Hi! All
Just a quick question here about a vacume cleaner for cleaning up hey, does anyone know of one that is ideal as we used to have a Dyson which from cleaning other debris we got a blocked pipe.

As a result we changed cleaners but the ones we used for cleaning up the hey did get a blockage in the pipe which we had to sort out, I used to have two Guinea Pigs until they sadly passed away last December so I just wondered before I get anymore the ideal way of cleaning the hey up.

What I had was a hutch in our lounge with steps that they could go up and down if they wanted so quite a lot of hey spread around the house, I have seen a Cavy website where people have made there own cages and put carpet underneath.

I did try putting towels underneath the hey in my hutch but was worried in case my boys tried to eat it, looking around sites I think Pets at Home being one it does say that shreaded paper can be used as filling for Rabbits and Guinea Pigs but again I am worried about using that.

Any advice on cleaning up would be very welcome.

I look forward to ideas.

Thanks in advance.

Do you mean hay?

Dust pan and brush or a carpet sweeper would be your best bet. No vacuum is designed to pick up large debris.

lots of guinea owners bed their pigs on fleece over towels, vetbed over an old towel would be ideal as it would draw the moisture form their pee down onto the towel

i've used fleece and towels before to bed a guinea with a sore bum on who is a madam for chewing things and she didn't bother with it at all, so long as they have hides/hay/other things to chew on, they're all good.

you can just put their hay in one area in the cage and use fleece to line the rest of it which is perfect as the hay would stay in one area

you could also use newspaper or the shredded paper as a substrate too, they are actually fine to eat these - though plain "chip shop" paper would be better suited as too much ink isn't brilliant for them.

when i had my piggy inside, i gave her a small tray with woodshavings in and covered it with hay - she tended to toilet in that the most so her cage never really smelled either.

you just need to remember to wash the towels and fleece on 60 (or higher) to make sure they're really clean.

but as above, you'll need to sweep up the hay as hoovers aren't designed to deal with it.
a garden vacuum would, but that's a bit bulky and cumbersome to have in the house