Floor Time: Slate floor for play time?

[Duffinvt]

We have a family room with a 16 x 10 foot area of nice slate floor- the flat kind with grout in between the slates. I thought it would be a good place for play time when/if I get my guinea pigs. There is only one lamp cord to deal with in this area. A few questions. I will have some newspaper or towels down, but the area is large and I don't want to cover the whole area with towels. Due to the low maintenance of slate, I thought I'd just pick up poop and wipe up pee. Does anyone see a problem with that? Also, it has one step up (8" step) to the living room. Would a piggie be able to get up that step? I will supervise them, but just want to get enough "fence" so they are safe.

Can anyone tell me how much an adult pig pees when it "goes" .. I have no idea if it is a couple of tablespoons or more or less. Just curious how big a "pee" puddle is.

[akstrohm]

My guess is that they will not have a good enough grip. The point of floor time is to run around, so you need a surface that will let them do that. They won't run if they can't get a good grip on the surface.

While pigs can jump an 8" step, most will not. They are not climbers by nature. You could make a ramp for them to get up it or add an intermediate sized block or something to make it an easier climb.

[Duffinvt]

OK thanks for the reply. The slate is not smooth like ceramic.. but I guess I will just have to try it and see. I can easily put towels or even some older floor runners down for them.

The pee question? If you use an old rug can you blot up the pee or do rugs and runners have to go in the washer?

I am just trying hard to see if my set-up is right for guinea pigs.

[GizzyandMe]

Duffinvt I let Gizzy run around freely on our carpet and she only once peed on it, I used paper towel to blot it and sprinkled it with a bit of shake-'n-vac, after we vacuumed it, it did not leave a stain or smell. - I got her a play tent and placed a folded up towel in it with a piece of fleece over so she has some place to hide during play time and she now uses this to pee in.

Our carpet is on tile floors and she hates going onto the tile area. Here is a photo of her at play time showing the tent and a small towel for the part where the carpet is not.

[Duffinvt]

I finally put the girls down for their first floor time. They enjoyed the slate floor ! I had carpet pieces down too, but they followed each other all over the slate floor (hey maybe it will whittle down their nails a bit !). I had hideys and tunnels down and they played a bit in them, but mostly hung out under the wood box where we keep wood for the stove (which was not going btw). I laughed as they both appeared with cobwebs all over them ! I guess I now know how to get the dust bunnies in the far corners LOL . I used the box trick to get them to and from the cage. Works nice. Also weighed them for the first time since they were each in the box. Shady is 2 lbs. 6 oz. and Busy 2 lbs. 2 oz. Does that sound like a good weight for yr. old sows?

[akstrohm]

I'm glad the slate is working! And yes, their weights are just fine.

[stargzng386]

Be careful if they pee on the slate. I was living in an apartment and i let them run around where there was some slate and when the peed on it I couldn't get the stain out. I wiped it off after but it left a white residue that would not come out. I ended up losing part of my security deposit. I had set a bathmat down on the carpet to protect it but it didn't cover all of the slate

[Duffinvt]

Originally Posted by stargzng386

Be careful if they pee on the slate. I was living in an apartment and i let them run around where there was some slate and when the peed on it I couldn't get the stain out. I wiped it off after but it left a white residue that would not come out. I ended up losing part of my security deposit. I had set a bathmat down on the carpet to protect it but it didn't cover all of the slate

Thanks ! Too late ! They peed in a corner by the wood box and it did indeed stain. Luckily, I have, for the most part triained them to go in a litter box in a corner.

[Cogni]

I'm glad they liked their floortime!

I think there is probably a way to get the residue or stain off the slate. Urine is an organic compound and there are other compounds that should dissolve its components so you can scrub them off with a brush. I'm not a good enough chemist to know which . I would try posting a query to a do-it-yourself site and/or household site--ask about pet urine on slate. Is the surface rough? If so, a really fine grained sandpaper (try it on an out-of-the-way spot) might help too, taking a tiny bit off the surface of the stone.
If smooth, obviously you don't want to do this as it will make the surface unsmooth.

[lissie]

Try vinegar, it's pretty good at dissolving guinea pig urine.