Cleaning Speeding Up Daily Cleaning

[thecomfycat]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for suggestions on how to speed up cleaning my cage. Currently there's a kitchen area (the large coroplast one from the cages store), and it's lined with Carefresh. The rest of the cage is fleece. I usually just shake out the fleece, but it takes me longer than I'd like. I was considering switching to a handheld vacuum or shop vac to clean up those areas- have ya'll found that to be faster?

Also, I'm not really sure how to tackle the kitchen- this is primarily where they urinate, and the bedding here needs to be cleaned out very frequently. Do you guys also use a vacuum to pick up dirty Carefresh? I find spot cleaning it with a dustpan is messy and takes a while, but if I let it go even one day without spot cleaning, it becomes a smelly disaster area that's soaked through with urine.

Any suggestions or advice would be most welcome! I've had guinea pigs for many years, but I'm so busy lately that I'd like to find a way to streamline the cleaning process.

 

[peachyteen]

I suggest using paper pellets or wood pellets in the kitchen instead of care fresh. it'll be cheaper and you'll only need to clean is every 3 days or so (in my experience)

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[barbaramudge]

I've found wood pellets in the kitchen to be best for me. Easy to spot clean and no smell for us.

 

[thecomfycat]

I've found wood pellets in the kitchen to be best for me. Easy to spot clean and no smell for us.

I suggest using paper pellets or wood pellets in the kitchen instead of care fresh. it'll be cheaper and you'll only need to clean is every 3 days or so (in my experience)

Thanks for the suggestion! Do you think it could be spot cleaned with a shop vac, or do you just scoop out the dirty pellets?

 

[barbaramudge]

I scoop out heavily spiked spots, there usually only 2, and then give it a quick stir.


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[ficklewinds]

I use wood pellets in my kitchen area and change them every three days or so, spot checking as needed with a scoop. No smell, no fuss, and so far working very well. As for daily cleaning.... It depends on my mood. Some days I just use a brush and dustpan and sweep up the poo or some days I hand vac when I have the piggies moved to their run. Hand vac is usually slightly faster although a bit of a pain since mine sucks the fleece up and is hard to maneuver. Never takes more than 15 minutes to remove the patio area, toys, vacuum and redo.

 

[thecomfycat]

I use wood pellets in my kitchen area and change them every three days or so, spot checking as needed with a scoop. No smell, no fuss, and so far working very well. As for daily cleaning.... It depends on my mood. Some days I just use a brush and dustpan and sweep up the poo or some days I hand vac when I have the piggies moved to their run. Hand vac is usually slightly faster although a bit of a pain since mine sucks the fleece up and is hard to maneuver. Never takes more than 15 minutes to remove the patio area, toys, vacuum and redo.

Thanks! I'm definitely going to try wood pellets in my kitchen- it's such a pain to clean up the care fresh that gets tracked all over the fleece.

Do you put fleece over the wood pellets, or just leave them as is?

 

[barbaramudge]

I leave mine as is.

 

[ficklewinds]

I leave the wood pellets in the kitchen uncovered.

 

[pigger123]

I recently switched from wood pellets to carefresh in my kitchen. My spoiled pigs didn't like walking on the hard pellets and I didn't like cleaning up heavy wet sawdust. I don't seem to have the problem of them tracking carefresh onto the fleece. I use a small dustpan to scoop out the wet bedding every day, and it works fine for me. I don't think a vacuum would work very well for soggy paper. As far as spot cleaning the fleece, I've tried using a hand vac and it was a disaster. I use a plastic spoon to scoop poops into a dustpan, super quick and easy.

 

[thecomfycat]

Perhaps it's because one of my guinea pigs has long hair, but they manage to drag tons of the paper bedding across the entire cage within 24 hours. It's a huge mess. So far after 2 days of using wood pellets, the fleece has stayed cleaner. I think it helps that the wood pellets are heavier so they don't get dragged when the piggies jump in and out of the kitchen. They never just walk over the little lip- they always hop in and out. That probably adds to the mess as well

 

[bpatters]

It'll also help if you trim that guinea pig's skirts. That will also reduce the chances of a urinary tract infection, as the genital area will stay cleaner and drier.

 

[thecomfycat]

It'll also help if you trim that guinea pig's skirts. That will also reduce the chances of a urinary tract infection, as the genital area will stay cleaner and drier.

Thanks! I do keep her hair trimmed on the sides and especially her back end. But her hair is still a bit fluffy underneath. That part I can't really trim on my own since she's not a huge fan of her monthly hair cuts, but it doesn't seem to get dirty so I don't really worry about it (she's mostly white, so it's easy to tell).

 

[prila13]

I have 3 pigs who are litter trained for the most part. I use wood pellets in their box and kitchen area. You still have to spot clean 1-2 times a day. I also use a handheld vac to spot clean their entire cage 1-2 times a day.
Now I have 2 other pigs who aren't litter trained. Their cage I try to use a vac or sweep up poos 2-3 times a day to keep smell down. I'm currently preparing to slowly try to box train them.

 

[Arkin]

I have fleece in the kitchen area, but keep the hay in a bag above a corner litter box. The guinea pigs love to climb in it, but it keeps the hay pretty confined to just that container. I empty it out daily, give it a quick rinse (wash twice a week).
For the poops on the fleece, I use a dustbuster. Takes less than a minute to get all the poops off the fleece. And since the hay is now contained, it makes cleaning very easy and fats.