Housing Two Guinea Pigs?

[DopeyJo]

Hi all

I'm new to this forum (and to keeping guinea pigs).

We're getting two (rescued) guinea pigs this week and I'm really interested in using fleece for their cage. Can anyone give me advice on this?

Do I need to layer something else under it? Don't guinea pigs like to 'burrow' / won't they miss the traditional bedding?

Any other tips and tricks?

The guinea's will be kept indoors (with plenty of time to play outside of their cage and in the fresh air when the weather is good) and we have a Ferplast 140 cage.

Thanks

 

[DM030819]

Fleece wicks urine straight through it so you need something underneath to soak up their pee. I use puppy pads but some people use towels or something like that.

Some pigs do burrow under the fleece, I've only had one that did it, and once he had a cage mate he stopped. But, it can be a problem and some people have to clip the fleece to the sides of the cage to stop them getting underneath.

When you get the fleece, run it through the washing machine a few times, as when it's new it sometimes doesn't let the pee through and you get puddles on top of the fleece. Also, don't use fabric conditioner on it as it sort of makes it waterproof and it stops wicking.

Also, get one of these: for washing the fleece in. It stops the hair and hay getting into the washing machine and blocking the pipes.

 

[GPcrazy]

This is what my cage looks like.
I use a fleece liner that I made myself. It is two layers of fleece with a mattress protector seen inbetween (I have another with towels as the middle layer).
I change that once a week.

Then under their houses I have smaller liners, known as piddle pads. I change those out ever 3 days roughly (or as needed). You can put piddle pads in any high use areas like under houses and around hay trays/boxes etc - that's where they tend to wee/poo the most.

Guinea pigs are not really burrowers (although there are a few exceptions depending on personality), but they do like to occasionally forage around so a nice pile of hay can allow for this. I put my hay in a cat litter box, with a folded towel underneath. They then do most of their wees and poos in there so I change that put every 1-2 days. I also hang a hay bag on the side so they have clean hay available at all times in case the hay I'm the box box becomes soiled.

[The dishcloth has an ice pack wrapped in it because it's really hot here at the moment, so so the piggies lie against it to cool down]

View attachment 56339

 

[DopeyJo]

Thanks so much both of you!

Do I need to sew the underlayer (if I'm using towel for example) to the fleece or should they be okay separate?

Also, what else do I need in the cage in terms of toys / entertainment? Do I keep it simple so they've lots of room to run or give them lots to occupy themselves with? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to get it right!

 

[GPcrazy]

You can keep the layers separate for easier washing and drying, or sew them together for quicker easier placement in the cage. It's entirely up to you.

I prefer to keep my cage simple and spacious to allow for lots of space to run. As far as I know guinea pigs dont play with toys like we would expect other animals too. Fun for them includes things like running through tunnels, foraging around in hay, pulling hay out of brown paper bags or empty toilet rolls, etc.