Vaccum Question

Me personally would use a seperate vac. I plan on getting one of those hand held vac, the kind that they advertise for cars. I know I have read that you are not to vacuum mouse droppings as it puts fecal matter into the air and its dangerous to breath in for people. I know the droppings are totally different, but for me, less vacuumed, less breathed in. So, I would say not to use the same vacuum.

I bought a separate, small Dirt Devil Scorpion handheld vac for $14 at Wal-Mart. Rechargeable so it sits plugged in all the time but I can take it off the charger to zap up stray hay bits and dry poops that I can't get up with the dustpan and brush.

For $14 I figured it was worth it to have a dedicated piggy vac that tucks away easily and doesn't take up much space. Easy to pop off the filter and clean it too.

So, yes, separate little vac here.

Definately a separate vac. Either a dustbuster like one, or a shop vac. The problem with poop and hay is that together they make a very strong binding agent, that unless you are going to spend really big $$ on the vacuum, tend to be deadly to the household vacuum!

Dustbuster type vac is perfect. The reason is a 'real' vac with attachments is still too powerful and it will suck up your fleece and all! A shop vac may suck up the cage!

LOL, yeah, that was my thinking too. I use fleece and I knew even my regular-sized vac with an attachment, or my red Dirt Devil with the beater brush, would suck up the fleece. The little opening on the Scorpion just sucks up hay bits and poops without bringing up the fleece. Mostly, I use the dustpan and brush every day, but the little vac is good for stray stuff that gets outside the cage edges too (rarely).

Seperate definatley! I killed my new vacuum cleaner because the hay and poos were getting stuck in everything. It is just too much space to travel. It has been easier with a hand vac.

I use a small handheld dust buster which works great when they don't have a lot of beans floating around but for larger chores (like cage cleaning day) I do use the regular vaccum. Luckily I have not run into any problems about things getting stuck. Though I am planning on getting the 1 gal shop vac to clean up after them since the dust buster can't always handle the load. I have also found that even after it is fully charged it can not handle cleaning out 2 cages on cleaning day.

I use one of those 2.5 gallon shop vac I just use it for leftover bedding and poos after I clean the cage or to clean up the stuff they throw out of the cage. They are too powerful if you use fleece. I tried it and it just sucks the fleece right up. I do like it though because they are good for cleaning out the car. lol.

I have a little 2 gallon shop vac as well. It doesn't suck up my fleece though bc I hold the hose as parallell to the fleece as I can possibly get. I have a hand held broom and small dust pan to sweep up hay. If my shop vac hose gets stopped up with hay, it's a beeatch to get unclogged. I had to go out and buy a metal pipe to shove through the hose for when it happens.

I also have a little hand held Dirt Devil. I love them both but my shop vac I don't have to empty after every cleaning like I do the Dirt Devil.

The metal pipe is a great idea Lisser. The hose of my small shop vac is clogged right now, and the broom handle I was using just wasn't working at all. I didn't even think of a metal pipe.

I have a 5gal shop vac and it is wonderful. It came with an attachment so I can vaccum the rugs, wooden floors, tile, etc. I can also take it off and suck up hay and shavings. The only problem was that the cord was really short, so we added an extention cord.



I use a Dustbuster 7.4V for the cage.

Wow, I didnt realize it was this complicated. I am sure glad I asked the question. Now let me get this straight. To take care of the poop in the cage, I want a hand vac? To take care of the hay and stuff on the carpet around the cage I want to use a shop vac?

That is it. You want the hand vac because the shop vac will suck up the fleece. You want a shop vac because it will be more powerful unlike the handvac for the floor area.

This is the hand vac I suggest:

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