11 Tips to Spotless Fleece Bedding for Your Guinea Pig

Article 6 of 7 from Guinea Pig 101: Fleece Bedding Guide.

One of the first questions that guinea pig owners ask upon encountering fleece bedding is, "How do you clean all this?"

At first glance, the resulting mess looks daunting. Hay, uneaten scraps of food, and a haphazard scattering of beans are strewn across the floor. The contented culprits are fast asleep, tucked into cozy nooks and hideaways. But don't let the evidence of piggy mayhem intimidate you - keeping a clean cage is easier than you'd think!

Guinea Pig C&C Fleece Cage Tour

It's been a while since our last C&C cage tour. Here's a look at our current spring themed guinea pig cage setup. Can you spot the cavies going about their piggy business?

More cucumber?

"Can I have more cucumber?" -Truffle

Belka, Poof, and Peaches were excited to see their hay rack freshly refilled with a mix of timothy and bluegrass hay.

A multi course dinner

Dinners in this piggy household usually come in several courses, beginning with the main event: fresh leafy greens. As Belka, Truffle, Peaches and Poof share one large food bowl they tend to spread themselves out in an X formation for maximum reach.

Deck the cage!

Now that the cage has finally been decorated, all the piggies are officially ready for Christmas! We cordially invite you to take a tour of the holiday cage.

Vertical hay rack in action

Here's a clip showing the piggies vertical hay rack setup. Poof and Truffle can be seen yanking out strands of hay from the ground level while Belka climbs to reach choice strands higher up. After investigating the camera, Peaches joins in on the munching.

Timothy hay comparison

After the piggies finished their sample of Small Pet Select's 2nd cut timothy hay (read the review here), we were curious to see how KMS Hayloft's 2nd cut timothy hay would compare. We placed a small order for everyone to try out. For a visual comparison, click to enlarge the image above or magnify it here.

Guinea pig DIY: Acrylic backed C&C grid cage

Truffle and Poof gaze at each other from opposite sides of the acrylic

Many guinea pig owners are undoubtedly familiar with finding all sorts of things outside the confines of their cavies cage. Hay, poop, bedding and pellets are the most common culprits. Occasionally stray bits of fruit or vegetables make their way across the room, no doubt launched by a pig in an energetic moment.

Current C&C cage setup for 6 guinea pigs

Revy and Abby-Roo's quarters

Our humans decided to remodel our cage after Abby-Roo came to live with Revy. At the moment they reside in a 2x4 C&C grid living area while the rest of us guinea pigs (Belka, Truffle, Peaches and Poof) share a 3x5 grid area with a 2x1 second floor loft.

Multi flavored hay rack

Since we are spoiled little guinea pigs, we get three different types of hay in our vertical hay rack: timothy, meadow and orchard grass.

This picture illustrates how the flavors are stacked at different levels, similar to a multi layered cake. We can reach different types by climbing up and down the sides of the rack.

A guinea pig's morning exercises

Some humans make it a point to exercise in the morning. Well, Belka is a cavy who also enjoys an early workout. She takes advantage of the space available in our C&C fleece cage to sprint laps, wind around obstructions, leap over objects and hurdle upstairs. Her favorite obstacles include pigloos, tunnels, huts, tents, food bowls and anything else she can find lying around the cage.

Revy's Guinea Pig C&C Cage Expansion - Second floor loft

Surveying her new domain

For those of you interested in guinea pig C and C cage layouts, Revy would like to show off her newly remodeled cage! Our contractors (aka the humans) gave her cage an upgrade last weekend, adding in a second floor loft and ramp. She had to put down a sizeable piggy bean payment and borrow some from the neighboring pigs, but thinks it was well worth it.

Our C&C fleece cage home upgrades

Whee guinea pigs got upgraded from our previous cage setup this week, and have been enjoying exploring our new home. Yes, it's true: the bigger your piggy's cage, the healthier and happier he/she will be! We agree that it is now mansion sized, but we are still waiting on a more palatial upgrade. Can you spot us in the pigture above?

Hay Solutions: Vertical hay rack

Hay is an essential staple of every guinea pig's diet, and should be available for your piggy to munch on freely at all times. One of the things an owner has to decide is how to give hay to their guinea pig. Whee here at the Cali Cavy Collective have experimented with many different methods of hay dispensing and would like to share our experiences with each method.

Revy munching hay from her vertical hay rack

A vertical hay rack is our humans most recent solution to dispensing hay. Ours is a simple DIY version made from bent C&C grids, coroplast and zip ties. It is secured onto the side of the cage with a large binder clip for easy removal.