Litter Training Easiest way to use a litter

[erowe1362]

What's the easiest way to train a guinea to use a litter? I have 3 guinea pigs and I'm tired of having to spend so much money on bedding bedding because they don't care where they pee and poo. Suggestions?

 

[sallyvh]

Guinea pigs cannot be litter trained. Some of them will pick their favourite spots to use the bathroom but you will usually find that guinea pig's poop anywhere and everywhere.

There's not much you can do, guinea pigs tend to use the bathroom most where they eat so maybe try and keep their food towards one end of the cage.

This is why many of use fleece, so you can sweep up the poops then wash and reuse. Fleece usually works well if you have a "kitchen", a removable area where you use disposable bedding. It's generally good to put their hay, water and pellets in this area. I've found that having a kitchen with my fleece is working great and keeps mess down.

 

[pinky]

I use Fresh News for cats in a little less than half my cages and fleece pads on the other side. A low lipped coroplast tray separates the two sides. Their hay, water bottle and food is on the bedding side. A single pigloo is on the bedding side in one cage with one pig and on the fleece side with a small, single layer of fleece under the two pigloos in the cage for two guinea pigs. Both cages are 2x5. In each cage, the fleece side stays relatively clean and I use less than half the bedding I used to use. I found that when I had an all fleece cage, it got smelly fast and I had to replace the fleece every 3 days or so, even though I spot cleaned 3x a day.

 

[CavyChrissy]

Agreed, mine also do their business wherever they please... which means EVERYWHERE! I've found I prefer fleece over wood pellets for the entire cage. For me, this is the simplest to keep clean and keep smell down. I do change the fleece twice a week because it just looks gross after about 4 days. I tried changing it just once a week but it was getting a little smelly. I tried a kitchen, but it didn't work for me because my pigs still pooped everywhere and then I had two different types of beddings to clean. Another reason I like all fleece is because I have lots of space to move my hidey houses around every day so that they are not laying in a soiled spot for many days in a row.

But you can see that there are many options and everyone develops the system that works best for them. So keep reading and trying suggestions and you'll figure out what works for you!

 

[dogsonmtbikes1]

They sell fleece pads?

 

[pinky]

They sell fleece pads?

Fleece pads are easy to make if you have a sewing machine. I have fleece on two sides and a single layer of uhaul padding in the middle.

 

[peachyteen]

sorry this is a bit late but one of my piggies are litter trained. we had a small corner litter box (no top wire) and put pellet type litter in it, and every night we would spot clean the cage and put the poops in the litter. it took a little over a week to figure it out

 

[LoveMyPigs25]

sorry this is a bit late but one of my piggies are litter trained. we had a small corner litter box (no top wire) and put pellet type litter in it, and every night we would spot clean the cage and put the poops in the litter. it took a little over a week to figure it out

So your pigs only poop in the litter box?
How many pigs?
They don't just poop where they lay?

 

[Piggly12]

My 3 pigs are fairly good at using their litter boxes. I think that approximately 50-60% of their poop is in the corner trays, which, though it is not everything, it still means 50-60% less I have to hoover up.

Generally, most pigs will poop where they sleep (I think this is because they cannot be bothered to go to the litter box in the middle of the night).

I put a corner litter box filled with ‘Back 2 Nature Small Animal Bedding and Litter’ in each corner, and put their hay rack over one of them (I am working on making a corflute tray to make a big kitchen, as most of the poops by the hay rack are on the ground outside the litter corner, which is probably because my guinea pigs are too big to fit in the tray with the hay)

I ‘taught’ them to use it when we first got them. Every time we held them, I noticed they often peed the moment they were put back in their cage. So, every time I put them back in their cage from then on, I put them into their litter tray. Also, every time I caught them pooping/peeing on the fleece, I quickly scooted them into their litter tray. Now, they voluntarily use the trays by themselves.

I also found that they love to pee on any hay that they have pulled onto the floor. I found that if I put a very thin layer of hay (I used the small dusty pieces at the bottom of the bag) on top of the litter in the tray, they are encouraged to do their business there, and associate the texture of the litter (under the hay) with pooping.

 

[peachyteen]

So your pigs only poop in the litter box?
How many pigs?
They don't just poop where they lay?

only one of our piggies were completely litter trained (we have 2) but we took the litter box out because it doesn't fit well (a corner box, but their home is octagon so)
Peanut got the hang of it pretty easy, it took maybe 1 week before she started to start using it. Olive started to use it as well but was also pooping under her hidey house.
and again, it was just awkward in their home because of the shape.