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Potty Train Your Guinea Pigs By Setting Up a Litter Box Zone

How to potty train a guinea pig in 10 steps

Guinea pigs are sweet, adorable little balls of fluff that provide us with a ton of unconditional love – and an absurd amount of poop. It’s no surprise since they seem to be in either a constant state of nibbling or a perpetual state of gnawing.

Like all guinea pig parents, you’ve undoubtedly come to the same exhausted thought: there must be an easier way to keep a cage clean.

The reality is, what goes in, must come out, but do these cuties need to poop EVERYWHERE? Well, that’s where litter training comes in handy.

Can You Potty Train Guinea Pigs?

Guinea pigs have no control over their bowels and poop up to 100 times a day! So, litter training them as you would a cat is not possible for most guinea pigs.

Litter training guinea pigs has a lot more to do with creating a comfortable litter environment, while managing strategically placed bathroom zones, and a lot less to do with actual hands-on training. In essence, it’s more of a re-training, as you’re trying to encourage your piggies to change their usual habits.

Do keep in mind, however, that although litter training dramatically improves the overall state of a cage, it probably won’t result in 100% accurate guinea pigs.

Regardless, litter training significantly reduces the often overwhelming, seemingly never-ending task of near-constant cage cleanings. Not only will your guinea maintain a cleaner cage and a healthier environment, but it also means less money spent on bedding and, most importantly, less cleaning in general.

How to Potty Train Your Guinea Pigs?

Learn how to set up a litter box zone and encourage your guinea pigs to poop there instead of every inch of the cage with the help of our step-by-step guide.

Choosing an Ideal Litter Box

A litter box must be comfortable, allowing your pets plenty of room to move. Most corner litter boxes at pet stores are too small, so guinea pigs simply won’t use them.

When choosing a box, pick one that’s big enough to accommodate your pets and made from a material that won’t tip over.

You can buy a shallow container such as a cat or puppy litter box that will fit inside your cage.

You can also DIY a guinea pig litter box by buying a regular litter box or a plastic storage box and cutting the entrance for your piggies. Make sure to smooth those sharp entrance edges (you can do it with a lighter) so your pigs don’t get hurt. Another option is to make your own litter box out of coroplast.

Alternatively, instead of using a litter box, you can put the litter material in one part of the cage that will work as a litter zone. However, this will not be as easy to clean as a litter box that you can easily scoop up.

Selecting a Litter Box Lining

When you’ve found the perfect litter box, line it with a guinea pig-safe bedding material.

Some recommended options to put in the guinea pig litter box are:

  • Paper bedding or pellets
  • Aspen wood shavings or pellets
  • Kiln-dried pine shavings or pellets
  • Hemp bedding
  • Fleece liner or bath mat – this will have to be spot-cleaned daily

Avoid unsafe litter material such as clumping cat litter or cedar shavings.

Guinea pig litter box

Finding the Perfect Litter Box Placement

As with humans, guineas enjoy their quiet, private time. To make a litter box seem more appealing, place it in a secluded area where they’re less likely to be disturbed. Try draping a towel or extra fleece over that section for more privacy.

In cages with ramps, the hidden section underneath the top floor makes for an excellent “restroom.”

If they tend to potty most in one area of the cage, put the litter box in their preferred location. You can also have more than one litter box area if you have a large enough cage.

Add the Hay

Like a water cooler at the office, well-placed hay creates an appealing gathering spot, which just happens to be in the litter box. That hay will keep your guineas coming back to the litter zone, and train them to stay there for longer stretches of time.

Your pets will spend a lot of time in their litter box to munch on hay and do most of their peeing and pooping in that area.

It is best to put a pile of hay inside the litter box so they can burrow in it for fun. If you’d prefer to use a hay bag or rack, use a safe type with holes large enough for the whole piggy to fit inside so they can’t get their head stuck.

Poop Mishap? Place It in the Litter Box

As tasking as it sounds, try to keep all pet droppings in the litter box, at least for the first few weeks, while you train them.

As soon as you see a misplaced poop, put it in the litter box. In doing so, your guinea comes to understand that they should be using their box when the urge strikes.

Well-placed Potty Break? Treat Time!

If you catch your guinea pigs using the potty as an actual toilet, give them a very special treat. This reward system will help you instill positive litter habits.

Keep Their Litter Box Clean

Don’t give your guineas a reason to avoid the litter. Keep the boxes as clean as possible, changing them daily. Add an extra layer of dry guinea pig bedding for piggies that like to doze off in the restroom, so they’re not sitting in an overly messy potty.

Bonus Tip for a Cleaner Cage

Add smaller pieces of fleece with an absorbent layer (pee pads) or a layer of paper bedding beneath hidey houses where guinea pigs tend to pee. This will allow your main bedding to stay clean longer, and you can simply switch out the soiled pee pads or paper bedding when needed.

FAQs

How to Set Up a Guinea Pig Litter Box?

First, find a shallow container your guinea pigs can’t tip over that you can use as a litter box. Some of your options are:

  • A shallow cat/puppy litter box
  • A deep cat litter box – but you’ll need to cut the opening so your guinea pigs can easily go in. You can use a lighter to melt and smooth the sharp edges.
  • Make a DIY guinea pig litter box out of coroplast, plastic storage box, or other suitable materials.

When you have a litter box ready, line it with safe bedding such as paper bedding, paper pellets, or aspen shavings/pellets.

Add a pile of hay on top and put the litter box in a quiet and private area of the cage. Ideally, cover the litter box area with a piece of fleece or a towel to encourage your guinea pigs to use it.

How to Potty Train an Old Guinea Pig?

Since potty training is not actually training, it is more of a changing the cage layout to encourage guinea pigs to do their business in the litter zone; both young and old guinea pigs can be potty “trained.”

Old and young guinea pigs will be drawn to the litter box area because it is set up in a way they want to spend a lot of time there, and they will poop out most of their brown treasures there!

Are you going to set up a litter box for your guinea pigs?

Let us know in the comments!

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11 Comments

  1. This is fantastic advice. I trained my buns and the dirtiest board in the world this way. The idea about covering the area where you want them to potty 100% works too. All 5 of my pigs like to potty undercover. Thankyou

  2. Dark and safe environment also means their sleeping area ( a house with comfy fleece as bedding). How do you train them not to poop in their “house”? Thanks!

    1. I don’t think you can stop them from going in their house. That’s where they spend most of their time (besides eating) and poop is gonna happen. You could put potty pads under houses (or extra scraps of fleece) but the poop will happen. At least that’s easy enough to vacuum.

  3. I have a cage that’s like a 2 story house (that I know is to small for my pig but my dad doesn’t, even though it says right on the box “GERBIL, HAMSTER, AND RAT CAGE”) and it has a ramp to a huge litter box, should I just put all the paper bedding down there or should I put it on the top and bottom so if he does do his business on the top it’s easier to clean?

    1. Yeah, those types of cages are definitely not for guinea pigs. Guinea pigs don’t need multi-stories but they need plenty of floor space to run around the cage as they love to do that. Maybe you can find someone to donate their old guinea pig cage? In the meantime, it should be enough to have one litter box in that cage as you only have one guinea pig (you can put it at the bottom unless it takes a lot of room in that cage that can be better used as a place for your pig to run around).

      1. I saw a good cage that would be good for 2 of them and my guinea pig is depressed by itself so I’m thinking of getting another soon, I need to see how much that cage is…lol

      2. Nevermind, the cage is already bought…I found another good cage for 59.99 but I have to save up for a while to get it…

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