When it comes to smelly guinea pigs/ cavies cages there are various factors that come in play:

• Wrong choice of bedding
• Right choice of bedding and failure to use it the right way
• Failure in cleaning
• Improper guinea pigs/ cavies cage organisation

We will look into what bedding choices you have, how to use it, how to do cleaning and frequency of cleaning. All these will be based on what guinea pig owners have tried and found working. We will try and give you videos and images where we can to give you maximum help and you and your guinea pigs can live comfortably and healthy.

 

OPTION #1. FLEECE

If you have googled guinea pig bedding, you will definitely see fleece. If you hate doing laundry, you might not like this option, but read on maybe it is the only option that will work for you. First, you will need to know what fleece is and what is required of it (this is an important read). Read detailed information on fleece here. Then continue below!

If you use fleece, you will need to have a kitchen area. What is this? This is an area where your guinea pigs will be feeding and most of the time will go to the bathroom there as you will notice. See images below to have an idea of how it will look. You have to get creative with the design. The kitchen area crate can be made from coroplast or just get a plastic tray big enough to fit your guinea pigs. This is also the hay area, where you will have your hay rack or hay feeder. Image credit goes to guinea pig cages store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good plastic trays you can get are:

1. Petmate Open Cat Litter Box, Blue Mesa/Mouse Grey, 4 Sizes

2. KittyGoHere Senior Cat Litter Box 24″ x 20″ x 5″. Sand color. Opening is 12″ wide and 3″ from the floor. MADE IN THE USA. Other colors are available under PuppyGoHere.

If you go for coroplast, you can get it here for a good price (you will have to design it): 48 in. x 96 in. x 0.157 in. White Corrugated Plastic Sheet

In the kitchen area you can choose to put fleece that you will be changing out frequently, or go for another substrate bedding that is great in absorption and that will not smell. The substrate can even go for long without changing. A great example is HARDWOOD WOOD STOVE PELLETS.  This has been praised by very many owners. If you do not like woody smells or are allergic to them, do not get these pellets. They are not strong, but you will notice a woody smell. Another bedding that has started to become popular and that is super absorbent is Dr. Hemp All Natural Pet Bedding Bag, 8-Quart. Other types of bedding commonly used and given thumbs up for the kitchen area are Aubiose Pet Bedding or  Easibed Shredded Wood Bedding – 20 kg / Easibed Shredded Wood Bedding 20kg – Horse Bedding/Poultry Chickens Bedding.

Above, you have learnt how fleece is used and how you will organize your cage to include a kitchen area, and what bedding to use in the kitchen area.

Let’s now look at cleaning frequency.

When using fleece, it has to be removed washed and replaced after every 2-3 days, depending on how you see fit or “smell fit.”

This is why we said, if you are not about cleaning, you may not like this option. We will throw in some cleaning videos below, where you can even have a look at organisation and what others are doing. Some of the cleaning videos will show you how the lack of a kitchen area leads to a messy cage, but its your choice.

See Spot cleaning video

 

See videos on complete cleaning

 

OPTION #2. HARDWOOD WOOD STOVE PELLETS

You can use hardwood wood stove pellets for your entire cage or you can mix them up with fleece. Your choice. In this case we will look into using these pellets without fleece. Amazingly, according to owners who have used them, they have not noticed any guinea pig urine smell and they go for weeks without changing them out. All you do is scoop out areas you find soiled. These pellets are very economical as they cost about $5 for a 40-pound bag and easy to clean. They are heavy though. For those who hate too much cleaning, this one will be your best friend. DO NOT just use any wood pellets, most have strong wood odors especially pine and cedar, which are softwoods and are harmful to you and your guinea pigs, get HARDWOOD WOOD STOVE PELLETS. These just have a mild woody smell.  DO NOT also use wood pellets that have accelerants.

Lets take a look at this informative clip here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OPTION #3. AUBIOSE

(Guinea pig owners say it gets stuck to your guinea pigs bum).

To get a better feel of Aubiose Pet Bedding, watch the clips below: