At the beginning of this past school year we lost one of our little dogs to old age. My oldest daughter was devastated. She loved Mickie. Within a few days of his passing, she started asking for a new pet. We knew we wanted to wait to get another dog, so I began looking into other small animals and decided on getting her some Guinea pigs! She loves them and they are a lot of fun.
I did a lot of research about the type of bedding and cage to have for them. I found the option that works best for us was to get a cubes and coroplast cage and fleece bedding. The maintenance and upkeep is so much less expensive and easier than using traditional bedding.
I made my cage from supplies that I purchased at Target and a local sign store. It was easy to do, but you can get everything already made from Guinea Pig Cage Store. The link is: http://www.guineapigcagesstore.com/
I also purchased my bedding from Piggy Bedspreads. The link is: http://www.piggybedspreads.com/ It is very easy to use. We vacuum up the dropping and hay once a day and wash the bedding weekly in hot water and free and clear detergent and a few drop of tea tree oil. Once a month, I also strip it with vinegar in the wash. That helps keep the material from getting detergent build up so it can stay absorbent.
We also made a bunk bed for our piggies with the cubes purchased from Target and lined the the ramp and floor with a lap pad. Our girls love hanging out in their cozy spots. And, to keep the mess to a minimum, we purchased a litter box to put in the corner with their food. Both the lap pad and litter box were purchased from Piggy Bedspreads. The neat little hay bag was purchased from Guinea Pig Market and it is a great addition to our cage. The link is: http://www.guineapigmarket.com/
Additionally, we have a small air purifier next to the cage as well as a trash can with a lid. This helps keeps the room smelling fresh inbetween washings of the bedding and gives us a convenient place to dump the droppings after daily cleanings.