Cleaning Potty area when using fleece?

[Sparrow.]

I'm sure this is a topic that is quite common, but looking through the forum, I haven't been able to find exactly what I'm looking for...

I have been playing around with the idea of having a potty area for my guinea pigs. I have been using fleece with towels underneath, and additional puppy pads for extra absorption. I sweep the cage in the morning and in the evening and wash the towels and fleece every three days.

It is a reasonable amount of work and effort, however, I was wondering if providing a potty area for the guinea pigs that would be cleaned daily would decrease the amount of work that has to be done throughout the day?

For reference purposes, I have two males and a 2 x 6 c&c cage

 

[Soecara]

What you might be thinking of is what we call a kitchen area. Guinea pigs can't be potty trained but are more inclined to do their business where they eat and where they sleep, so if you have a dedicated kitchen area where you contain all of their food and their water bottles you can catch most of their waste (for two boars it may be a good idea to have two separate kitchen areas).

Here is a link to a forum search for kitchen https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/search.php?searchid=457772
and here is a link to the kitchens in the guinea pig cages store https://www.guineapigcagesstore.com/kitchens

 

[Sparrow.]

Thank you! That is exactly what I had in mind. I might have to make one myself, as Ireland is very limited what it comes to things like that, but DIY'ing a kitchen area shouldn't be much of an issue

 

[spy9doc]

One other option you might consider is using a litter pan.

My cage is a 5x2 with a 2x2 offset loft where the loft has everything that the main level has. I use sewn fleece liners over incontinence pads which has worked well for us. For years, I have used litter pans in the cage with one upstairs and down. I use a kitten litter pan with litter in the bottom covered by a layer of hay. The "kids" love being able to do everything in one place.......eating hay, using the toilet, and even sleeping in it. Some folks turn their noses up at the thought of the piggies eating where they poop, but don't they do that anyway? All cavies eat their poop as a way of ingesting all the nutrients they can.

As an FYI, don't even think of buying one of those little triangular corner litter pans! My piggies have never liked them and won't use them. And, you need one of the size that an adult cavy can stretch out in. I'll post a link below to the kind I use. My setup eliminates the need for a hay rack which my cavies used, but never consumed enough hay as they do now.

People who use wood pellets love them......@bpatters being the most notable. I tried wood pellets some time ago and didn't care for them (neither did my cavies), but I'm not adverse to trying them again in the future. Many people like the separate kitchen area, but I need all the room that I have just to provide a small bit of running room so the litter pan was the next best option.

https://www.amazon.com/Van-Ness-Sma...=1519082659&sr=8-8&keywords=kitten+litter+box
(broken link removed)

 

[Kiwi_girl]

We have a large 2x2 kitchen area for our five females with all their hay and some water. It cuts down on the mess tremendously! We created a the 2x2 box out of coroplast and we use wood pellets in it and fleece in the rest of the cage. All the hay and pellets along with much pee and poop stay in there leaving the rest very easy to clean with a light sweep each day. We love it!!