Advice with wood shavings!

[Squeeeky]

i've not had piggies for a few years now but getting everything ready to get some more in the few days, today we brought
[HEADING=2]Wood & Slumber Premium Wood Shavings 20kg, [/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]along with a small bale of barley straw, and a bale of hay, for them, hoping this will be ok for them[/HEADING]

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

Ive moved your post to its own thread, rather than being on someone else’s thread which was a six year old thread - it makes it more likely to be missed when reopening an old thread.

Wood shavings are fine but straw is considered unsuitable as a bedding (it is inedible and too sharp). Wood shavings topped with hay is the best in that respect,

Are your piggies going to be living Outside (it’s just that shavings and hay is more commonly used as an outdoor bedding)? If so, are they already used to living outside? I ask this as it is getting to the brink of indoor piggies not being able to be moved outside due to lack of time to acclimatise to cooler conditions.

 

[Truffolo]

Thank you for sharing this, great prices! Welcome to the forum. I use wood shavings indoors as I don't have my own washing machine to flip pee pads into. The shavings are good at preventing odour. I agree about the straw, it's sharp and piggy eyes are positioned where they are easily scratched unfortunately. Which cages do you use. Can we see your babies

 

[Squeeeky]

Thank you for sharing this, great prices! Welcome to the forum. I use wood shavings indoors as I don't have my own washing machine to flip pee pads into. The shavings are good at preventing odour. I agree about the straw, it's sharp and piggy eyes are positioned where they are easily scratched unfortunately. Which cages do you use. Can we see your babies

i have a 2 tier wooden outdoor cage and a wire mesh run on the lawn sure here is pics of my piggies

 

[sport_billy]

i have a 2 tier wooden outdoor cage and a wire mesh run on the lawn sure here is pics of my piggies

Awww they are so cute

 

[Piggies&buns]

Your piggies are gorgeous!

So is that six piggies you’ve got there? Do they all live together?
I’m asking because there are no commercial outdoor cages which are big enough for six piggies who all live together, and I wouldn’t want you to run into space related issues. (Upper levels do not count towards the cage size as piggies are ground roaming and need their cage to be big enough on the single bottom level)

 

[Squeeeky]

Your piggies are gorgeous!

So is that six piggies you’ve got there? Do they all live together?
I’m asking because there are no commercial outdoor cages which are big enough for six piggies who all live together, and I wouldn’t want you to run into space related issues. (Upper levels do not count towards the cage size as piggies are ground roaming and need their cage to be big enough on the single bottom level)

Yes it's 6 female piggies and yes they all live together they are sisters, yeah we know we are going tomorrow to get some PVC drainage piping to link the cage to the run that is on the lawn that they will have access to we also plan on building a much bigger cage to house them in the one they are in is only temp until hubby builds the bigger one at the other end of the garden, it will be around 22 feet long (side to side) by 10 foot wide (front to back), the run will have tunnels buried below the ground and covered in grass, for them to play and hide in aswell as wooden hidey's for them to hide in, It will be built in the next month or so

 

[Piggies&buns]

Are they used to living outside?
If not, then unfortunately it’s too late in the year for them to do so. Piggies who have lived indoors or in heated buildings can’t go into outside accommodation until next April/may. They need all summer outside to acclimatise to cooling conditions throughout autumn to be ok outside in winter.

If they are used to living outside, then they will be fine outside this winter as long as the building they are to live in is properly insulated (if it can’t be heated then ensure there are at least six snugglesafes in their shed).
Also outdoor piggies can’t be brought indoors now it is getting cooler. Temperature changes are starting to get too big between inside and outside and it can risk making them ill.

It’s now too cold and damp for piggies to be able to go on the lawn at all (even if they are used to living outside). Lawn time tends to end around the end of September and can’t start again until April/may when the ground has warmed back up.

Cold Weather Care for Indoor and Outdoor Guinea Pigs