How to Potty Train Guinea Pigs: 7 Easy Steps

Guinea pigs are one of the smartest animals in the rodent family. You can train them to do all kinds of tricks and modify their behaviors with time and patience. This includes training them how to use a litter box, similar to a cat.

If you want to simplify your guinea pig care by minimizing the number of droppings that they leave around their cage for you to clean, train them how to use a litter box. Equip yourself with plenty of time, patience, and treats to practically guarantee success.

How to Potty Train Guinea Pigs to Use a Litter Box

1.  Create an Area for the Litter Box

Guinea pigs tend to be clean animals. They will typically pick one or two spots where they feel comfortable within their enclosure and use that as their bathroom. The best way to start litter box training is to place the litter box in the area that your guinea pig has already chosen.

When you purchase a box, make sure it is big enough for your cavy to climb in and turn around. If your guinea pig can’t move well inside, they will not do their business in it. You might also need to create more of a “safe space” for your pet by making it darker than the rest of the cage or hanging a blanket over it to form a litter box tent.

2.  Set Up the Box With the Right Litter

Once you have the litter box in the right place, you should fill it with bedding. Make sure what you use is different from what’s laid in the rest of the enclosure. It will make training easier for them so they can better differentiate the spaces.

Suggestions include newspaper or special litter meant specifically for rodents.

3.  Train the Guinea Pig to Go Into the Litter Box

Once you have the box ready to go, watch your guinea pig for a while. They will likely want to explore this new entity in their cage. Let them crawl in and see what they think. If it was in the place that they originally used for their bathroom, they might start to use it as their litter box right away. Don’t set your hopes too high, though.

When they have become comfortable with the box, train them to easily go into and out of it. In the beginning, reward your guinea pig with a treat each time they enter it. This will help them understand that it is a good space to occupy and make them more comfortable with it in general.

4.  Put Their Hay Rack Near Their Litter Box

Adding a litter box to your guinea pig enclosure will often mean rearranging some of the other items in their enclosure to make everything work together seamlessly. Put their hay rack near their litter box to encourage them to come back to that area frequently.

5.  Place Stray Droppings Into the Litter Box

The next part of training is teaching them that not only is the litter box a comfortable place to be but that it’s also meant to be the bathroom. Each time you see droppings in other parts of their enclosure, use a glove to place them in their box. Keep them there for a while so your guinea pig will learn that it is the only place that is appropriate for droppings.

6.  Reward Them Each Time You See Them Using It

If you ever see your guinea pig go into the box and use it for their bathroom, you are on the right track! Reward them heavily with attention and treats so they understand that what they just did was a good thing. Doing so will make them want to use the box again to get those rewards.

7.  Keep the Box Clean

Guinea pigs are naturally clean animals, so if their litter box is a mess, they will have no desire to use it. Once your pet begins to use it frequently, you should try to give it a quick clean every day and a thorough clean once each week. If you have more than one guinea pig, you might need to do this more often.

Conclusion

Potty training a guinea pig may sound like a challenge, but it’s actually not all that difficult. These clean critters already tend to go to the bathroom in a specific area, so you just need to put a litter box there and encourage them to use it. Make sure to reward them when they’re first learning. Also, always keep the box clean so they won’t refuse to use it, as it can be harder to re-teach them later.

Featured Image Credit: Kapa65, Pixabay