Skinny Trashed His New C&c?

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changeling

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My skinny pig, Bibbles, is waiting on his friend to come home this week. Bibbles came home a month ago and has been my baby. In preparation of adopting a second piggy, I bit the bullet and made a C&C cage - 4x2 grids, and working on lofts for extra space now. He's been in a store cage up to this point. I put Bibs in the C&C this weekend, and it's absolutely disgusting now. He had a fleece floor on his store bought cage and ALWAYS used his litter box, no problems, though he occasionally knocked over his food dish trying to reach into it. I could dump the litter box every two days and spot-sweep the cage.

Well, he's been in the C&C for three days and it's disgusting. Poop and food all over the floor (I didn't put fleece down yet, was going to do it yesterday before he trashed it). I use a puppy pad under the litter box and it sticks out a little bit, sort of like a little mat to wipe his feet, and it's just gross - poop and possibly urine soaking it. What on earth is going on with my previously well-behaved skinny? He seems happy, he has lots more space to run, but he's making an unbearable mess that SMELLS.

Tips? Advice? Please?
 
@helen105281 @HansPiggies Hope it's okay if I tag you two as I remember you having skinnies?

I don't have any advice on this unfortunately with not having any skinnies, so I'll just say it might be worth, instead of making lofts for extra space, extending the lowest level as lofts aren't usually counted as floor space. If Bib's is getting a male friend, the minimum cage size (usually counting for the lowest level) is 2x6 to prevent male dominance issues and so they can get away easier if wanted. :)

Edit; Just realised, do you poop pick often? Not doing it at least once or twice a day will make a mess for sure. It might be worth getting a better layer for under the fleece. Also, do you use a hay tray or something similiar or just put it on the floor? If your piggy wees on hay, it'll smell and will make the room and fleece smell in general. Also, you can try putting the box in the C&C in a similiar place to where it was in his old cage and see if it makes any difference.
 
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If I add a second floor, is that counted as space or should I try to move the room around enough to expand floor space? Thank you so much for the advice!

I've been poop picking a handful of times a day, it got really messy when I had to take the day away from home because I went to a wedding. I do use a hay tray but I've been putting a little hay in the corner of the box to entice him into it - could that be causing the smell?
 
It doesn't really count as floor space since piggies tend to keep on the lower level provided all the necessary aren't all at the top. Still, it would be best to try and move the room around so your piggy can do laps if wanted or any other exercise when he's not out for floor time :)

Putting hay in the tray is something I used to do, but stopped as my three (two girls and a neutered boy) did their business in there too much. You can get safe cat litter (@Chief Guinea Pig uses some. Sorry to keep tagging!), but for the moment. I'm using easibed, a horse bedding safe for guinea pigs. I'm not sure how rough it would be as it has a lot of sharp bits that's ok for piggies but not skinnies, so I'd hold out on easibed for the moment. Woodshavings aren't recommended, but it depends on what brand you use and how rough it is. I'd just look online about what to put in hay trays for now. I find a large majority of the smell can come from not having a good layer under the fleece.
 
I think it just sounds like he's having a good time exploring the new space and pooping and peeing as he wanders rather than sticking to the one spot cause there wasn't much to do in the shop bought anyway.My pigs cage is an 8x2 for 2 pigs and its disgusting if I leave it for more than two days. Lol. Plus skinnies are total poop machines anyway lol. Hopefully it will be better once you get fleece down x

@GloriousGuineaGirl might be a good help :)
 
When it's a new environment it may take him a while to get used to the routine again. All the different surroundings and smells, he's probably just making sure it's all 'home' to him again :)
 
Wow what troubles you are having! You can indeed get cat litter, which must say 'paper-based'. Don't worry about it @CarnivalPiggy :)

He's not been in the cage for long so he is most likely trying to make sense of it all, you could think about making cage liners that way the pads will be hidden?
 
Skinnies can be messy, mine trash their cage literally every day. You are best off poo picking once or twice a day. Sounds like he is having fun though bless him.
 
Lol I also think he's having a good time! Our guinea's aren't the cleanest in the world, one of the cages stinks a bit, we just change the fleece every two days :)
 
Hey, I was just wondering, what did you have on the floor if you hadn't put the fleece on yet? If it was just the correx then without anything to absorb the urine I can see how it got so messy lol. I have one hairy living with a skinny and boy does he poop. I have fleece and a litter box same as you will have. I have the litter box in a corner underneath a shelf right next to he hay rack so he does most of his poops and wees there. Hopefully when you're sorted with the fleece he should settle in, especially if he was used to this in his old cage. I do have to poop sweeps morning and evening too though but doesn't get smelly for 3 days. I change out small fleece pads where he sleeps more often and a fell change About every 4 days depending how messy he has been! If anything the new c&c should smell less as h has more room, maybe it smelt more from him marking his territory aslo :)
 
Thank you all! He's doing pretty good now, I've got the fleece down and I think the difference in texture from the litter box helps him realize where to go? I'm poop picking four times a day but as you all say, skinnies are poop machines. He seems pretty happy. I'm working on moving the room around to squeeze some more space in - is a 5x3 cage possible?
 
The joy of C&C cages is that, provided you have enough grids and connectors, lots of different sizes and layouts are possible! Rectangle, square, even L shaped! As long as you can re-cut the correx to fit ( I used to stick some sections together with masking tape) your imagination can run free.
 
Indeed, I'm hoping that when we get one of the boars we have who fell out with his friend neutered that he will bond with the girls and then we'll be putting them in an L shaped cage would would work out at about 2x10.
 
Excuse my typing, I don't have the best concentration and sometimes my fingers don't type what my brain is telling them to lol.
 
I started a thread myself in 12 hours my boys go from spotless being cleaned put in the morning to looking I haven't cleaned them out in 12 days!


They trash everything but it's just the way they are. Eat poop sleep repeat :)
 
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