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Guinea Pigs


SeaSalt

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So DD got two guinea pigs for her birthday. I'm the first to admit we did not do enough research on them before getting them - originally bought an outside hutch with straw etc. They now have a large flat cage with plenty of room and a hidey house & other toys.


What I need people's advice on is lining the cage.


Currently we've got the disposable puppy pads, (not very environmentally friendly) then a fleece mat that I've made for most of the cage & then a tray of wood shavings as bedding in their house. But I'm just so confused as to what is easiest. I'm pulling out the liner & shaking it each day & washing probably every 3rd day.


There is lots on online but I need peoples actual, everyday experience of what they use.

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LemonMyrtle

We used to line our guinea pig cage with several layers of newspaper. And changed it every other day. (Back then we actually had newspapers handy though). It worked well, absorbent, easy to change. Still had to wash out their hutch now and then though, cause they piss and poo a LOT. Messy little things. They were kept outside too.


Sometimes we would add straw, but generally it was just newspaper.

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LemonMyrtle

I should add that newspaper isn’t good if your Guinea pig eats it. But plain paper is good.

(Ours rarely ate the newspaper, possibly because they were in an outside hutch and always had fresh grass to eat. (And pellets and veg etc))

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Ours live in our lounge room. Polar fleece with old towels underneath. Wash in a bucket outside and air dry on the washing line or fence. As they get older the pee goes in a couple of specific places rather than all over the place, so I place old nappies wrapped in polar fleece there to make the larger towels/fleece last longer.


Polar fleece for snuggle beds, scraps of polar fleece for building nests. Cardboard boxes for entertainment.


Puppy liners under polar fleece when we travel with the piggies in our caravan (so we can throw rather than trying to wash).


But the washing is killing me some wheeeks. I've love an old second hand washing machine - you can get bags to put your fleece and/or vet bed in to stop some of the hair getting all through your machine, or other people brush the hair off first.

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Little Bear

When we had guinea pigs they were indoors mostly, with outside time each afternoon in a small wired animal enclosure (used a pegged blanket across the top for shade and protection from other animals). One thing that surprised me (besides how expensive and messy they are) is how sensitive they are to temperature which is why they weren’t outside all the time. We live in Qld.


We used puppy pee pads on the base of the indoor cage (2 per cage) and then vet bedding on top. Each morning and afternoon I would sweep up any hay that had fallen out of their feed bag and also any poo. Every second day I would do a complete bedding change. The vet bedding was originally sent for a spin through the washing machine till the washing machine had issues. Then I had to start pegging it on the outside line and hosing it off, then leaving it to air dry.


In the inside cage we had pigloos, a guinea pig hammock, and some stimulation toys. Outside there was a plastic tunnel, upside down ceramic plant pot, a wooden bridge that they could hide under, sometimes cardboard boxes and a few other toys. I’d swap the toys around for enrichment.

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