Around The Cage - January

Hi I'm Cinnamon - I'm heading to our rest area to visit my friend Mitty.  Can you spot her there?  She's a little shy and likes to rest in her wooden house.  We can see you Mitty. 

OK visit is over, let's see what's happening down the other end of our palace. 

Time for a quick game of chase with my daughter Blossom. 

I think it is time for a graze in the kitchen.  Yum - I love a fresh batch of hay. 

 

  

Signing off for today,

Regards,  Cinnamon

Nail Clipping Time

Another job that needs doing regularly is nail clipping.  About once a month or so I think.  This one is in the hubby department.  He's much better at the hands on stuff than me.  I'm good at the researching and daily care stuff, and he's looking after the catching for cuddle time and nail clipping, amongst other jobs.  The kids are doing a good job of helping with an assortment of jobs, and love to sit and play a little - feeding them hay and sometimes a sprig of mint or parsley. 

Anyway - back to today's topic.  I'd been thinking about taking them to the grooming place at the pet store where they do nail clipping, but hubby thought he'd give it a go and did a marvellous job with some cooperative and not so cooperative guinea pigs. 

 

They also had their weekly weigh and we started a weight chart to record this.  Being prey animals they hide sickness well so a weekly weight record is important as this can be a sign of something amiss.  

Cheers, Sue

Cage Cleaning Time

Adding to the list of 'guinea pig equipment purchases' which I must admit is rather long. There's a bit of stuff to get to begin with, then things should settle down and it'll just be bedding and food.  And perhaps the occasional new cage accessory! 

Anyway - our old dustbuster had croaked so I got a Vax one that has an attachment that is supposed to be good for pet hair. 

Each day morning and night I take all the furniture out of the cage and quickly vaccum up the poop pellets.  Only takes about 5 minutes or so. 

 

(As you can see we've got a few different colours in the fleece department.  Jack picked this one.)  

Under the resting area I've put a small sheet of corflute covered in a disposable puppy pad and a piece of fleece, clipped on with little bulldog clips.  I noticed this bit got wetter than the rest of the cage so a separate thing that I can quickly change out seemed a good option.  I'm planning to get busy with the sewing machine, some fleece offcuts and an old mattress protector to make some little pieces I can pop in the 'high traffic' loo areas.  

 

Once the fleece is vacuumed the furniture goes back in and the girls get on with their day.  They usually scurry up under the hay rack while I'm vacuuming and get hay all over themselves, which they then track over the newly cleaned fleece - hmmmm just like children!!

I'm looking forward to having it up a bit higher on a stand.  Should make cage cleaning time a little easier on the back. 

Once or twice a week I pop the girls into the cat carrier and change out the fleece and replace the bed mats if they're wet.  Takes a while to shake and brush off the hay and wood shavings before they're set to go in the washing machine.  I read a tip to put the guinea pig stuff into an old doona cover so that you don't get too much hay and what not in your machine.  The lint filter seems to be doing a good job so far.

The kitchen area gets a more regular change over.  Still experimenting with the best options for that section.

Cheers, Susan

Guinea Pig C and C Cage Building Time

Our first batch of grids finally arrived so it was time to get building our first attempt at a C and C cage. 

Original plans were to set it up on a fold up table we had here.   Starting to take shape.

 

  

As you can see in this pic it didn't quite fit so plan B was to just put it on the floor for now til the next lot of grids arrive mid January and we can make a base.  (Well, hubby can make a base while I take photos! He's chief cage engineer.  I'm design team and fleece chief.  Teamwork!)  

Next up it was time to measure, measure then score and fold the coroplast/corex/corflute base.   (It is like a corrugated plastic they use for signs etc.  Got it from Bunnings.) 

 

Missed a few steps with the photos but next up we popped the grids on the floor, put the base in then I added the bedding.  I'll be experimenting for a little while to see what works best but starting out with some Huggies Bed Mats (disposable) as the base with some prepared fleece over the top.  If that works OK I'll look into getting some washable things to put under the fleece.  Idea is that the fleece wicks moisture through to the absorbent layer underneath, leaving the fleece dry.  

Here's our Guinea Pig Palace (version 1).  

 

I got hubby to make a separate corflute box at one end that is the 'kitchen.'  This has wood shavings and newspaper bedding and this is where the hay rack is located and where we put the food saucers.  Hoping this means most of the pooping and weeing happens in this bit too, so this section is changed more regularly. 

Here comes the girls ready to check out their new home.  The brick is under the water bottle to catch drips and also hold the fleece down.  

  

Testing out the kitchen area.

 

Up the other end we put two leftover grids over the top and I quickly snipped some leftover fleece to make a fleece curtain for a little extra privacy down in the resting area.  Guinea pigs are prey animals so they appreciate somewhere to hide and feel safe. 

So that's the new palace and we'll see how things go.  Have the rest of January to experiment with bedding and see what the best options are for low odour and ease of maintenance before we all head back to work and school and life gets a bit busier again. 

The girls seem to love their new home and we do too. 

Cheers, Sue

C and C Cage Preparations Are Underway

People visiting in December would have spotted a few signs that our preparations for a C and C guinea pig cage were well underway.  Here's some clues .....

Fleece being washed and dried .....

And rewashed and redried - repeat 3 times so it wicks properly.

 

Sheets of corflute/coroplast - sort of a corrugated plastic that we'll be using for the cage base.  

 

Cable ties and more cable ties.    

 

Just waiting on the grids to arrive.  Impatiently! 

Cheers, Sue

Cage Clean Out Time

I do a bit of a spot clean of the cage most days, then once every 5 - 7 days it gets a full clean. 

The girls go into their cat carrier. 

 

Out with all the wood shavings, carefresh and newspaper.  It fills a garbage bag and about 1/3 of our bin which is a bit of an issue as pre guinea pigs we filled our bin weekly ourselves so we don't have that much spare garbage space.  

A good scrubbing with a squirt of cage cleaner and then it is in with some fresh newspaper, and some fresh wood shavings.  Carefresh in the corners - expensive but more absorbent.  

 

Master 7 helps out by scooping the wood shavings from their bale into a bucket.  We definitely need the vacuum cleaner afterwards as you can see! 

 

Furniture back in and then it is time for the girls to settle back into their fresh, clean home.  

And for me to continue investigating C and C cages and fleece!  Planning continues for the guinea pig palace. 

Cheers, Sue

We Love Corn Cobs

We put a couple of whole corn cobs into their cage on this day and they were quite entertaining as they got to munching.   They LOVED the silks/husks. 

 

I love this one of Cinnamon.  "Who me?"

 

Cheers, Sue