got 8 and just hang them on line outside until I have a load. I also use a pet wash bag from Amazon.