Cleaning

[Crazy clare]

Hi I have two 6 months old long haired female gpigs and I'm noticing that they can be a bit smelly I'm changing their bedding twice a day...I'm after advice on what is the best bedding to use I noticed a lot of owners use the fleece bedding..I'm also wondering about bathing them but i don't want to frighten the guinea pigs any advice will be helpful

 

[gizzy]

hi there, how often do you clean is a good question , but a full clean out is probabaly best every 2 to 3 days , depending how
much they wee and poop,
the type of bedding can also have an efect on how long the cage stays clean .
l have found green backed VET BED is the best for both comfort and higine .

Just shak out the poop , out and put it in the washing macine for a standard wash, then hang to dry , (indoors it should tak no longer than 24 hours
The overall cost !
you can get it off ebay for around £8 to 10
as once you have bought it , it should last many many years .

 

[PiggySmitten]

Hi and welcome. What bedding are you currently using please?

I don't have any long haired piggies but I have tried lots of different bedding. I've used carefresh, Fitch (recycled paper pulp), aubiose, easibed, wood shavings and fleece.

I would never use wood shavings again personally because I didn't realise it can dry out their feet but I did notice the improvement of their feet when I switched to something else.

I love Carefresh but it is very expensive so reluctantly I don't use that. I think of everything I've tried it was best at keeping smells down.

Fitch was a nice soft bedding but, although not as expensive as Carefresh, the cost is more if you can't store several bales (bulk buying reduces the cost).

Aubiose is a hemp based bedding and it draws the moisture (wee) down away from the top layer. I don't know how it does it but it does and it keeps the piggies nice and dry. Maybe that might help for you? I find I can go up to a week without a cage change when I use it.

Easibed I have only tried very recently. It's like Aubiose but bigger pieces and cheaper to buy. I have to say, I found it easier to clean out than Aubiose but I wonder whether that means it's not quite as effective at drawing the moisture down from the top layer.

Fleece I use with our piggies who live in a c&c set up. I don't tend to have any smell issues with it but it does require more cleaning maintenance more frequently.

 

[PiggySmitten]

Have a look at the Gorgeous Guineas website if you are thinking of bathing your piggies to freshen them up. This page talks about both bedding and washing Guinea pigs. They sell some lovely products to use too. Gorgeous Guineas Top Tips

 

[Crazy clare]

hi there, how often do you clean is a good question , but a full clean out is probabaly best every 2 to 3 days , depending how
much they wee and poop,
the type of bedding can also have an efect on how long the cage stays clean .
l have found green backed VET BED is the best for both comfort and higine .

Just shak out the poop , out and put it in the washing macine for a standard wash, then hang to dry , (indoors it should tak no longer than 24 hours
The overall cost !
you can get it off ebay for around £8 to 10
as once you have bought it , it should last many many years .

Thanks for your replu I've used woodshavings which I'm not to keen on but the smells not too bad and puppy pads which I find bring out the smell more maybe I shouldn't be using them?

 

[PiggySmitten]

I tried puppy pads under fleece - I'd forgotten but now you mention it I remember they did smell more! I changed to old towels under fleece instead and that was much better.

 

[Crazy clare]

hi there, how often do you clean is a good question , but a full clean out is probabaly best every 2 to 3 days , depending how
much they wee and poop,
the type of bedding can also have an efect on how long the cage stays clean .
l have found green backed VET BED is the best for both comfort and higine .

Just shak out the poop , out and put it in the washing macine for a standard wash, then hang to dry , (indoors it should tak no longer than 24 hours
The overall cost !
you can get it off ebay for around £8 to 10
as once you have bought it , it should last many many years .

Hi I clean them twice a day because of the smell....i will try this vet bed and see how it goes thanks

 

[Mother Hubbard]

Just remember with vet bed and the amount of washing it takes and the cleaning of the washing machine after. When I do a wash of fleece which are covers only I put the machine on again to make sure it's clean for humans.