Piggy Land

1. Make sure your guinea pigs are out of the cage, I put mine in the playpen while I clean.   

2. Next either dump or sweep up all the bedding make sure you removed all bedding and hay.

3. With warm water and mild dish soap scrub the bottom of the cage. If you have a C&C cage with animal disenfectant spray the sides of the cage and let it sit for about 10 minuets then wipe it off.

 Here is me getting ready to scrub the bottom of the cage (with my cage I can pull the top of to clean the bottom.) Here is a bottle of dish soap and a paper towel for drying.

4. What you should allways do is put newspaper on the bottom of the cage so it's easier for clean-up.

5. Next make a thin layer of shavings or bedding (I use Total comfort bedding) make sure it is flat and smooth out any lumps.

6. If you use hay for bedding to put a layer of hay over the bedding (Make sure you check well for trash, plastic, thorns, and thistle!)

7. Make sure you wash all food bowls, water, bottles, toys, and the pigloo. Spray it with animal disenfectant and wipe it, or soak it in warm soapy water. 

8. Now you can put everything back in the cage, including your pigs!

                   Here is a picture Carmel's nice clean cage!

    Spot Cleaning

  Every morning I do spot cleaning in Carmel's cage, I remove most of the poops and wet spots. Remember when you spot clean replace the soilded bedding with fresh bedding so it can remain even.

      Bedding

   There are many types of beddings you can use for your piggies' cage but not all bedding is good as they look. I use KAYTEE Total Comfort bedding, it is free of aromatic oils found in wood shavings,  super soft, absorbent, with great odor and bacteria control. If your guinea pig is allergic to dust Total Comfort is a good choice becasue it is virtualy dust-free! Total Comfort is very economical, you can use the bedding as compost or mulch after your piggy has used it.
                 

  Before I switched to total comfort I used Cel-Sorb Plus, Cell Sorb Plus is very absorbent, probably the most absorbent bedding out there. Proven it isd 400% more absorbent than wood shavings. It absorbs urine; neutralizes urine odor and allows the liquid to evaporate. It even pulls the moisture out and dries the feces. It completely eliminates ammonia levels for up to 3 weeks. The reason I stoped using Cel Sorb is that it wasent very soft, actually it felt rather hard and Carmel likes sleeping out side of her tunnel on her bedding but it seems uncomfortable to lie on.    

         If you want soft comfortable bedding, Carefresh is ideal. You can't really get more soft than Carefresh. It is soft, though sometimes dust can be found in it, high in cost, andnot very absorbent. My frined has a guinea pig named Manny, and she uses Carefresh, when I'm at her house we allways clean his cage evrytime I come over, within an hour or two his cage look just as dirty as it did before we cleaned it! Also it is hard to tell if your guiena pig has bloody discharg. I know from experience I once bought a hamster from Petco, and it turned out to be sick with wet tail (an extreme case of bloody diarrhea) It was hard to tell  that she had such a seriouse illness because we could barley see the diarrhea or blood, sadly we had to return the hamster :_(  . Carfresh comes in colors also, but I don't recomend buying the bedding that has colors.

     Shavings are a popular type of bedding, though it is not quite as absorbent as most beddings and you have to clean the cage more often more thoughly. Though there are some important things you should know before you go out and buy shavings...
Aspen Shavings

  Aspen shavings are more expensive than pine shavings, reportedly not as absorbent, and can be more difficult to find, but the absence of volatile oils makes them an attractive choice for some cavy owners. Aspen has no volatile oils

  Pine Shavings
    With pine shavings you should be a little more cautios with, some guinea pigs can get respitory and liver problems with pine shavings because and the scent is strong. Cavy owners are attracted to Pine shavings because of the pine scent and covers the smell of dirty cages, it's better to dumb a third of the bag into a large open container so the volatile oils can dissipate. Lots of people have used Pine shavings for years with no problems at all.

    Warning Cedar Shavings DO NOT USE! 
    It is widely believed that cedar shavings negatively affect the health of animals. Reportedly, the phenols (aromatic oils) which so effectively kill insects, harm the respiratory tracts of our pets and may cause liver damage