Cleaning About to own 4 Guinea Pigs! C and C Maintenance Tips?

[Eric580]

Hello, I have a c and c cage with three levels for my piggies. My oldest girl, Georgette, recently passed and now her two sisters Roxie ( Cream black and white) and Trixie (Black and orange) are going to get two new sisters from a rescue nearby. Trixie was an adopted guinea pig and I love rescuing animals. Now, I vacuum my cage every day for the poop, but sometimes I get busy and miss a day. With four guinea pigs, this may be a lot. How can I keep my cage clean? Roxie and Trixie are semi litter-trained and I will add a bin under their hay wheel. Any help is appreciated!

 

[PeanutnCookie]

First of all, I would suggest adding another water bottle. four pigs is a lot, and if the bottle emptied and you didn't notice, they wouldn't have any other water. Also, that hay ball isn't safe. Pigs feet can get stuck and their feet or legs can break. I would suggest a basket of some sort. There are a lot of ideas in the gallery, as well as different set up ideas overall. how much food do they get every day? just noticing, is that rope the only thing holding the ramp on to the top? That's not secure at all.

These are the cage size standards. You have a 2x5 cage, which is the standard for 3 guinea pigs. If you want 4, the preferred size is a 2x6, which is one grid bigger than you have.

Cage Size Standards​
# of Pigs​	Minimum​	PREFERRED​	in cm​	in grids​
	.7 sq m	more is better	76 x 91	2x3 grids
	.7 sq m	1 sq m	76 x 127	2x4 grids
	1 sq m	1.2 sq m	76 x 157	2x5 grids
	1.2 sq m	more is better	76 x 193	2x6 grids

For maintenance, I usually just clean the food bowl and water bottles a few times a week and make sure nothing is broken. I don't use fleece, but I used to, so I don't vacuum or shake anything out. When I did have fleece, I found it easier to spread it out more tightly and sweep/vacuum up every couple days. It's fine if you miss a day, the cage isn't going to explode or anything

 

[PiggyGrandma15]

Just to repeat from above ... one piggy needs at least a 2x3, add a grid in length for each additional piggies (meaning 2x4 for 2 pigs, 2x5 for 3 pigs, 2x6 for 4 pigs and so on).

I also think that even with one pig, having a second water bottle as a safe gard is a food idea. Especially since you said that you sometimes skip a day in the cleanout. What if one gets clogged? Or broken? Or emptied? Or if more than one pig needs a drink at the same time? For 4 pigs, I'd say go to 3 bottles ... at least. (As I return to pics I see bricks on the other side, is there a second bottle there already?)

Also, the loft space that you have don't really count as their square footage, you might find that having a single, but larger loft would work out better. And with 4 piggies, I'd also suggest a second ramp to get to / from the space so that one pig doesn't trap another. The ramps also need to be secured with something much more secure than the rope that it appears to be secured with.

One last thing . .. from the pictures it looks as though the cage is located in an unfinished basement. This isn't ideal as they are social animals that benefit from being around us, it is also so much easier to keep an eye on their health when they are nearby. They are prey animals and hide illness very well. A piggies can go from fine to dead in a few days. It is always better to catch signs of illness early, and them being where you aren't for the majority of the day makes that so much harder. Again, this is based on appearance in the pictures. There is also risk for mold / mildew / large amounts of dust in the basement ... all are causes of URIs.

Please know that I am not saying that anything you are doing is wrong, just sharing what I've picked up on the forum and based upon my best guesses from the pictures you shared.

As far as fleece maintenance, I do a spot sweep every morning after they have breakfast. (Well, after I return from taking my daughter to school, they get breakfast before we do.) I also give the food bowels a cleaning then as needed. Once a week, I do a full cleanout / fleece change. Having taught fleece makes that so much easier to sweep. Right now I have fleece-towel-uhaul-towel-fleece flippable full 2x4 grid pad in place and it is weighted enough that it stays pretty much in place.

 

[Eric580]

Thanks for the input! I'm using bigger grids, so five could only fit. The cm measurements are still the ideal space for 4 cavies. Is my hay ball really unsafe? I've read about them before we got one and have had them since our first piggy with no accidents and it seems really hard for them to shove a foot in and roll it to break it. I will definitely add another bottle that's a great idea. My piggies get a cup of mixed veggies and herbs in the morning, and pellets refilled every evening. Their hay is refilled twice a day. All their ramps are ziptied to the landings, I added the rope to keep them fail-safe and act as a railing lol. I will keep my fleece in place too. Their cage is in the basement, but right by the steps, so we can easily go down from the kitchen and dining room to check. We have two dogs and two cats, so with them away from their wild antics, they are safer and aren't spooked by barking. We are always down there as the laundry room is in the room next to the landing. I don't think I have room for a second ramp though because it would break up their main running space. I haven't noticed any trapping though because they usually just want to get to the hay or food, but a water bottle on each level will protect them from being trapped. Thanks so much!

 

[PeanutnCookie]

Yeah, the thing with the hay ball is it seems safe until something happens. And with four pigs, I would think they would eat it all really fast, and you'll have to refill it constantly. In the long run, I would say it is better to have a hay rack/basket/whatever instead of the ball. I don't think you would necessarily need two ramps, but I agree that it would be better to possible combine the loft into a bigger one, so if for some reason all four were on top they would have more room. Good luck with your new pigs!

 

[Eric580]

I see. I will add a couple more hay mangers so they have enough hay. I love the idea of a bigger loft. How big should I build it?

 

[PeanutnCookie]

Well for two pigs, it is normally recommended for a loft to be 2x2 so it's harder to trap the other, but I'm not sure how big it should be for four pigs. You could do a 2x2 and see if it works, otherwise you can expand it or get rid of it completely. What matters more than just adding a loft is the running space it adds. If it's a small loft, there's not really much room for running around, so technically it doesn't add running space to the cage. If it's bigger, like a 2x3 or more, I would say that adds running room.

 

[Eric580]

Well for two pigs, it is normally recommended for a loft to be 2x2 so it's harder to trap the other, but I'm not sure how big it should be for four pigs. You could do a 2x2 and see if it works, otherwise you can expand it or get rid of it completely. What matters more than just adding a loft is the running space it adds. If it's a small loft, there's not really much room for running around, so technically it doesn't add running space to the cage. If it's bigger, like a 2x3 or more, I would say that adds running room.

Thanks! Can I use cardboard for the bottom of it? I would still cover it with towels and fleece, but I don't want to go through buying a big sheet of coroplast.

 

[PeanutnCookie]

You might be able to, I would think it would deteriorate fast with pee soaking through towels. I haven't used cardboard though, so I'm not sure.

 

[Eric580]

You might be able to, I would think it would deteriorate fast with pee soaking through towels. I haven't used cardboard though, so I'm not sure.

You're right, it would probably need replaced more often.

 

[PiggyGrandma15]

Where are you located? This time of year a lot of sprung raffle event signs start popping up (not to mention the political ones) those are usually corop last and you can often get them for little to nothing after the event / elections.