Introducing...

[piggieluver101]

Congratz! I cant wait for pics!

Need a C&C. YAY for Oxbow!

[guinealuv93]

Thanks everyone! I asked my mom about a C&C cage and she said she'll think about it, I'm pretty sure it will be a yes. As for now, I put ginger in the cage I have, and made her comfy in her (hopefully) semi-perminate home. I'm doing tons of research on guineapigcages.com about C&C cages. I have a question about fleece, can you just sweep the little droppings up into a dust pan from time to time, or do you need to vaccume? Thanks!

[BABY'S MOM]

Some people use a small broom/brush to sweep up the mess.

Some other people use the vacume. It depends on your personal preference.

Here's what I do - I am a clean NUT!!

I completely clean both cages out every day. On top of the coroplast, I have towels, then I have fleece on top. Each boy has a fleece hidey hut. Each boy also has a fleece square that goes underneath their food dishes, because they're always spilling their food, it also extends under the water bottle to catch the drops of water. There's not too many leaks.

Well every day, each of their cages gets completely stripped! If the hidey house is clean, then I leave it for another day or so. But everything else goes into the washing machine.

But you will find a schedule, and routine that will work best for you.

Best of luck!!

[guinealuv93]

Ok, Thanks so much! That will make it alot easier for me instead of changing the litter every few days. With fleece, how often do you rinse out the cage and sanatize it, if any. Thanks again!

[BABY'S MOM]

I sanitize my cages every day. But for a normal person, once a week should be fine.

To sanitize fleece - I wash all fleece, and towels in unscented laundry soap, with 1 cup bleach (hot water in washing machine).

To sanitize cage - I wash bottom of cage with HOT, soapy water. Rinse out really well. Then run a 1/4 cup vinegar, and 1/4 hot water around , and then rinse out bottom of cage again. And you're done.

You might want to ask another piggy mom for advice on what they do, because I am a clean NUT.
But hope this helps, and again, in time you'll find your own cleaning routine!

[cielo]

OMG Baby's mom you do that everyday?! It is good twice a week if you are using fleece.

[BABY'S MOM]

I openly admit to being a clean NUT!! Ha! Ha!

I can't help it though. Brown Sugar is such a messy guy, and it drives me crazy, when I look in his cage, and see a BIG mess. He pees, and poops, everywhere! He will on purpose spill his food dishes.

So then I think, well if I'm cleaning Brown Sugar's cage - I may as well clean Sylvester's while I'm at it. Sylvester seems to be neater than his brother. Sylvester pees in one corner, poops in his hidey hut, and only spills his food when he's startled. He's still quite jumpy, and if he's at his dish, and I walk in the room. He'll run around his cage like crazy, until he finds his hidey hut.

But when I clean, my timing is getting faster. It only takes me now 20 minutes, per 2x4 cage. So that's why I thought it'd be a good idea for other mom's to share their routines, because I'm not "normal".

[AmysAnimals]

I dont clean the entire cage everyday, but like Babys Mom, Im a bit of a nut case when it comes to cleaning. Typically I pooper-scoop about 4 times a day or more. Oscar really doesnt get much around his cage but he does poo and pee alot under his pigloo. I bought a handy little craft-bead vaccum that is tiny and works great for two bucks.

Heres a sample of my daily schedule as far as cleaning:

-Wake up- Pooper scoop, sweep up food, feed breakfast and change the diapers that I keep under Oscars pigloo (I get the cheapest kind and they work great at keeping him clean and dry).

-Lunch time- Ive just gotten home from college so I pooper scoop again, whip off Oscars paws and take him out for some snuggle time.

-Dinner time-Pooper scoop again, get his dinner ready, feed him and have some floor/snuggle time.

-Bed time- Change his diapers again, pooper scoop one last time, kiss him good night and turn his night light on.

I repeat this process every day and it really does help to keep things fresh and clean. I clean his entire cage out every weekend, it only takes me about ten-fifteen minutes. I have a plastic thick peice of material on the bottom, 2 towels, a peice of fleece all the way up the walls and then another peice of fleece just for the floor. Whenever I clean his cage, I dispose of all the fleece, wash the towels and use some Super-Pets cage cleaner (smells sooooo good) as well as hot soap and water. I rinse his water bottle out with boiling water and refill it, refill his feeder if needed,put more hay in his cage, clean his pigloo with the above methods as well as his litter box, and fill the little hay storage bin. For me, this works out great and keeps everything nice, neat and pretty.

Ps--I know what you mean Baby's Mom, Oscar isnt even messy and rarely get things around his cage and yet Im still in there compulsively cleaning! The thing that bugs me is the hay that gets around, so I spend about 15 minutes picking up the hay and putting it all back into his little hay feeder.

[guinealuv93]

I am definatly going fleece after reading this. I was a little hesitant at first due to reading that you had to vaccum. A craft bead vaccum sounds like it would be great to use. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it? Thanks again!

[AmysAnimals]

I got mine at Pat Catans, these craft stores are only located in Ohio and Pennsylvania though. I got mine for two dollars because it was a defective version. I havent had any problems with it though so I dont really know why its defective. If you have a Michaels craft store near you, they probably have them too. Lemme tell you, fleece is the best! Its so easy to clean. Heres a picture of the vaccum I have. Mine is blue since Oscars a boy



It works great and is very quiet. This one is listed on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/BEAD-VAC-BRAND-N...ayphotohosting