Guinea pigs are fun and adorable animals that enjoy spending time in and out of their cage. However, despite being a favorite for many, guinea pigs can poop anywhere. Unlike canines and felines, rodents do their business anywhere, be it where they sleep, feel comfortable, eat, or when standing. They won’t back or purr at owners for attention to use the washrooms. Fortunately, potty training your guinea pig or stopping them from pooping everywhere, though it takes time, is possible.
Do Guinea Pigs Poop A Lot?
Compared to other animals, it is true that guinea pigs poop a lot. However, several factors affect their pooping patterns and quantity of poop. Common factors include age, diet, exercise, and weight. That aside, the amount of guinea pig poop varies from one pig to another, specifically depending on lifestyle and diet. That said, if you are planning to adopt guinea pigs in your home, remember that they poop a lot.
Besides pooping a lot, guinea pigs don’t have specific pooping times and patterns. They can poop all day immediately they feel the urge. Just to mention, some pets, such as cats and dogs, have specific pooping times, especially when trained properly. Such a careless pooping trait is common to other rodents. They can poop when sleeping, eating, and any other time.
This makes it difficult to figure out the amount that your guinea pig poops. However, you can evaluate its lifestyle and eating habits. For instance, if your guinea pig eats way above the average, expect them to poop frequently.
How Much Should Guinea Pigs Poop?
Factually, there is no specific answer to this as some poop a lot compared to others. However, that aside, guinea pigs should poop an average of 100 droppings daily. Note that this is just an estimation. It might be more or less in some cases. Some owners attest to cleaning their pets’ poop more than 3 times a day.
Therefore, you should be prepared to handle any amount. Evidently, this is time-consuming. Therefore, you should search for quick ways of cleaning the dirt. Most guinea pig owners prefer using handheld vacuum cleaners. However, if you need to clean the poop more than 3 times a day, find other faster alternatives.
Is It Normal for Guinea Pigs to Poop A Lot?
As mentioned, it is normal for guinea pigs to poop a lot. Actually, you should suspect a problem if your guinea pig poops less. Guinea pigs eat all through the day, thus explains why they poop more than any other animal. Healthy guinea pigs might eat minimal hay, veggies, and any other food provided.
While it is normal for guinea pigs to poop a lot, you should watch out for some things. For instance, ensure that the poop is of the same shape, color and has a normal smell. Normal guinea pig poop is oval-shaped and medium brown in color. If it doesn’t resemble anything close to this, your guinea pig could be having some digestion problems.
Several factors can cause these inconsistencies, but incorrect diet is a common cause. An incorrect guinea pig diet can be excessive consumption of fruits, which can cause viral infections and dental problems. Abnormal guinea pig poop can be soft, dry, clumped, or bloody.
If you notice these signs in your guinea pig poop, do the following;
- Provide sufficient hay in their feeds to provide an adequate amount of fiber
- Ensure that your guinea pigs drink more water
- Reduce fruit intake and any other sensitive foods in the diet
- Regularly clean their cage
Do Guinea Pigs Poop Everywhere?
As mentioned before, guinea pigs will poop anywhere, whether it is inside or outside their cage. However, some owners claim that guinea pigs poop more when outside the cage. Therefore, if you intend to adopt one or already have some, you should be prepared for more poop outside the cage.
Pooping everywhere is natural for guinea pigs. It might be due to some nervousness from being in a different environment. Nonetheless, it is prudent to monitor your guinea pigs’ pooping habits when inside and outside the cage to ensure that they aren’t suffering from any health complications. If you notice irregular poops, don’t hesitate to contact your vet.
How to Stop Guinea Pigs from Pooping Everywhere?
Potty training your guinea pig is probably the only way to stop them from pooping everywhere. As mentioned, training a guinea pig to use a potty is possible but might take some time and effort. It depends on how first the guinea pig understands the hint given. Below are some ways to stop your guinea pigs from pooping everywhere.
Darken the Litter Box Area
Unlike most animals, guinea pigs have no defense when out in the world. If you startle them surprisingly, they will freeze and hope for the best without attacking. Due to this inability to escape predators, their chances and resources of survival is very limited. As a result, they like doing their business in the dark, where predators cannot track or attack them. This explains why you should place their potty in dark areas.
Despite being easily threatened, they like running around and playing. Domesticated guinea pigs have few survival chances out in the wild but will maintain their survival instincts all through. Guinea pigs are generally vulnerable. As such, they are always cautious about where they pee, as they don’t want predators to trace them.
They also use their urine for communication with other guinea pigs. This is why they prefer doing their businesses in safe areas. Based on these instincts, they think that dark areas are safe. According to them, the darker the area, the smaller the chances of being found by predators.
That said, the best way to potty train them is to place the potty in designated areas with all areas covered. If you have to segment the same cage, place a night lamp on one end and cover the other preferred pooping area. This creates an illusion that the bright area is good for play and the dark area for pooping.
Guinea pigs also love pooping when eating. Therefore, you should consider placing their food in the same dark areas. By doing this, you will have created a safe environment for their eating and pooping. You should rest assured that they won’t pee all over the cage anymore. With time, they start developing an understanding that the pooping area should be only in the dark area.
Potty Training the Guinea Pig in the Cage
Potty training your guinea pig in its cage is quite challenging. However, you can still stop it from pooping everywhere through the following ways;
- Observe the guinea pig – before introducing a litter box into the cage, watch your guinea pig to identify its preferred pooping area. Guinea pigs like marking territories. Therefore, the chances are that your guinea pig has identified a corner in its cage for regular peeing or pooping. However, even if it goes to a specific corner frequently, it doesn’t mean that it will always go there. Pick a place the guinea pig frequents.
- Purchase a litter tray – having identified the best location for your guinea pig’s litter tray, buy a tray that fits perfectly into the corner. Ensure that the tray is properly sized to provide enough room for the guinea pig to sit and potty.
- Prepare the litter tray – you should fill the tray with the same bedding in the cage. Even though it is a litter tray, bedding used in the tray can be the same hay in the guinea pig cage. Take a handful from the cage where the pet has already peed and pooped and place it in the litter tray. Using already soiled hay will lead it into the cage because it will have his/her scent. Good bedding choices for guinea pigs include aspen, hay, straw, and wood pulp.
- Watch its behavior – after placing the litter tray in his/her cage, monitor to determine if it uses the tray. Since it has its smell and in a familiar location, she might use it severally. If your guinea pig doesn’t use it, you should remove it and try preparing it afresh. This might indicate some issues in the tray that deters it from using it. You can also encourage the guinea pig by giving treats after using the tray.
- Maintain the litter tray – ensure that you clean the litter tray regularly, preferably after every three days. You can replace the contents of the litter tray with new hay. However, replenish with already soiled hay as well, to ensure that his/her smell remains on the tray.
Potty Training Your Guinea Pig in the House
Unlike a cage, stopping your guinea pig from pooping everywhere in the house is quite tedious. Nonetheless, follow the following steps to achieve this;
- Advance from the cage – having trained your guinea pig to use the litter tray in its cage, start potty training outside during playtime. You should start with a small place. This could be an area that you can easily control or monitor. Bathrooms and hallways make the best place to start training. Ensure that there are no vents that the guinea pig can escape.
- Introduce a litter tray – just like in the cage, pick a dark area close to the corner to place the litter tray. This will encourage your guinea pig to use the corner and the tray. Since this might be the only place with its smell, she will easily find it and use it. Always leave some soiled hay in the litter tray to mark its territory.
- Cover the remaining corners – guinea pigs like using their potty in dark areas away from several things. Therefore, to help stimulate this behavior, cover the remaining corners so that she cannot use these corners to potty. If there are no other dark corners to poop or pee, she will likely use the only dark corner.
- Slowly expand the area – once the guinea pig identifies the area, you can slowly expand the area. Since it has already identified where the litter tray is, the guinea pig will likely run to it even in a large area. Just like potty training in a cage, don’t scold your guinea pig if she doesn’t use the potty. However, always reward it when it uses the litter tray.
Other Tips to Stop Your Guinea Pig from Pooping Everywhere
Place Litter Trays in Guinea Pigs’ Hiding Places
Guinea pigs love doing their business in dark and private places. Therefore, their pee and poop often end up where the guinea pig spends most of its time. By combining these two factors, litter training your guinea pig becomes easy. As mentioned, guinea pigs love spending time in enclosed places. Therefore, replacing these hiding places with litter boxes is a good idea.
Ensure that you drape blankets over the litter box to provide comfort and safety. Also, use comfortable bedding in the litter boxes and keep them clean to ensure that your guinea pigs don’t sleep on soiled beddings.
Use Multiple Litter Boxes
Providing multiple litter boxes ensures that all the mess created by your guinea pigs are contained. Good places to position your litter box include corners of the cage, anywhere with hay or food, in their common hiding places, and other areas that they like hanging out. If you have identified specific places that your guinea pig likes hanging out, be sure to place a litter box.
The Bottom Line
It isn’t a secret that guinea pigs pee and poop a lot. This is why litter training your guinea pigs is overly beneficial. Potty training not only ensures that their cage is clean but also reduces cleaning frequency and reduces the cost of purchasing bedding. While potty trained guinea pigs might not be accurate with their litter habits, they significantly improve from using the entire cage as their litter box. Evidently, the important part of litter training is less actual training and more of management techniques that involve placing litter boxes strategically and making them comfortable.