Do They Have A General Area Where They Poop?

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tallulahmay

tallulahmay

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I have been thinking about the layout of my c and c cage and looking at others ,trying to get ideas any recommendations about where to put food , hay , I noticed the the majority of the soiling seems to be where they eat ,doesn't seem that hygienic lol
Do you put a tray or something that can be cleaned easier around the food , or is my guinea pig just a dirty monkey!
Thank you all ideas welcome !
 
tallulahmay said:
I have been thinking about the layout of my c and c cage and looking at others ,trying to get ideas any recommendations about where to put food , hay , I noticed the the majority of the soiling seems to be where they eat ,doesn't seem that hygienic lol
Do you put a tray or something that can be cleaned easier around the food , or is my guinea pig just a dirty monkey!
Thank you all ideas welcome !
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Pooping is very hard to control; food intake will often trigger a "we need to have more space in the gut" reflex. You need to poo patrol 1-3 times daily, as there will also be lots of poos in the sleeping areas. Guinea pigs have evolved to live off nutritionally rather poor grass, which means that they need to eat a lot more in comparison to protein eating predators and they make a lot of poos as a result. They are also roaming animals whose territory is as large as they need to sustain themselves. Cleanliness depends a lot on their background. If generations of piggies have been kept in filthy or even undistinguished pens and boxes, they have no chance of developing and teaching cleanliness to the next generation of babies. I find that some of my groups are a lot tidier than others.

You will find that poos are rather easy to keep on top of, but you will want to observe where the main toiletting areas are (generally the sleeping area, as piggies don't have a lot of control over their bowels when asleep). Generally, we have made the experience that a shallow hay tray makes a favourite toiletting corner; fill the tray with soft meadow/orchard hay, rather than stalky timothy hay. It also makes a welcome bed (not necessarily in the same corner of the tray!).
 
My pigs tend to have patterns, but it depends on the group. Most popular are their litter trays and beds, or a certain corner, but it doesn't stop them doing bits in other places :)
 
:D My girls seem to poop and pee the most under their hay racks and in their Trixie huts where they sleep. Thus I have made litter trays and placed them under the hay racks.
They also pee and poop in dark places like inside the cardboard boxes that I have given them to play with.
 
Guinea pigs are real pooping machines and will do it anywhere really, but mainly in the places where their hay is. We use two litter trays filled with a layer of sawdust and lots of hay on top and clean them out each day, but still find rogue ones around their cage :( lol. I have read somewhere that you can litter train GPs by moving them to the litter box each time they need to go (which is a lot!) for 7 days. Sadly I haven't been able to try this as its impossible to do when I'm at work so I can't say if it works. My only other advice would be to wait and see if they prefer to toilet in a certain 'spot' in the cage and place a litter tray there :)
 
Thank you , I have been using the hay in the tray idea , my girls wee and poo mostly in there and behind it lol
Waffles poos mainly in his bed and all over the floor avoiding the litter tray! ,humbug just where he feels like ,me gets the idea that boys are dirtier!
 
Well, I am very lucky with my boys. They pee and poo almost exclusively in the tray where the hay is. They don't poo anywhere else. The only exception is if they are in their extended run, when they will pee and poo in a tunnel instead.
 
@tallulahmay

I find my piggies poo mostly where the hay is, and in the corners. But there's always a few poops scattered here and there...SNEAKY POOPS ARE THE WORST! :bal:
 
Well I got up this morning and humbug has probably put a poop in every square inch lol
New fleece today I think , that's lasted less than two days dirty boy!
Thanks for all your input ,some of you have well behaved piggies ,lucky it's only him or a would be cleaning all day !
 
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