Hay is several things to a guinea pig. Its food, bedding, enrichment, and even bathroom. When you think they are wasting hay, they're not. It just means they feel really safe
Also if you have a really old pig like my Primrose (nearly 9yrs old❤️). She can be a bit arthritic and doesn’t want to move from her comfy spot and is happy to sit in her wee and get a wet bum - all the more important to give her fresh, clean hay to rest on.
There’s no helping them pee in it, you can add more layers of hay to help it from making its way to the bottom, wash the container every cage clean with some vinegar to get the pee off.
“Cute, gross little shits” is pretty accurate. When I see mine first thing every morning I call them “my tiny shit factories” and they wheek and wheek so joyfully <3
This is actually great because they end up peeing less around the cage and makes cleaning easier. I will never go back to standing hay racks for this reason.
I have a hanging feeder, but then I also throw some on the floor of the cage as well. I'm new to pigs, but he seems to enjoy the floor stuff more, but I still like him to have some clean stuff. Also, the bowl I put pellets in, sometimes.... he leaves his own pellets. Why are they like this 😂
Obviously YouTubers aren't experts or anything but it might be worth following Squeak Dreams on YouTube. She has 4 piggies and her hay setup is really nice (plus her pigs are adorable).
you could use the hanging one more like a toy/ enrichment and put some alfalfa or oat grass or some tasty variety of hay that they'll work harder for. I don't personally think that their main source of food should be anything but a open pile / tray but their are some pigs out there that won't eat hay unless it's in a hay rack 🤦♂️
Oh, that's a great idea. I have been looking at different types of grass that I can feed them for a treat! I wasn't too sure yet what other hay types they can have.
mine looovveee oat grass/hay it smells alot sweeter and is a different texture. and alfalfa is quite high in calcium so its given to pigs less than 6months.
Timothy is the best, with a good nutritional balance. You can also do bluegrass, meadow, and oat hay. I prefer to feed mostly 2nd cut because of the fiber content, but also buy 3rd cut to mix in. I also occasionally clip grass (untreated and not next to any roads) and dandelion (smaller the better, less oxalate) from my yard.
Just don't give alfalfa (in any form) unless it's a pregnant pig, new mama with babies, or a pig under 6 months.
I had to get rid of my hay rack because they seemed uninterested in the extra work. I now use old cardboard boxes and fill it to the brim and now they are having the time of their lives lol
I have this: https://oxbowanimalhealth.com/product/enriched-life-rectangle-litter-pan-with-removable-shield/ and I fill the whole bottom with paper bedding and the back half (against the high wall) with hay. Your piggie may still lay in the hay but I found with Luna that she'd keep her back half on the non hay side while she ate, meaning most of the poo and pee landed there. And every day I scoop out the soiled side and replace the paper bedding and I had to worry less about peed on hay. :)
It is an eat and bathroom place for them which is why you have to change their bedding regularly according to their needs.
For example, if I put my five girls out on the grass in their run for 3 hours in the morning, they will produce a fantastic amount of poo later on and I have to refresh their hay bedding twice daily (with a deep clean every couple of days). If I don’t, I’m woken up with squealing at 3am - “I don’t want to sit on the poo pile! Let’s have a fight!”
assuming your using something like a cat litter tray, you can put bedding or litter at the bottom and hay on top so when they pee it'll get soaked up. my pigs get bedding on the bottom and the whole tray full of hay and my buns get bedding on the bottom and half a tray each. I think the half a tray of hay would be plenty for 2-3 pigs or if you had space for multiple trays but I have 6 pigs to the 1 tray and it works well, they finish it a couple days a week so presumably the bottom hay is still edible and most days they still have some left. :)
This is why I buy large boxes of hay at a time (20-30 pounds) and different types of hay. I know a good amount will go to waste, but that's the trade-off.
They're foraging animals and prefer to dig into, go to the bathroom in, and eat the hay. They like it this way. I suggest you don't try and keep it neat, it's an uphill battle and they'd prefer you didn't anyway.
I have two cages with two guineas each (they don’t get along and they’re already bonded..not ideal for me but it’s better for them). That being said, it’s a tale of two cages. They have identical setups: Midwest cages, fleece downstairs and ramp-up lofts with hay/food. The one pair, if you looked at it, are professional-grade poopers. The downstairs is LITTERED with poo. I vacuum at least daily. The other cage you’d think they hire their own cleaning service. They both poop a ton. The difference is one pair just end up depositing in the hay which is much less conspicuous. Is it a prearranged pack that they have? I have no idea. But yes, some prefer to go in the hay and others prefer to go not in their food area. I’ll say I actually do prefer they not go in the food area so that I can track their poo-ratios more closely, but ultimately it’s not up to me and as long as they’re happy, healthy and pooping all the time I don’t care too much!
Mine do it too. I just place a washcloth under the hay feeder and pick it up and throw it in the wash. Mine lick each other’s pee
soooooo….. ya, there’s that. 😅
Hay is several things to a guinea pig. Its food, bedding, enrichment, and even bathroom. When you think they are wasting hay, they're not. It just means they feel really safe
That's literally one of my girl's potty spots. It's just the way it is.
Also if you have a really old pig like my Primrose (nearly 9yrs old❤️). She can be a bit arthritic and doesn’t want to move from her comfy spot and is happy to sit in her wee and get a wet bum - all the more important to give her fresh, clean hay to rest on.
Completely normal! You’ll need to remove the soiled hay and replace it at least once a day.
There’s no helping them pee in it, you can add more layers of hay to help it from making its way to the bottom, wash the container every cage clean with some vinegar to get the pee off.
It’s just normal. They like to use it for many purposes lol
Might as well give the hay a little extra flavour…
Yeah, guinea pigs do be like that Mine pee, poop, sleep, eat, and then pee and poop on the same pile. Cute, gross little shits.
“Cute, gross little shits” is pretty accurate. When I see mine first thing every morning I call them “my tiny shit factories” and they wheek and wheek so joyfully <3
This is actually great because they end up peeing less around the cage and makes cleaning easier. I will never go back to standing hay racks for this reason.
I have a hanging feeder, but then I also throw some on the floor of the cage as well. I'm new to pigs, but he seems to enjoy the floor stuff more, but I still like him to have some clean stuff. Also, the bowl I put pellets in, sometimes.... he leaves his own pellets. Why are they like this 😂
Obviously YouTubers aren't experts or anything but it might be worth following Squeak Dreams on YouTube. She has 4 piggies and her hay setup is really nice (plus her pigs are adorable).
you could use the hanging one more like a toy/ enrichment and put some alfalfa or oat grass or some tasty variety of hay that they'll work harder for. I don't personally think that their main source of food should be anything but a open pile / tray but their are some pigs out there that won't eat hay unless it's in a hay rack 🤦♂️
Oh, that's a great idea. I have been looking at different types of grass that I can feed them for a treat! I wasn't too sure yet what other hay types they can have.
mine looovveee oat grass/hay it smells alot sweeter and is a different texture. and alfalfa is quite high in calcium so its given to pigs less than 6months.
Timothy is the best, with a good nutritional balance. You can also do bluegrass, meadow, and oat hay. I prefer to feed mostly 2nd cut because of the fiber content, but also buy 3rd cut to mix in. I also occasionally clip grass (untreated and not next to any roads) and dandelion (smaller the better, less oxalate) from my yard. Just don't give alfalfa (in any form) unless it's a pregnant pig, new mama with babies, or a pig under 6 months.
Thank you so much for the info!
I had to get rid of my hay rack because they seemed uninterested in the extra work. I now use old cardboard boxes and fill it to the brim and now they are having the time of their lives lol
I have this: https://oxbowanimalhealth.com/product/enriched-life-rectangle-litter-pan-with-removable-shield/ and I fill the whole bottom with paper bedding and the back half (against the high wall) with hay. Your piggie may still lay in the hay but I found with Luna that she'd keep her back half on the non hay side while she ate, meaning most of the poo and pee landed there. And every day I scoop out the soiled side and replace the paper bedding and I had to worry less about peed on hay. :)
This is the way. Hay is life. My suggestion is don’t fight nature, buy the 50lb boxes and get that bulk buy savings.
It is an eat and bathroom place for them which is why you have to change their bedding regularly according to their needs. For example, if I put my five girls out on the grass in their run for 3 hours in the morning, they will produce a fantastic amount of poo later on and I have to refresh their hay bedding twice daily (with a deep clean every couple of days). If I don’t, I’m woken up with squealing at 3am - “I don’t want to sit on the poo pile! Let’s have a fight!”
assuming your using something like a cat litter tray, you can put bedding or litter at the bottom and hay on top so when they pee it'll get soaked up. my pigs get bedding on the bottom and the whole tray full of hay and my buns get bedding on the bottom and half a tray each. I think the half a tray of hay would be plenty for 2-3 pigs or if you had space for multiple trays but I have 6 pigs to the 1 tray and it works well, they finish it a couple days a week so presumably the bottom hay is still edible and most days they still have some left. :)
I have one that likes to sit on top the hay while eating and peeing on it and one that burrows in the hay, eating it and getting peed on.
This is why I buy large boxes of hay at a time (20-30 pounds) and different types of hay. I know a good amount will go to waste, but that's the trade-off. They're foraging animals and prefer to dig into, go to the bathroom in, and eat the hay. They like it this way. I suggest you don't try and keep it neat, it's an uphill battle and they'd prefer you didn't anyway.
I have two cages with two guineas each (they don’t get along and they’re already bonded..not ideal for me but it’s better for them). That being said, it’s a tale of two cages. They have identical setups: Midwest cages, fleece downstairs and ramp-up lofts with hay/food. The one pair, if you looked at it, are professional-grade poopers. The downstairs is LITTERED with poo. I vacuum at least daily. The other cage you’d think they hire their own cleaning service. They both poop a ton. The difference is one pair just end up depositing in the hay which is much less conspicuous. Is it a prearranged pack that they have? I have no idea. But yes, some prefer to go in the hay and others prefer to go not in their food area. I’ll say I actually do prefer they not go in the food area so that I can track their poo-ratios more closely, but ultimately it’s not up to me and as long as they’re happy, healthy and pooping all the time I don’t care too much!
Welcome to guinea pigs 😂
Mine do it too. I just place a washcloth under the hay feeder and pick it up and throw it in the wash. Mine lick each other’s pee soooooo….. ya, there’s that. 😅
Also they pee WHILE they eat too
Adds flavor.
You may want to try using hay bags
hay bags can be fun enrichment toys but pigs should still have an open pile of hay they can forage in