Big cage problems. Please advise.

[jo's_piggys]

Hi, everybody. I welcome your advice, as I am new to guinea pig care. Here is the background info:
We purchased two guinea pigs, this summer. We were sold two "females" (so as not to have a breeding pair). Returning from a week away, we discovered two new young guinea pigs with the parents. The mom and dad have been in separate cages ever since; the young with Mom. I learned on-line that piggies can become fertile and go into heat within hours of giving birth, so I guess we'll see if more babies are already on the way. The offspring piggies are now almost 6 weeks old.
Our problems: Firstly, the pigs (particularly the lone guy, Teddy) hop around quite a bit, throwing the bedding in a wide circle around the cages. We cannot get control of the mess.
Second, I'm just not satisfied that these smallish, bland pet store cages are great homes for the piggies. I want them to be happy and healthy, and we are playing catch-up because we were not well informed when we got them.
Third, my husband is frustrated with the problems we've encountered and the expense. I need to offer him realistic solutions for cleaning up the mess and providing a great home for the piggies.
Please help. We appreciate your suggestions.
-Jo & piggies: Teddy, Acorn, Pumpkin, & Pilgrim

 

[Ly&Pigs]

If you have them in small pet store cages right now, your best solution will be to build them C&C cages.

Are the babies both females? If one or both of them are male then you need to put the boys in with the father and the girls in with the mother so you don't have more babies. Boars (males) can be sexually mature as young as 3 weeks of age.

 

[citronsoul]

A lot of the people on this forum use fleece as a cheap & clean bedding. You can do a search for "fleece" & you'll probably find a few good threads on that.

 

[o0Ms Jenny0o]

Welcome to the forum!

Yes I agree with both suggestions. I have a C&C cage and love it, so do my pigs. I also use fleece, which I also love! It's keeps my floors much, much much cleaner than bedding, not to mention it's so much cheaper. Read up on C&C cages on this site's homepage and make one, and if you make the sides high enough maybe you could stay with bedding because less would be flying out, but I like fleece the best, personally. Sorry to hear about the petstore screw up, I thought that had happend to me (I know I know, I should've adopted!) I was so nervous!

 

[jo's_piggys]

Hello, again. Thank you for the responses. We have located Choroplast in town and Wal-mart has the cubes, so we will construct the piggies new and improved home tonight. The C&C homes are remarkably inexpensive and obviously much nicer than the generic pet store rodent cages.
About the bedding: I think we are sold on the fleece floor. Not sure, yet, what absorbent material to place underneath.
I have noticed that the food dish in the girls' cage (we believe both offspring to be females) quickly fills with poop and am wondering if this indicates that those piggies would appreciate a litter box(?). If so, are there any suggestions on what might suit them best?
I do thank you for all suggestions. I hope to do more indepth research in the coming weeks, but I don't want the piggies to have to wait that long for a nice, new environment. My time to spend on-line is limited (we have a 9-mo-old and 2.5-year-old). Enjoy your piggies.

 

[o0Ms Jenny0o]

I just put newspaper under my fleece, but some people use those puppy pads, I don't think there is much difference. You could go ahead and get one of those corner litter boxes and place it in the darkest corner of the cage, but few have had much success with litter boxes, but you can always try it! I had the same problem with the whole food dish thing and I got a smaller dish and problem solved! Now it's just too small for them to fit their little (well, big) tushies in. Heh, good luck!