General Is cleaning the cage after giving birth allowed?

[fridzalone]

My friend told me that her sow delivered 3 babies today. And she told me that she usually clean the cage every Sunday. Then she ask me a question "Can I clean the cage this sunday? Will it be dangerous for my sow and her babies"

Honestly I don't know the answer, all I know is that in hamster case, we are not allowed to cleaning the cage to make the mom feel safe until the pups mature enough. Does this thing also happened in piggies? When is the fastest time my friend can clean up the cage?

[Paula]

What is your friend cleaning the cage with? If it's just vinegar and water, it should be fine. They can be handled right after birth if that's the concern.

And also, just out of curiosity, are you referencing the same friends as in this thread? Or this one?

[fridzalone]

Originally Posted by Paula

What is your friend cleaning the cage with? If it's just vinegar and water, it should be fine. They can be handled right after birth if that's the concern.

And also, just out of curiosity, are you referencing the same friends as in this thread? Or this one?

No, I joined another forum for piggies lover (the Indonesian ones). And as I said before, I tried to give as many information about guinea pig cares as I can mostly from this forum. That's why I asked lots of different things because not every member in that forum are able to speak and read in English frequently and maybe it's easier for them to get information from people who speak same language. So this friend is different from those two other friends of mine.

My friend that i'm talking about in this forum is using C&C cage with woodshaving, newspaper and fleece (from above to the top layer), same as mine. So when she's cleaning the cage, she should change all of those layers.

By the way, does it mean it's fine to clean the cage if the babies can handled right after the birth? Won't it be stressful for the mom and her babies?

[Ly&Pigs]

Yes it's fine to clean the cage any time after mom delivers. The difference between hamster babies and guinea pig pups is that hamster babies are born naked, their eyes still sealed and they need constant care from their mom. Pups on the other hand are born fully furred, eyes open and ready to run at a moments notice because they are prey animals. They can be picked up and held shortly after birth.

It won't stress mom or the pups out very much if at all.

[akstrohm]

(In future posts, you might want to say "someone on an Indonesian guinea pig message board" instead of "my friend". When you say "my friend", it implies that it is someone you know personally and that you would be able to pass on the advice in person rather than online. It also makes it sound like you have one friend with guinea pigs who is coming up in all of your posts. In giving you advice, people may wrongly infer that it was the same person as someone mentioned previously.)

Fleece should be used with an absorbent underlayer such as towels. Newspaper is not absorbent, and wood shavings will get really messy and stick to the fleece.

[Cogni]

Aren't hamsters prey animals too? I wonder why they are so helpless at birth.

[Hawise]

Originally Posted by Cogni

Aren't hamsters prey animals too? I wonder why they are so helpless at birth.

I think it's because they live in burrows which, compared to the grass tunnels wild cavies us, are relatively safe.