Frustration with Poor Litter Box Options for Guinea Pigs

KendalCoco

KendalCoco

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Hi, I'm a new pet owner of two male guinea pigs, both has turn a year old now. I've been struggling to find a suitable litter box for them, both in stores and online. Many options seem inadequate, often requiring DIY modifications that still feel lacking or imperfect. Have other guinea pig owners experienced similar challenges? Do you just wish there was a better one available on the market?
 
From experience, I have learned that most guinea pigs are incapable of being litter-trained. Litter boxes are mostly for keeping hay in a preferred area and as a form of enrichment. Since their poops will always be everywhere in the cage, I don't mind spot-cleaning the spilled litter box either. I have found that the large boxes given to you at check out from Costco (an American warehouse store) that were used to store veggies work best with some aspen bedding. They already have one lower side and three wall sides. Otherwise a regular cage linner with a smaller noodle mat underneath a hat bag also works great to keep the cage clean. I do with there is always room for improvement though with guinea pig cage and care supplies.
 
As piggies can’t be litter trained there is a fully little need for a tray. I don’t use any trays when my piggies. I just throw hay loose into the cage so that hay covers most of the cage It then gets spot cleaned either on or twice a day.

Otherwise most people use a cat litter tray, or a seed tray from a garden centre
 
Hi! Have you checked out Cozi Creations UK on Facebook? They have "hay keepers" available for purchase in different sizes that look cool. I've long since given up on litter trays and just embrace the poop and hay being everywhere now 🤣
 

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I don't use litter (never had one that would litter train) or hay boxes, just hay piles on newspaper or bobble mats on the cage floor. In the days when I did try to contain the hay I used, pet carriers without the doors (still use these in the runs outside), small plastic dog/cat beds, large cat litter trays, cardboard boxes. My elderly piggies like a cardboard box stuffed with hay to eat and sleep in. My favourite was the cat bed.

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Caspy and Rusty had eaten all the hay in this carrier but you get the idea!
 
Despite popular beliefs, it is actually possible to train guinea pigs with the right methods and time span. For example, my piggy used to avoid the litter tray at all costs. 😂 Wherever I moved it to, she moved somewhere else. Then, I started to use the same training method that I had used for my hamster a couple years prior. Whenever she went to the “bathroom” I would use a small dustpan I’ve dedicated to cleaning up her cage, and move the poops to her litter box. I made sure that she was watching, and that she could see where the poops were going to. After a while of doing this, she started using her litter box! I’m not saying that she’s perfectly potty-trained now, as she still just goes wherever, but most of it makes it to her tray, so I’m satisfied. Another trick you can use is getting a bigger pan, (Mine takes up a third of the space.) so that your piggies are forced to go over there if they want the space. I also moved her water bottles, hay boxes, and pellet bowl over there, because piggies usually ‘go’ where their food is. Hope this helps!
 
GUINEAPIGS! said:
Despite popular beliefs, it is actually possible to train guinea pigs with the right methods and time span. For example, my piggy used to avoid the litter tray at all costs. 😂 Wherever I moved it to, she moved somewhere else. Then, I started to use the same training method that I had used for my hamster a couple years prior. Whenever she went to the “bathroom” I would use a small dustpan I’ve dedicated to cleaning up her cage, and move the poops to her litter box. I made sure that she was watching, and that she could see where the poops were going to. After a while of doing this, she started using her litter box! I’m not saying that she’s perfectly potty-trained now, as she still just goes wherever, but most of it makes it to her tray, so I’m satisfied. Another trick you can use is getting a bigger pan, (Mine takes up a third of the space.) so that your piggies are forced to go over there if they want the space. I also moved her water bottles, hay boxes, and pellet bowl over there, because piggies usually ‘go’ where their food is. Hope this helps!
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This is why there is a difference between actually being litter trained and what happens with guinea pigs (who cannot be properly litter trained). Litter trained means they go only in the litter tray and never toilet anywhere else in the enclosure. This is not possible with piggies because even though they do toilet where they eat and you can happen to catch a lot of it that way, they will still do it elsewhere as well. Rabbits, for example, can be properly litter trained as they will get up from playing or sleeping elsewhere and go to a specific spot to toilet and never do it elsewhere in the enclosure. Piggies will still poop in their sleep with no interest in moving to do it (ie cannot be trained).
 
My apologies, when I said “trained”, I didn’t exactly mean litter trained. I meant, my piggy got used to going in the box, and now she goes voluntarily, even if her food is not over there. It’s a very loose definition of the word “trained”, but I think it’s pretty good, considering how hard piggies are to train at all.
 
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