House Guineas?

Magician

Magician

Junior Guinea Pig
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Has anyone here had full time, free range, house guinea pigs, in a rodent-proofed room (or several)?
Only asking because my house rabbit is away right now being bonded to 2 others (!) and my piggies have been given temporary run of his room.
They seem pretty ecstatic: at time of writing, it's 10.30 pm, which is later than when I used to give them play time, and they never really "played" much then but would just find the most convenient corner and have a nap, so I gave up with play time eventually. (They are about 4 -5 years old though which I'm told equals 'getting on a bit' in guinea pig terms - they did love it when they were younger though).
However, late night rodent raves on my floor obviously suit them because they seem to be having a wail of a time :)
So I was wondering if anyone had pulled off the house-guinea trick on a full time basis, and if so, what did your set up look like and did it work well?
Obviously they are - to put it politely - fairly messy(!) but I always thought that guineas can't control their bladder and bowel movements in the same way a rabbit can so piggies can't be litter trained - can anyone confirm if this is true?
 
Dog Cow said:
I have never let my piggies go free range, but I do know that piggies [you]can[/you] control their bladder.
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Ooh really? Didn't know that thank you! So, why is litter training them so much harder than rabbits? (Or at least my piggies have always have just gone wherever...but maybe I always just adopt the rebellious ones lol :D)
 
Magician said:
Ooh really? Didn't know that thank you! So, why is litter training them so much harder than rabbits? (Or at least my piggies have always have just gone wherever...but maybe I always just adopt the rebellious ones lol :D)
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Some people recommend piling their poops in one corner, and they’ll poo there from then on, but I tried it for awhile and it didn’t work for my piggies.

There are also potty pads (small, washable pillows) for guinea pigs on Etsy. Just put them where your piggy normally poops, and take them out to clean them when they’re dirty.
 
Mine aren’t full time house pigs but at the weekend they have the run of my dining room. They get pened at night and if we go out. They poo anywhere, but tend to stick to the under cover bits and mine have never peed on the carpet, they always go back into their pen to do that or an upturned cardboard box if I’m in the middle of cleaning it out. (I might just be very lucky there) They do pull on the carpet and have eaten some wall!
 
I have house piggies and they are free range during the day (unless we go out for a long time (like more than 2 hours or so), but they are locked in their cage at around 10pm till 9am.

In the beginning, probably around 4/5 yrs ago, they poo and pee every where in the living room. I had to sweep the poo and wipe the floor with a soapy cloth just to remove scent and stain (our floor is carpeted but good thing the colour is a bit dark and old already). The worse part was under our coffee table and we just put a mat on it until we can managed to recarpet our living room. :xd: Now they don't really pee on the carpet. They drag their poo from their cage only when they are running around and I just have to pick them up.

It sometimes can be annoying but I love seeing them having a great time running in the living room and then trying to go to other rooms if they are being cheeky. If you want to see a full time free range piggies, search The Lava Empire in Facebook and Youtube. I love her free range piggies and how great their setup is.
 
The three in my avatar get to run around the living room a lot, and they never pee the carpet, they always go back to their little cage for that, but they poop everywhere. I just sweep it up. My other two have no such consideration ,so I can't let them loose in the living room, as they pee wherever they like, so they just get floor time in the piggy room while I am getting them all sorted in the morning. I think what I'm saying is - it depends on the piggies.
 
I’ve been letting ours free range the living room when I’m in or overnight. They seem to love it. They go back to their open age to eat and hopefully poo and wee. I’m debating putting a the bottom of their cage in the corner they like under the table and seeing if they can be kept like house rabbits. I think they poo a lot less than my rabbits. They are definitely proving to be better pets in my opinion. With the exception of my heart bunny who I miss so much.
 
I don't let mine be free range because she's skittish and I have no spare rooms! Maybe another time for me
 
My daughter has a hard wood floor in her room. Her guinea was an adult when we got her and she just can't get along with other females (she's a female). We thought she would be depressed alone in a cage so my daughter (age 17) lets her run around full time. We do have the original cage to use as her kitchen and found she can easily go in and out from the door being open. She follows my daughter around in the room and when I go in she comes up to greet me.

One time I went into the large walk-in closet and was met with some loud squeaks at my foot and a Gracie sitting there looking up. My daughter says Gracie mainly goes to the bathroom in her cage and I know that when my daughter sleeps, Gracie goes back in her cage and hides under her hut for the night until my daughter gets up. We have let her in the living room (carpeted) and she is a monster. Maybe because she is used to the hard wood floor but her alter ego definitely waits to get free run of the living room. We do keep her in a large sort of exercise pen now when she's downstairs (though most times, we are holding her and giving her attention til she gets sick of us).

She's a big girl too though and is about the size of our smallest chihuahua. She really enjoys playing with both the cat and Bella, our chihuahua when running free.
 
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