Guinea Pig Hay/litter Box

Status
Not open for further replies.
Teddyboys

Teddyboys

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 24, 2016
Messages
33
Reaction score
29
Points
95
Location
Bristol
Our cage has finally arrived and I'm getting it ready for our two piggies, who we're collecting tomorrow. Most of the cage is fleece and towels, then I wanted to create a boxed area with newspaper, sawdust and hay plus a hay rack over that. Hopefully that way most of the hay, wees and poos can be in that area and make it a bit easier to clean.

I bought the lowest level cat litter tray I could find but it still seems really high up, and I'm not sure if the guinea pigs will be able to climb in and out easily? I don't think it's really possible to cut the tray (or has anyone successfully done that?) so what options are there? Perhaps I could build one out of cardboard until I can get some correx to make one? Or am I worrying over nothing and they will easily climb in and out?
 
Hi this is the sort of litter tray we use and they get in and out with no issue. I suspect yours will be fine - unless they are very small babies. Excuse the (usual!) mess.image.webp

You could certainly make one out of a cardboard box and that would be fine. They will enjoy also destroying the box.
 
This came from zoo plus online, by the way, great service and relatively fast delivery and low prices. I recommend it if you haven't come across it.
 
Thank you for a very quick reply. I did see the corner litter boxes, but thought a rectangular box on one end might help contain the mess a bit more :D plus I can put a little shelter in there in case they want to go in privacy.

I'm not getting babies, it's a pair of two year old boars so hopefully they can climb in and out. The shelter I'm getting them from seemed happy with the pictures of the cage (they don't do home visits but want pictures and details of the housing you have ready) so hopefully the piggies will be happy.
 
And I got a massive delivery from zooplus today- cage, travel box, wooden house, toys and a mini dustpan and brush. What a fantastic shop it is.

Now I just need to pop into pets at home for nuggets in the morning and we're getting them at 11.30.
 
I got a couple of litter trays from amazon, 6.5cm high and they don't seem to have an issue with getting in and out. I think this was the shallowest(is that a word?) tray I could find anywhere.
Got a corner one a while back but it was quite small and my correx is high so i'd need to cut holes to fix the tray to the cage grids.
Hope all goes well tomorrow! Very exciting :D
 
Teddyboys said:
And I got a massive delivery from zooplus today- cage, travel box, wooden house, toys and a mini dustpan and brush. What a fantastic shop it is.

Now I just need to pop into pets at home for nuggets in the morning and we're getting them at 11.30.
Click to expand...

Presumably the shelter told you that it's best to initially feed them the nuggets they are used to (so whatever they are feeding at the shelter)?

Not the cheapest nuggets on the market but great because they are grain free are some of the ones that zoo plus sell. There's 3 that they sell that are grain free. One is called Bunny (memorable because it's a strange name for Guinea pig food), one is JR Farm grain free (some of the JR Farm ones do have grain in) and I can't remember the name of the other one but I've tried it and our piggies like it but I suspect it is sweeter and that's why.

I've now signed up for the year's worth of 5% discount that zoo plus offer for a relatively small price - well worth it if you end up buying from them twice or more a year I reckon (assuming you're like me and buy enough to get free delivery!).

Quite a number of people use P@H nuggets I think so I'm not trying to say don't buy them and you are early on your piggy owner journey so it's probably too much for you to think about yet but I just wanted to mention the zoo plus ones as you are obviously a zoo plus fan in the making. I recall a while ago that @helen105281 was putting together a thread on the various nutritional and other qualities of lots of different brands of nuggets. Did you do it in the end Helen? If you're interested, and if Helen did do it, it would be worth a read.

But for now enjoy your day tomorrow. Look forward to seeing pigtures! x
 
Yes, I asked the shelter and they always use Burgess, so we'll get those initially and see how we go.
 
Teddyboys said:
Yes, I asked the shelter and they always use Burgess, so we'll get those initially and see how we go.
Click to expand...
Mine loved the black currant excel ones when we first got them. It was the only type of nuggets I've ever been tempted to try myself as the smell is so nice (I didn't though)!
 
My girls don't seem to have any problems jumping in and out of the cat litter trays which their hay is in. However I have made little ramps into the trays out of those bendy wooden sticks which you can get from pets @ home. My older girl tends to prefer the ramps to get into the trays.
20160830_225007_001.webp
Good luck with your new boys, how exciting! :)
 
Obviously haven't added sawdust and hay yet.

I think I'll observe for a bit and if they struggle I can always move things around.

Thank you for all the help.
 
PiggySmitten said:
Presumably the shelter told you that it's best to initially feed them the nuggets they are used to (so whatever they are feeding at the shelter)?

Not the cheapest nuggets on the market but great because they are grain free are some of the ones that zoo plus sell. There's 3 that they sell that are grain free. One is called Bunny (memorable because it's a strange name for Guinea pig food), one is JR Farm grain free (some of the JR Farm ones do have grain in) and I can't remember the name of the other one but I've tried it and our piggies like it but I suspect it is sweeter and that's why.

I've now signed up for the year's worth of 5% discount that zoo plus offer for a relatively small price - well worth it if you end up buying from them twice or more a year I reckon (assuming you're like me and buy enough to get free delivery!).

Quite a number of people use P@H nuggets I think so I'm not trying to say don't buy them and you are early on your piggy owner journey so it's probably too much for you to think about yet but I just wanted to mention the zoo plus ones as you are obviously a zoo plus fan in the making. I recall a while ago that @helen105281 was putting together a thread on the various nutritional and other qualities of lots of different brands of nuggets. Did you do it in the end Helen? If you're interested, and if Helen did do it, it would be worth a read.

But for now enjoy your day tomorrow. Look forward to seeing pigtures! x
Click to expand...

The other one was Vitakraft emotion prebiotic but it has been discontinued :( they do seem to have a new sensitive range which is grainless but am not sure yet on the ingredients and Zooplus don't sell it yet.

I am in the middle of the sticky, I just struggle to find the time as I am manic at work and I was doing it on my lunchbreaks. I am still doing it though.
 
Good luck with your new arrivals tomorrow. Hope they settle well.
 
helen105281 said:
The other one was Vitakraft emotion prebiotic but it has been discontinued :( they do seem to have a new sensitive range which is grainless but am not sure yet on the ingredients and Zooplus don't sell it yet.

I am in the middle of the sticky, I just struggle to find the time as I am manic at work and I was doing it on my lunchbreaks. I am still doing it though.
Click to expand...
I was really sad when the Vitacraft emotion was discontinued as that was my nugget of choice but there's actually another grain free one I was thinking of Versele-Laga Cavia Complete Guinea Pig Food | Free P&P £29+
Feel free to tell me it's no good - I'd be interested.

Apologies OP :btt:. Enjoy this morning - pics as soon as you can please :drool::love:
 
I used a regular cat litter tray. I added some pieces of wood just outside it as steps to make it easier for them. My girls were just 5 weeks old when I got them, so tiny. They ignored the steps and jumped straight in and out! No problem at all.
 
Thanks all, getting very excited. I'll give them a bit of time to settle in before starting their modelling careers :D:D but I'll add pictures soon (and work out how to put a picture on my profile).
 
Too exciting! Can't wait to see them!

Just a quick note, when you say sawdust do you mean woodshavings? You mustn't use sawdust with piggies, it causes respiratory problems. I call my woodshavings sawdust all the time though, so I was wondering if you were doing the same! x
 
Yes, wood shavings. Got the snowflake brand ones at Home Bargains so hopefully those are ok. Sawdust is just much easier to say.
 
PiggySmitten said:
I was really sad when the Vitacraft emotion was discontinued as that was my nugget of choice but there's actually another grain free one I was thinking of Versele-Laga Cavia Complete Guinea Pig Food | Free P&P £29+
Feel free to tell me it's no good - I'd be interested.

Apologies OP :btt:. Enjoy this morning - pics as soon as you can please :drool::love:
Click to expand...

That does look really good, on a par with the Rosewood one I would say. I may order that next time we need pellets as mine are being fussy with the other grainless versions.

@Teddyboys looking forward to photos.
 
Boss hogg swears by the snowflake.He uses it for guineas and rabbits.U use aubiouse in my litter trays.My smaller than usual four week old babies manage to get in and out if the corner litter tray no problem.It is the larger one.
 
image.webp They can jump in and out quite happily, so nothing to worry about. Though one of them seems to be the boss and he's taken it over a bit. The less dominant one just pushes it out of the way and hides round the back. They do seem to have done most of their poos in there but there are plenty elsewhere!
 
helen105281 said:
That does look really good, on a par with the Rosewood one I would say. I may order that next time we need pellets as mine are being fussy with the other grainless versions.

@Teddyboys looking forward to photos.
Click to expand...
ive used these pellets a few times and mine loved them,calcium level is slightly higher than,bunnies,but seem more palatable.:)
 
i find my older piggiers prefere kitten litter trays as lower sides,but you could adapt higher ones with ramps.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top