litter trays

[wheek]

i had a wee look there to see if there was a topic before, if there was u could just send me the link... I'm new here so dont know if I'm repeating ..

ive heard alot of people talk about having litter trays, i had one for my hamsters but they never got the drift... lol ....I'm in the middle of a complete cage overhaul... I'm going to try this vetbed as ive just read the review and think its what I'm looing for.
id love to try a litter tray with my girls and was wondering what the best way is to go about it...

what type of litter do i get?
also i noticed someone said they were using litter below the vet bed, if u could explain that it would be great?!?!?

gemma x

 

[dazie]

There are a few threads on this subject but most people say dont bother as they probably wont use it as they just go where ever they like. When I first got my piggies some one recommended it to me and I thought well they must use it but they never did so I chucked it as it was just taking up play space. There are a couple of lucky people on here whos piggies are litter trained I think so hopefully they will be able to tell you more

 

[piggytoefluff]

You have lots options here. I think most gp owners would agree that piggers generally do most of the their business in one place. If yours don't already, try putting bedding or a housing in one corner, water in another corner and dry food in the 3rd corner. Hopefully your pigs will then start to 'go' in the 4th remaining corner of the cage. Once you've got that system in place you can think about what to use as a litter tray. If following this system they don't go mostly in one corner - don't bother. They'll just ignore it.

You can buy purpose made plastic small animal litter trays; superpet do a range including corner little pans which are triangular and regular rectangular ones. You can buy them on eBay or at www.ukpetsupplies.co.uk
If that doesn't suit you, you can craft your own low-sided box from correx built to fit your cage. Or, go to a garden centre and look for seed trays in stong, thick plastic - not the flimsy black ones.

Once you've got the right tray you have several choices of medium to fill it with. It needs to be absorbent, non-toxic and economical. Superpet do their own litter called 'critter litter'. Don't use cat litter - it is dusty and can cause fatal intestinal blockages. You could try gp safe wood shavings covered in hay or just hay. The hay will encourage them to get in there in the first place and er, seems to give them some to do while they are there. When you install it - add some soiled bedding, hay, poops etc so they start to get the idea.

Every time you see them go in it you could treat them, but then they might jump out again to eat it so it's up to you. I made a habit of picking up all stray poops and putting them in the tray so they really got the message. It kind of worked. I have two sows - one is completely litter trained, one just did everthing next the the litter tray. Because it was only a partial success and because I felt the tray interrupted their lap-running track I took it out. There's no reason that it won't work for you though, so good luck!

 

[EmmaClaire]

I had the same idea, get a litter tray they poo in the litter tray and hey presto i only need clean the litter tray out everyday as now i clean the whole thing out everyday, but no my piggies had other ideas they snuggled up in it and went to sleep no pooing so its now being changed and it has fleese in it and there is always one or the other piggie in it fast asleep ;D ;D Emma x