Spray / scent to keep guinea pigs away?

[ibash]

Hi,

We have a couple of free roaming guinea pigs. They hangout at their cage or a spot under the couch, both of which are fine. (And have fleece liners for droppings).

However there’s a couple spots in the house where we’d prefer them not to go, not for safety reasons, but to make it easier to clean.

Is there a spray or scent I can put in those spots to keep them out? If not I’ll improvise with some chicken wire, but would prefer to train them to keep out.

Thank you!

 

[Claire W]

Guinea pigs shouldn’t be exposed to sprays and scents as they can affect their airways so it’s best not to use them around your guinea pigs

 

[RedLoredAmazon]

Putting up some C&C grids should work to keep them out of where they don't belong. Or there are cloth baby gates that you can use too.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please don’t use any sprays as they would likely make your piggies ill. They also need to be kept away from strong scents.

Definitely use grids instead to keep them away from certain areas.

 

[Wiebke]

Please do not spray but physically block the areas you do not want them to get to.

At least you won't have to explain with a straight face to the gasman that the big piece of cardboard is there to 'piggy-proof' your staircase because one of yours is a notorious stair jumper who likes nothing more than to lever out the toilet brush in your upstairs bathroom and play hide and seek with you, all around and underneath the beds...

 

[h.h.lovecraft]

When I let my piggies roam around my living room, I have to physically block off everything I don't want them getting to. For example, I tuck an old blanket in the space under my sofa to block it off, I found that much easier than putting a fence or any object there. For other areas, I recommend a small play fence or c and c grids.

You can't really train guinea pigs in the way you are describing, the only way to prevent them from getting into something is to block them off. I used to use random objects to block off certain spots and my piggies eventually learned how to move them to get through so that's why I really recommend a solid grid fence of some kind. Guinea pigs can be quite mischievous and strong willed so your walls must be solid or you might have a guinea breach

 

[Freela]

They don't really train that way and are really sensitive to scents... your best best is to block areas that you don't want them to get to. It can even be as simple as pulling a box in front of an area that you don't want them to access (but make sure to put weight in the box, my pigs quickly learned that empty boxes can be easily pushed out of the way.) We baby gate off non-piggie areas with pressure-mounted gates left over from when our kids were young.