Why?

KaitlinH

KaitlinH

Junior Guinea Pig
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We cleaned out the guinea pigs hutch this morning. This was our first time cleaning them out and, now that we have put them in the cleaned out cage, they are acting like they did when we first got them and hiding away in the hay. Why are they doing this? And how can we prevent it from happening?
 
Confidence will come with time. It sounds like you've only have them a few days/ a week?

The first thing my girls do when new hay is put in their cage is bury themselves in it!
 
Mine all love to hide in their hay. Prey animals naturally seek out shelter.
 
Don't worry, it's an instinct thing and a fun thing. Remember being young and loving to fit into tunnels at the park or playground? It's normal behaviour and your piggies are having a great time with their fresh toy! Mine burrow under the hay, sleep under there and throw it around all over the place as well as eating it everytime I clean them out. I clean them every 5 days, and the hay is pretty much trodden down by day 3 or 4, so i have given them cardboard tubes to hide in. It's important to remember that as they have lots of natural predators, piggies are naturally nervous and feel much better and more relaxed if they have somewhere to hide out (hence the tubes).
 
its probably because it doesnt smell of them anymore and they feel out of place. they began to make it feel (and smell) like home but now it smells all gross (by that i mean clean haha) . next time it might be best to save some of their dirty bedding that you can put tin their favourite corner or spread it around the new bed so they have a place that they can call home. but dont worry eventually they will get used to the regular clean outs.
also may i suggest spot cleaning every day? this means that most the bedding will stay the same and you wont have to do a complete clean out as often
 
PiggieNinja said:
its probably because it doesnt smell of them anymore and they feel out of place. they began to make it feel (and smell) like home but now it smells all gross (by that i mean clean haha) . next time it might be best to save some of their dirty bedding that you can put tin their favourite corner or spread it around the new bed so they have a place that they can call home. but dont worry eventually they will get used to the regular clean outs.
also may i suggest spot cleaning every day? this means that most the bedding will stay the same and you wont have to do a complete clean out as often
Click to expand...

That's what we have been doing and today was a full clean x

Guineapigfeet said:
Confidence will come with time. It sounds like you've only have them a few days/ a week?

The first thing my girls do when new hay is put in their cage is bury themselves in it!
Click to expand...

We've had them a good few months but changed their hutch so this was their first full clean in their new one. We were sold a cage that was far too small in pets at home so we had to change it. It wasn't ideal to move them into something else but their new home is much bigger and better with room for them to have space from each other (they are two boars and are going through their hormonal changes - we have had no problems yet but you never know what's to come)
 
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