General Our Spot Cleaning and Cage Cleaning Tips!

[Zuidy]

I have heard of many different ways that everyone cleans their cage daily and when they do a major clean out.

So, I thought it might be a good idea to create a thread where everybody can put their tips so we can direct people with questions on cleaning to it.

My tips--

Spot Cleaning Daily: I have 4 "potty pads" around my cage and 1 in my playpen. I put them in the messiest areas of the cage and pen-- Under the hay manger, under fleece forests and hiding spots, and high traffic areas of the cage-- so I can take them outside and clean them off. Every day I pick up everything out of their cages and take out the pads. I place the pads in a laundry basket so I can take them outside and brush them off using my Fur-Be-Gone Brush. Then I get out my shop vac which is mounted in the Piggy room above their ramp, and plug it in and vacuum up all of their poos and small pieces of hay. Then I use a dustpan and brush to scoop up any other pieces of hay and things that the vacuum couldn't pick up. Then I replace everything in the cage and their pads and we are all good to go!

Major Weekly Cage Cleaning: I usually find out more things to do every week with the major cage cleaning, but here is what I mainly do. I first get a bowl of clear vinegar and proportion it, 50/50 water and vinegar. This is the most helpful cage cleaning tool. I roll up the fleece from my cages and take them outside, flapping them off and brushing them off. Then I put them in the washer, set to a large water level, and mix in detergent and baking soda. I start the washer and go back to the cage. Then I pick up anything loose on the Coroplast and scrub it down with the vinegar solution, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I dry it off and replace it with spare liners and I am good to go! I place in fresh hay if need be as well as give them extra pellets just..... for an end of week treat. I am not quite done, however. I then take out their food bowls and water bottles and scrub them out with hot water and vinegar and let them sit. Then I dry them and I am good to go again!

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Key Tips:

1: Have a dust pan and brush, and vacuum on hand. They really are helpful for cage cleaning.

2: Use potty pads around high traffic areas of the cage so you can just take them outside and clean them off.

3: Have fun cleaning! It's dirty, but you will feel good at the end of the day when you can take a final sigh-- IT'S ALL DONE!

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So share your tips everyone!

 

[pinky]

I have two fleece pads per cage so I do half a cage at a time and my pigs just move to the other side. I take out the fleece and uhaul pad from one side and I spray down that half with the 50/50 vinegar and water solution I have in the spray bottle. I have two laundry baskets stacked together that I put the soiled bedding in. I spray and then wipe that half of the cage with paper towels or one of the scrap pieces of uhaul pad I saved. I put in clean uhaul padding and fleece on that side. As soon as I do, my pigs know to move to other half. I repeat the process for that cage and my others. Unless the weather is really bad, I carry the soiled bedding outside in the stacked laundry basketsand shake out one piece at a time and put those pieces into the other laundry basket. When they're all done, I stack the full laundry basket on top of the empty one and carry it all down to my laundry room. I wash the fleece pads separate from the uhaul padding which lints a lot. I've got it all synchronized so it gets done pretty fast.

 

[scruffytufty]

i have a bad issue with hay sticking to the fleece, when i use a dustpan and brush to sweep the brush sticks to the fleece and pulls it! and if i use a vacuum it sucks the fleece up not the hay! takes forever to shake it off, good to know if any ideas for that

 

[abi.25]

Three month old Maya is new to our family and not yet as well trained to use the litter box as is Chester.

how do you train them to use the litter tray?

 

[pinky]

Apparently not so different! I keep a box of latex/nitrile gloves with the piggy supplies to removed the soiled areas in the litter box and replace it with fresh. My routine is pretty much the same except that I found the broom and dustpan to be useless. I mostly pick up by hand and use the Dustbuster for everything else.

Want to mention a new development that is not welcome. I find that the piggy cage begins to smell in less than 24 hours and I'm not sure that it is the fleece. Three month old Maya is new to our family and not yet as well trained to use the litter box as is Chester. I suspect that there is just more urine on the fleece. However, when I take the pads out to launder them, I do the sniff test and they don't smell that strong.

I'm wondering if the crevices in the coroplast box are collecting waste?? This week when I do the major cleaning, I think that I will take out the coro boxes, take them outside, and give them a thorough cleaning with bleach vs. the normal 50% vinegar solution.

Curious to know if any of you have experienced the same issue?

My males have never smelled but my cage of three females does. My female pair doesn't. I'm not sure why there's a difference.

 

[Zuidy]

I use a vacuum with a brush attachment so it doesn't suck up the fleece but sucks up the poop and stuff.

 

[pinky]

You really don't train them so much as they train themselves......or not.

Chester spend most of his life in a large pet store cage with a small loft that I had built for him. He knew to go to the loft for pellets, hay and water. When I built the large C&C cage, I didn't know if he would be able to make the transition.

In the smaller cage, he knew that fleece was for sleeping and relaxing, and rarely used the toilet there. He tended to use one corner of the cage where there was litter for the toilet. Again, I didn't know if he would make the same connection with the new, much larger cage. Fortunately, he's a smart little man.

Chester trained Maya.......we can't take credit for it. Of course, each of them occasionally pees on the fleece and there are stray poops other than in the litter box. For the most part though, they tend to use the litter box. They both have signals when they need to go back to their cage to use the toilet, and I generally put them down in the litter box with a couple of reassuring pats.

I'll attach pics of the litter box.......it's called Wonderbox and can be found at PetSmart. I cut a doorway in the box (it's cardboard-type material) with leaving a lip to contain the litter. I line it with a puppy pad and then put litter on top. I particularly like Planet Petco Crumbled
Paper Bedding.

The litter looks a lot like Fresh News. Sun Seed is another one. I like them all.

 

[Precia]

Do you have to replace the wonderbox after a while? I would imagine you would since it is cardboard.

 

[abi.25]

ive got no chance then my girls use the WHOLE cage as a litter tray lol