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What's your 'clean up' routine?

Bitzy

Mama Doe
:wave:

Hiya ........ following on from the 'what's your daily routine' thread which was reeeaaally helpful and also from 'what do you use to line your hutch' where I got some great advice/top tips from Chelle, I thought it might be really useful for us new bunny mummies to pick the brains of the more experienced of you to try and ascertain what the best/easiest/quickest/most efficient clean up routine is.

I seem to be throwing LOADS of hay away but other people aren't so I'm obviously doing something wrong ....... it also seems to take me ages to do a cage clean up whereas as most of you seem to be able to manage it in 5-10 mins.

My buns are only 9 weeks old and aren't litter trained (well, they'll wee in their litter trays but seem to just poop randomly wherever, whenever) ..... their hutch is a double decker so they have a litter tray upstairs (with megazorb and hay in) and 2 downstairs (same as upstairs) and a big tray in their bedroom. The hutch is lino'd so any stray poops are easy enough to sweep up but currently I'm emptying the litter trays (and bedroom tray) daily which is seeing me go through megazorb and hay at a rate of knots .... especially for two young buns.

So, if you'd care to share your clean up routine I'm sure it would really help me develop one of my own that will be more efficient for me and less stressful for the bunnies (seeing as Mummy will actually know what she's meant to be doing).

Really appreciate it, thanks

xx
 
Ok, here is mine.

Sunday - Full hutch clean. Disifected. and dried out. Litter trays have newspaper,shaveings and hay in them. (they have 3 litter trays, one downstairs, two upstairs) They have a hay box, with a hay rack over it. The bottom floor of the hutch is lino'd and the top i cover with news paper. :)

Monday - syrian hamster clean out.

Tuesday - Dwarf hamster clean out -Spice

Wednesday - Dwarf hamster clean out - Sugar
- Rabbits litter tray clean out, and hay box topped up.

then back to sunday :) (The hamsters are cleaned out every two weeks - i know thats off topic, but thats my routine!) :lol:
 
my routine is:-

Saturday- Full hutch/run/toy/bottle/bowl clean up with disinfectant, red hot water, full change of bedding/sawdust/litter - that sort of thing.
(This is for the rabbits, hamster, and degus, all in all for all of them it takes about 3 hours, more if I am on my own)

Monday/Wednesday/Friday - Toilet area re cleaned (Rabbits)

Everyday is a top up day of things, especially in the winter, with extra bedding.

Hope that helps
Hugs
Kelly xx
 
Thanks ....and blimey! That's a lot of clean outs.

:lol: It doesnt take that long really :) I used to do it all in one day, but. i got all confused, so with the routine... i know who needs cleaning and all that.
 
Thanks, so in-between toilet area cleans ..... do you just add more hay to the tray etc?

I'm emptying litter trays every day at the moment, happen that's where I'm going wrong!
 
I do a cage inspection everyday to just to check if they need anything and if they do it gets topped up. :wave:

I wouldn't think they would need doing everyday mine don't but if they are really messy or smelly then they get a quick once over if it is not the actual clean day (hope that makes sense)
 
Proper full clean once a week with hose and dicinectant.

Then daily I empty there litter trays, only place they go luckily. They have newspaper, megazorbe and little bit of hay in.
Sweep up any wonering poo thats he dragged out.

They have seperate hay feeder things so always top it up so they have tonnes.
Do you have hay anywere othet then litter trays? Hay rack type of thing?
 
Thanks

I have 2 hay racks on order (and they emailed today to say they've been despatched so should be here any day now) one is a screw in one which I thought I could put over the litter tray upstairs in the day room and one that clips on the mesh which I thought I'd put downstairs in the run (with a litter tray underneath).

Currently they have a willow basket with hay in but they seem more interested in tipping it up and trying to eat the basket .... they do eventually eat the hay tho after trailing it all over the floor! Bless!

They also eat the hay in their litter trays (which I didn't think was very hygienic of them really) as well as off the floor when they've tipped the basket over.

Hhhmm those hay racks can't come quick enough really!
 
That makes perfect sense, thanks ....... what do you use as bedding for the buns?

For my buns for there bedding they get carpet down in the room, sawdust, straw, a bit of hay, pet bedding thing (not sure on the name its white - vet recommended it when they were really cold)

And in the winter it is topped up every day to make sure they are extra warm.

:wave::wave:
 
Clean their litter tray out everyday to every other day (depending if im going out or not).
They have a towel in one part of their hutch which Is left on one side for two days and then flipped over for another two days - then I change the towel.
They have hay in the litter tray, in the middle of the litter tray and towel and a little bit on the towel ( I try to not get too much hay on the towel as they hay sticks to to the towel :roll: the buns have other ideas however!).
I have used sawdust, megazorb, and these pellet things in their litter trays. The sawdust was taken everywhere in the house and really annoyed mum so I changed to megazorb which they loved so much they ate it so then I switched to pellet things which seemed to be making their feet colour worse somehow :?, so they are no on newspaper and hay on top of that.

I normally put the dirty hay (which has been in the hutch all day) in the litter tray and then pile in new hay everynight.

The cage has a wipe over every week and then they have a full clean out with a light vinegar solution every month or so.. :oops:

And after all that, they still have dirty feet!
 
friday or saturday - clean top level of the hutch, includes putting viniger on wee patches and then wiping down and drying out - this takes 45 mins as i tend to forget things so am in and out of te house :roll:
saturday or sunday - clean lower level of hutch - as above but takes me 20 mins as its not as fiddly :lol:
monday/wednesday and friday clean the bedroom area (which they have decided is a great toilet :roll:) and any stray poo and wee's
i use alot of hay as the floor is lined with hay both levels and the bedroom is stuffed full so they have to burrow
 
Sunday - Big clean out of not only Charlee's cage but also the two guinea pig cages. As all the animals are bedded on fleece and towels, this involves completely changing the fleece and towels and replacing with fresh bedding. The litter trays get completely emptied, scrubbed with vinegar and replaced with fresh litter. The towels and fleece get washed and dried on Sunday too.

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday - I do a spot clean of the litter trays. Dirty areas get scooped out and replaced with fresh litter.

Everyday - Sweep up the poops (only needed for the guinea pigs as Charlee is litter trained).

In regards to you having to chuck away a lot of hay - the guinea pigs have hay racks. This does keep the hay up off the ground so they don't soil it as much although they do tend to pull it out in any case. With Charlee I chuck a massive heap of hay just next to her litter tray. She doesn't soil it, just eats it then pops into the litter tray to do her business.

Using fleece and towels requires some work, but it does not smell at all even after a week. Plus you can get fleece in some pretty funky designs which livens up the cage.

For example, here is part of Charlee's cage -

037-1.jpg
 
Things are going to change for me as my two pairs are becoming a four but this is what I USED to do.

Every evening I would sweep both enclosures and the carpet.

Then 2-3 times a week...

Fill new boxes with an inch deep layer of megazorb and some hay. Put on lid. Take boxes upstairs.

Take out old box in lionheads run, empty hay from hay rack and tip into litter tray and sweep lino thoroughly. Replace with new box.

Take out old box in lops run and sweep lino thoroughly, replace with new box.

Put old boxes in the garage. Take them to allotment and empty on compost heap. Bring them home and wash them out with hot soapy water and then rinse with cold water and leave to dry.
 
Sunday - Total Hutch Clean out & Disinfect.

Monday - Hamster Clean out, if not done Sunday.

Tuesday - Bird Cage Clean out, if not done Monday/Sunday.

Wednesday - Clean Hutch out again.

Then back to Sunday again...
I clean litter trays out every other day, unless they need to be cleaned sooner.
Top up hay everyday, change water daily and feed :)

Ive started to clean the hutch twice a week now, because the girls are messy when doing their toileting, so i have to change the whole hutch instead of just the litter trays. :)

George's crate gets cleaned every other day, when his litter tray is changed as he spreads his poos everywhere and sometimes misses the litter tray :)
And the living room gets hoovered every day, if not then every other day.
 
Wednesday is my day off from work, so I do a full clean out on Wednesday for the buns. Everything is removed, thrown away and replaced with fresh stuff. My buns have newspaper then megazorb in their litter tray, with 2 different, tasty hays in each corner. I scoop out the dirty megazorb one day, then empty it and refresh it the next day... so their litter tray is cleaned everyday, but emptied every other day, if that makes sense.

Daily, I do the rabbit litter trays in the evening, followed by the ferret litter trays. Having ferrets is quite interesting cos they don't need cleaning out, as such, cos they don't have anything in the cage like other animals do! I'm liking it ;)

I also do a full clean out for the rats on Wednesdays, with a spot clean everyday. Their litter trays don't need emptying often as they pretty much refuse to wee in them!:?

I also wash rat hammocks and ferret blankets every Wednesday. The bunnies are not allowed fabrics after they DESTROYED the nice bed I got them at Christmas, but if they did, then they would be washed on the Wednesday too!

xxx
 
excellent, thanks, this is all really helpful .... and eye opening as to how wrong I've been getting it! :?
 
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