New to site - seeking help

[Batmamma]

Hey all pigger moms!
I've got a situation here & I'll try to be brief. My family adopted two cute little guys, Phineas & Ferb, over a year ago. I developed an allergy, which is so bizarre. I have no other allergies I am aware of. (Sneezing, itching, eye-watering, hand-swelling type of reaction.) I assumed the main responsibility in the adoption, but they were pets for my son. The foster mom knew that & had met my son. He is great with them & loves them, yet cage cleaning is a dire situation. We had first made a great C&C cage, but it was so big, that reaching across it was nearly impossible for me & my husband doesn't have the time. (Since my allergy developed, I can't even go near them...sadly.:weepy We scaled down to a cage that was purchased, but it is honestly terrible & I feel bad that we haven't had a chance yet to rebuild the C&C cage. The current cage was purchased because it had a slide out drawer that I had hoped would make the job easier for my son. Unfortunately, no. I am at my wits end. He loves them, but is sad that he can't seem to stay on top of poop pick up. We are talking 6 square feet of flying pellets, hay & pooples!:yuck: I am going to buy him his own vacuum to help him, but unless I can put some walls up, I don't think this will eliminate the problem, but rather make more work for a kid who is already burdened with homework, chores & other activities. I had considered a very large plastic bin, if & only if I could find one large enough. We had discussed drilling quarter sized holes for two rows around the top of this bin on all sides & also putting holes into the lid, so we could secure the bin if need be. The only bin I found is larger than the current cage they are in, if you consider only the bottom part. They have ramps, but mostly stay in the bottom. (They seem to like to flip pooples out from the upper floors.) I am thinking if a plastic bin with drilled holes is NOT a bad idea, I could always get two & fix a tube between, giving them more space. The point of the bins is this: my son could take the piggers out & put them in their play pen, then easily dump out the dirty bedding, wipe the bin down & clean up.

Wow...I am terrible at being brief! Any replies are great! Any questions welcome! I'll have to get some pictures, because they are so great. My son is really upset at the idea of getting rid of them, but he knows that unless we can simplify the clean up, he needs to find a home for them with a family who has the time to deal with this kind of mess/cage type. If we could only keep them from kicking it all over the room...

 

[arcangel]

well cleaning with allgies is a problem i have to deal with also i where gloves and take pills but i only get inchey when i clean the cage. the Bin could work but i don't if it is a good idea hopefully one of the more experts will help u. O and were not all piggie moms I'm a boy. so im a piggie daddy

 

[bpatters]

The bins aren't a good idea -- not enough room, and not enough air circulation.

But first, are you allergic to the pigs or to the hay? Very few people are allergic to guinea pigs, but lots are to hay. You can test that out by rubbing one arm against a pig and one against a pile of hay and see which one you react to.

If you're allergic to the pigs, it would be better to rehome them. Unless you want to live in a medicated state, the allergies won't get better.

But if you're allergic to the hay, you can try a different kind of hay. Many people who are allergic to timothy do just fine with bluegrass or orchard grass. Oxbow sells orchard grass in small quantities, so you could buy a small bag of that and try it out to see if it works. If so, it can be ordered in larger quantities at a cheaper price.

You can also have someone who isn't allergic to the pigs put their hay in paper bags -- lunch bags work well. When they need a refill, you just plop a bag in the cage. The hay will be much more contained, and will likely improve the situation.

If your son is willing to do the cage cleaning, you might re-work your C&C cage so that it's not so wide and your son can reach across it. A large shop vac will suck all the stuff out very easily, and perhaps your husband could be in charge of emptying the canister into a large garbage bag and sealing it up.

 

[Batmamma]

O and were not all piggie moms I'm a boy. so im a piggie daddy

lol sorry! Even though this is regarding my SON's guinea pigs, I did not consider that in my post. D'oh!

 

[Batmamma]

The bin I found online is 132 quarts - 18" tall, 34" long, 28" deep (or close to that - I'd have to look at the site again.) I was thinking about linking a couple, but I've seen a few places that mention air circulation. In the summer, we had a fan blowing on the cage on low, because the air can get a bit stuffy upstairs. Can you give me more information/advice about the importance of air circulation? I won't do bins if there is even a tiny concern, but I had figured if the lids were off & I drilled holes in the side (several half-dollar size holes, up high around all sides) it would be okay. These guys really seem to kick their bedding, poops & hay around. Getting good advice from experienced pigger parents is appreciated.

And regarding the allergy to hay - it seems doubtful, but I'm going to double check. I've been around timothy hay before & never had a problem. The hay is not always present when I have a reaction. We clipped pigs toenails just a couple days ago - they were brought downstairs & within minutes my eyes started itching & watering. We are considering re-homing them, it is just a bummer, because they are really sweet. I'm trying to weigh all possible options at this point. Thanks for the help!

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

I have seen where people make their C&C cages so that the front flips down and they just push the litter into a garbage can. It looks fast and easy. Not much poo or litter to touch if you just use a dust pan.

How wide was your C&C cage? My son is 4 and can reach across our cage which is only 2 grids wide. Maybe lowering the cage will make it easier to reach across for cleaning? Mine is only one grid high off the ground or 14 inch.

My mom was allergic to the guinea pigs I had when I was a kid. If she touched them she would break out in hives. Luckily I was a teenager and took care of the piggies all on my own. I'm not sure of the age of your son since you didn't mention.

How high are the sides of your cage? Do you need higher solid sides? Mine are 5 inches high and my GP's rarely kick litter or poo out.

 

[Batmamma]

I've been thinking on this for the past couple days & I think I've come up with a plan for a cage. It was inspired by a cage I saw here on this site - bunk bed cage. What I'm going to do though, is make two sides of the cage higher - the two that will be nearest walls. I'm also going to pick up a little shop vac for my son. (By the way, he is 11 & very responsible. The cleaning is the only thing he is not great at, but I think a good portion of that has to do with the cage.)

Our C&C was too wide at 3 sq & too long at 6 squares - it was also two levels, which made the bottom part hard to clean. Bad thinking on our part. Even worse is we didn't think on it & re-figure the cage, but rather bought a cage that I'm ashamed of. (It's why I'm brainstorming again now.) They loved all the space, but what a hassle for us!

My son seems enthused about it again, with the shop vac in mind. I'm coming up with a solution to motivate both him (and my husband) to make sure that it stays clean. I'm going to get on this cage idea for now - I am a planner via drawing. I have to wait until tomorrow to verify my allergy. I'm hoping I'm wrong & it is just the hay, because I really like Phineas & Ferb. The are the sweetest things & they really love me, for some reason.

Oh, also...our piggers are big boys. I'm not familiar with breed, but they are orange with white on the shoulders, smooth hair. They are really active, running & rabbitting about in their cage a lot. At current, my cage of shame has an upper level & they seem to love pooping up their & then they chase each other...the doodles go flying. We adopted them a little over a year ago, after doing research on what kind of pet would be best. Gpigs seemed like a great fit & they still do, granted that we can rethink this cage. Even if I am allergic to them, I've worked around it so far. The cage was getting picked every other day & thoroughly cleaned weekly before I started sneezing constantly...sigh...
(Gah...sorry long reply...)