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Hay bar advice

Sujata Desai

Hi! We usually spot clean every evening and recently started using GD’s hay bar. Our guinea pigs pull so much hay out of the bar and drag it all over their cage. So when we spot clean we end up sweeping up about a guinea pig-sized amount of hay that then gets thrown away. Any advice to keep that wasted hay? They do love the GD hay!! TIA

 

Comments

3 comments

Date Votes
  • Comment author
    Paula Kelly
    Glad they are enjoying their GuineaDad Hay!!  Some guinea pigs just love to pull all their hay out and spread it around and or burrow in it.  They could be doing it because they're bored, or perhaps they just find it really fun!  You can try to distract them with something else.  Chew toys,even handmade ones such as toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay or treats (or both) can occupy their time and distract them from pulling out all their hay.  In case they are doing it because they just like to hide in and under the hay,  make sure they have ample places to hide like a crunchy castle or a tunnel,  and if that doesn't work give them a substitute item to burrow in and make a mess with such as a bag or box full of shredded paper.   Hope this helps and if anybody else has a good idea on how to stop this behavior, we would love to hear from you!  
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  • Comment author
    Sujata Desai

    Thanks for the suggestions. They do have a crunchy castle, tunnel, and toys, including TP rolls stuffed with hay. Some shredded paper is a great idea, though. They aren't burrowing in the hay, it's just a thin layer spread across, so I think it's just that they're messy eaters. But the hay layer is so thin, it's hard to scoop it up to save without scooping poop up with it. They are new to the hay bar, so maybe they're also just learning or they just love to play with it. The GD hay is so much softer than the usual hay brands. 

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  • Comment author
    Paula Kelly

    Thanks for noticing how soft our hay is!  That really is a great compliment because soft hay is considered a premium hay.  I understand the dilemma of all the waste when they dig it out of the hay and shuffle through it.  Scooping it back up is nearly impossible because it's often not clean anymore so it just has to be tossed!  Let us know if the shredded paper in a bag (no handles) works as a distraction.  

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