basic bedding question

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jigsaw

this is such a basic question that I am almost embarrassed to ask! :embarrassed: :)
I am setting up the boys home tomorrow night in preparation for their arrival Saturday morning. The cages have removable plastic trays which is fab. I am going to be using aubiose - we use this for the chooks and it is amazing stuff. I have picked up some gorgeous hay from a pet & horse store that's fairly local - been using them for years. I just need to know what is best to put in their bed area. I have read so many different things that now I am completely confused. Obviously the base will be aubiose and I was planning on topping it with hay, but now I have read about straw, medibed, Russel rabbit and so many other ideas I feel completely brain dead :-\ ?. The boys are only 7 / 8 weeks old.
what do you all recommend?
 
i use hay for the bed area, straw can be too prickily and can poke piggies in the eye.
 
Like MDDS said, do NOT use straw! You can use hay but i recommend getting a hay rack too or making a different pile so there is no way the piggies will eat solied hay :)
 
I use Medibed (like Russell Bedding), the only straw you can use is Barley Straw- its nice and soft :) I give mine Meadow hay to play in.
 
yes i have a hay rack too and i use a better hay( like timothy hay or a greener hay -sainsburys sell a nice eating hay by bob martin) for their food. but buy P@H normal hay for their bedding,
 
maisydaisystar said:
i use hay for the bed area, straw can be too prickily and can poke piggies in the eye.
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Don't worry - that has always been my opinion. I kept guins for years but there is so much info available now it makes your head swim! Either that or there weren't computers and the internet when I was young (I'm only 31 now!) and I am just double checking on things. I think I am getting paranoid as I get older! I think I shall stick to my aubiose and hay and if I find some medibed I'll investigate it.
 
It is very confusing as there are so many things that were once suppose to be good for them or not do them any harm and now it turns out that there are quite major health issues with such things as bedding. It makes you paranoid. 98) Glad you have decided what to do now and like maisydaisystar has said any more questions or queries don't hesitate to ask. :)
 
all done - the only thing missing is the 5 boys! Hay smells lovely. Now I am worried that the aubiose may be too sharp..
thanks for all the advise.
must stop worrying...must stop worrying...must stop worrying...must stop worrying :)
 
I know what you mean - so much choice between everything you don't know what to do. My boys are 3 months old now and I'd started to use Aubiose but have stopped now because quite often when I picked one up, a piece of it was sticking out of their privates! I use it for the girls because they don't seem to have that problem. For the boys I use newspaper, shredded paper and hay.

It's such an individual choice - depends on how you clean them out, if they're inside/outside, price, availability etc. If I were you, I'd just experiment. Give everything a go and do what you think is best. There's no right or wrong, although a lot of people won't use shavings; I don't now but did for years.

Good luck and enjoy!
 
If you get your things from a horsey place see if they have Megazorb...thats soft & nice. I had a feel of some Auboise the other day & was pleasantly surprised. I had been put off anything Hemp becasue I tried out Hemcore which completely unsuitable for my pigs because it was too sharp & prickly for their naked feet!

Re the set up. Change it every time! Will keep them active & interested & you'll soon see what they prefer. My lot love it if I completely fill a bedroom area with hay then they get busy tunneling through it & generally playing silly . I only do this if the hay I have at the time is nice & soft though. My hay varies quite a bit becasue I buy it in the bale.
 
I use megazorb, but I also use towels now as it was a temporary bedding in their new cage and my piggies love it, its easy to clean too, just vac it every day to get rid of all the poops and then wash it every 2 weeks, and I also have replacement towels for whilst the others are in the wash.

But I have used megzorb and it is really nice, my piggies seemed to like it but not as much the towels.
 
hils78 said:
I had been put off anything Hemp becasue I tried out Hemcore which completely unsuitable for my pigs because it was too sharp & prickly for their naked feet!
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Do they normally wear slippers then? ;D ;D Sorry, couldn't resist.
 
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