To maintain a safe environment for a guinea pig, there are several tools designed to clean guinea pig cages. The most common products for cleaning a guinea pig cage are sanitizing and deodorizing sprays, scrapers, wipes, brooms, and dustpans.
Guinea pig owners should strive to ensure that their pets live long and happy lives. A crucial part of giving your guinea pig the life it deserves is ensuring basic hygiene.
The fact that Guinea pigs are caged doesn’t mean that there is no way for them to live a happy life. It is best to keep your guinea pig’s cage clean regularly to prevent illness and disease.
Obtaining the proper tools for cleaning a guinea pig cage can be daunting with the number of available products. This article will guide you to making the right decisions for your budget and guinea pigs’ safety.
Some of these tools are absolute must-haves, while others are nice to have but not required.
What You'll Learn
Scrapers and Scoops
The first “must-have” tool used to clean a guinea pig’s cage is a cage scoop. A cage scoop is the best way to get rid of all the old bedding in the cage. To prevent bacteria from growing, bedding should be changed at least once a week.
A scraper is another essential tool for cleaning a guinea pig’s cage. A scraper is a basic tool used to remove all bedding and other materials from a cage before using any spray cleaners to clean and sanitize it.
The longer a cage has sat between cleanings, the more indispensable a scraper becomes to the overall cleaning process. Scrapers are useful for removing bedding that has been stuck to the base by guinea pig waste. While a scraper is not required to effectively clean a guinea pig cage, there may be times when they are incredibly helpful.
Sprays
To clean a guinea pig’s cage, you can either use a sanitizing spray or a deodorizing spray.
A sanitizing spray would be used after the cage’s base has been cleaned to aid in killing all bacteria that may grow in the cage.
As long as the sanitizing sprays are created for small animals’ cages, they could be used for guinea pig cages.
Another spray that may be useful for cleaning a guinea pig’s cage is a deodorizing spray. However, this is not a necessity. Deodorizing sprays help keep any lingering odors away.
You can also purchase sprays containing deodorizers and sanitizers to clean small animal cages.
It is common for a guinea pig’s cage to have a foul smell, which can be alleviated by using both the sanitizing spray and the deodorizing spray if that is financially feasible for your household.
It has also been shown that these sprays can extend the time between cage cleanings; however, this is not recommended for your guinea pigs’ overall health and well-being.
Homemade Sprays
You can use some homemade solutions that are safe and effective to clean your guinea pig’s cage. The most common home remedy used in cleaning a guinea pig’s cage is white vinegar and water. You can use this as a basic cleaner for cages.
White vinegar and water must be diluted into a spray bottle by adding one part vinegar to one part water. Once you have removed the bedding from the guinea pig’s cage using scoops and scrapers, this solution will clean the cage, removing any dirt and grime that may be present.
If white vinegar is not available, mixing Dawn dish soap and water will also enable you to clean your guinea pig’s cage.
If you do not want to purchase a guinea pig cage cleaning spray, these two home remedies are viable and cost-effective options.
Cage Liners
Cage liners can make cleaning your guinea pig’s cage easier, as they help keep the cage from becoming too messy. Cage liners are not a required cleaning product, but they can be a massive time saver.
Cleansing Wipes
The base of a guinea pig’s cage can be cleaned with cleaning wipes instead of a cleansing spray. One common complaint about these wipes is that they are easy to tear. Keep this in mind if you plan to use these while cleaning your guinea pig’s cage.
Getting By With The Basics
Many cage cleaning products are must-haves, while others are nice-to-haves. Here is a list of the basic cleaning products you should consider if you are just getting started with your guinea pig or if budget concerns are an issue:
- Cage Scooper
- Cage scraper
- Cleansing spray
Many other products can be used to keep the environment of your guinea pig clean and safe that are not listed here. However, if you are just starting out, you can get by with the basics.
