The Other Half Has Finally Given In! Tips For Indoor Piggie Keeping Please?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hannah Boyd

Hannah Boyd

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Messages
280
Reaction score
140
Points
365
Location
Leeds
Hi all, my other half just announced that the piggies can come indoors! We had planned to put them into the shed once its finished (this weekend), but I was concerned as theres no natural light. Anyway, there are now coming indoors to be kept in our spare room upstairs. I am super excited about this! But need tips on moving and keeping indoors. I am hoping to get a whelping pen or similar eventually but for the meantime, they will have a homemade pen. We plan to put vinyl or laminate floor down on the carpet and also inside the pen. They are currently bedded on hemp, megazorb and hay. Is fleece better? OH is concerned about the smell. I am generally a tidy person and would keep all their bits and bobs into ordered boxes so hopefully mess shouldn't be a problem. Any tips for the move and keeping indoors would be amazing.
 
Hi! It took me a while to convince the OH to bring my piggy indoors too, now we have 5 in our lounge! :p. Regarding smell it depends on how many you have...I have 2 on fleece and 3 on shavings. I tried them all on fleece but it was a bit smelly, it also depends on your piggies, my 2 that are on fleece use a litter tray in the corner to do basically all their wees in so only poops to sweep up which really helps. They didn't always so this though and when they wee on fleece pads even those with absorbant layers it needs changing every day or other day and can be whiffy! I find smell is the least with shavings and it is absorbant and also the smell of the wood is quite fresh which helps...
It's one of those you have to try to know scenarios and I do love fleece but it is alot of maintenance so really it's up to you weather to try or not!
I'd also recommend leaving the door to the room open for air circulation...if I leave the door closed even over night you notice the smell a lot more when you open the door!
If you are sticking to bedding then Beaphor Cage Fresh granules are great for sprinkling in the corners they soil most and reall helps absorb any smell! Hope this helps, I have 5 boys in the lounge with no problems, just more regular cleaning is what it takes mostly :)
 
My advise is get hay that isn't dusty, as even if you don't have allergies dusty hay can cause health issues for you and your family , ings from hay for pets and dust free hay company seem to be okay for me as I do get asthma sometimes , lucky piggies getting a new pad ,they will be popcorning all over the place!
 
Almost all of my guinea pigs have been inside (two were outside, but they were 'babysat' for two years, so we kept them outside as that's what they were used to) and I've never really had an issue with the smell, unless we've forgotten to change them for a couple of days. The boys were a little muskier than the girls, but nothing overwhelming. I can't usually smell them unless I'm right next to their cage. I don't think guineas smell as much as rats (I've never had rats myself, but I can always smell them when I enter a room if someone keeps them as pets).

In regards to bedding I've only just switched to fleece; otherwise it has always been sawdust and hay. It can be a little messy if they decide to kick the sawdust out the cage but nothing a quick run over with a hoover can't sort (we keep a hand hover next to the cage, so the floor gets cleaned at feeding time).
 
I have 2 girls on shavings that live on my landing. I clean them out fully once a week and there isn't really any smell. May notice slightly the day before clean out day but they aren't noticeably whiffy!

I have a large plastic box with lid which I keep their hay in. I put the hay holder inside to fill it to prevent hay getting on the floor.
 
We have a pair and a single boar in two storey c and c. We had used aubiose, now trialling snowflake. Both seem great with no smell and only a weekly thorough clean. We do change the single boars corner tray more often though as he is nearly litter trained so that one tray gets smelly otherwise. Personally I think fleece is more time consuming as it needs washing frequently.
 
Thanks everyone, this is really useful! The first enclosure is now finished and the second is nearly there. I think I will keep them on hemp and hay to begin with and see how that goes. They will be in their own room and OH is out at work all day Mon-Fri so I can leave the doors open then. :nod: With litter training - would most pigs use a tray if there was one there? Will definitely try the cage fresh granules too.
 
Hannah Boyd said:
Thanks everyone, this is really useful! The first enclosure is now finished and the second is nearly there. I think I will keep them on hemp and hay to begin with and see how that goes. They will be in their own room and OH is out at work all day Mon-Fri so I can leave the doors open then. :nod: With litter training - would most pigs use a tray if there was one there? Will definitely try the cage fresh granules too.
Click to expand...
It's hard to litter train them but I think because mine used to be on shavings, so when I changed to fleece I put shavings in the litter tray they were kind of used to going on shavings. As I said though they did used to wee on the fleece quite a bit but now they rarely do. It helps having it in a corner right next to where they eat their hay as they spend a lot of time there :)
 
I think we are just lucky with Biscuit. He only wees in his tray and mostly, but not only, poos there too. It is just luck, we haven't tried to train him at all!
 
I have 2 pairs of piggies indoors. I keep them on fleece and as long as they are cleaned out twice a week there's minimal smell. They tend to wee most in their hay trays and in their houses/cosies so as long as you change those areas and spot clean there really isn't too much smell. Mine know everyone's voices and footsteps as a result of living in the house and I'm sure you'll love having yours indoors with you.
 
I currently have 8 guinea pigs in the bedroom and a bunny but can't say I ever notice a smell.mi do throughorly clean them every 2 days though.

My poggies have a homemade open plan cage. They have their whole cage lined with newspaper, half lined with fleece and a litter tray at the back with a small layer of woodshavings and then lots of hay on top (this is where all but one do their wee's and a lot of poo's.

My temporary piggies are in hutches again all lined with newspaper. The boy has one half just filled with hay and the other half has a cosy and some shavings. The girls are pretty much the same, the top layer shavings and hay and downstairs newspaper, half fleece and half shavings.
 
They have been indoors now for a couple of days, still in temp accommodation, but there is almost no smell. I want to split the enclosure to put half with hemp and hay, and half with newspaper to see if I can get them to keep going on the bedding.
 
I had mine indoors whilst my family were away on holiday. I never noticed any smells other than the smell of hay. I had them on fleece. I didn't really find it hard work. Just a quick sweep of the poo's each day and I would put pads underneath the hideys. So once they got soiled I would swap them out. That made the fleece stay a bit fresher over the days.

You'll find out what works best for you and the piggies. :) You'll love having them indoors.
 
Thanks everyone! Piggies have now been indoors for a week and they (and me) are loving it! I have them on newspaper with some hemp bedding and hay on top. I take all the newspaper out and any wet bedding every 2 days and wipe down the surface underneath with baby wipes. I might try fleece when I can afford to buy a set. :D
 
Hahahahahahahahaha! No mess? I have hay strewn the length and breadth of the house - it matters not how expertly I attempt to contain it, it gets EVERYWHERE! But it is amazing how easily you adjust to it being part of your new furnishings. After all it belongs to the piggies so who cares! :D

Seriously though - I hated the small of megazorb and that was when the boys were kept outside. I have a 2 tier hutch in the lounge. Most of it is lined with fleece and towel - I get away with changing that every 8-10 days and then I have hay on puppypads in a pigloo downstairs and in the bedroom (these are get used for peeing, pooping and sleeping), I top them up with fresh hay every day and change them completely every 4-5 days. We vary rarely have an issue with smell unless we are getting to the 10 day mark.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top