Bedding materials

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Jennifer

Jennifer

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Hello All

I currently keep my piggies on a bed of newspaper with hay. I find this fairly easy to clean out as i just roll up the newspaper into a tube and stick it in a sack. I've got a couple of good sources of newspapers so it's working fairly well. However, an awful lot of you on here seem to go for fleece/blanket type bedding and cosies and stuff so I'm wondering if that would work better. I clean out my three about every 2-3 days as they seem to poo and wee for England and I think that to have to wash the fleece every 2-3 days would be quite labour (not to mention energy) intensive. Can you tell me how often you clean yours out, whether it is easier to use fleece, how you cope with all the washing etc.

I've also just bought my first snuggle thing online from cosycavies - thanks to Marblemoo for the recommendation and whilst I reckon they will love snuggling in it am wondering whether it will just end up a mess of poo in 5 minutes!

I'd like to find out more about your experiences and to make cleaning out as efficient as possible so that I spend more time playing with Cecil, Poppy and Pippin and less time cleaning! Thanks for reading!
 
Hello,
Well my boys made me move onto fleece basically as one of them has an allergy to the dust produced from sawdust and has a touch of hay fever which means he can't have hay or straw to cuddle up in like most people use.

I use newspaper with a towel and then fleece on top,

I like fleece because obviously you can pick how it looks all the different colours, i have a blue with white paw prints, green and brown dots, it's totally customisable which looks great,
When it comes to cleaning i use a hand held vacuum to pick up all the poops, every day, it's quick and easy, i change my fleece out every 3 - 4 days, which for me is just picking the fleece and towel up then shaking it into the base of my cage so most of the poo comes off, the hay and things that end up on the floor generally just stays there then rolling the fleece and towel up putting it in a bag then getting a separate bag for rolling up the newspaper with the poo's in it and putting that in the bin basically, then i just put fresh down,
With my fleece and towel i take it outside and shake it and brush it with a sweeping brush to help get the hay off, then it just waits to go in the wash,
The washing doesn't have to be done straight away if you have more than one change of fleece, i currently have 3 but I'm looking to get more just so that i can change it around every now and then,
The important thing to remember is that with new fleece it has to be washed 3 times so that it becomes water absorbent, or else the wee will just stay on top and not soak through which obviously isn't good !

I hope that's helped. :)
 
Thanks twiams, that's a really useful post and I didn't know about washing the fleece first! From what you say, that sounds like slightly more work than I am doing at the moment, as there are more stages, but I guess it would be worth it if the piggies were happier on fleece and I like the idea of all the wee getting drained through the fleece and away from them. At the moment it soaks into the newspaper and they have a very thick bed of hay on top so the top seems to stay dry (and tasty as I top it up twice a day as they keep eating it!) but I am always open to trying alternatives as I want them to be as happy and comfortable as possible. I think I will give your method a go. Thanks! :))
 
I use fleece also. However if my piggies had a choice theyd choose hay. Hay carries the risk of having thinks lurking about and sharp bits and also me piggies have had parasites from hay before also. This is why I dont use hay. However they did love having the hay and made there own little tunnelsand borrows so I think its down to choice.
A very reputable rescue I know uses hay as bedding, so your definatly not doing anything wrong
 
I use newspaper with hay on top too, I find it doesn't take long to clean I sweep poo out everyday and change the newspaper every other day. When I do that I just lift out most of the hay then told up the newspaper and chuck it so it's quick. I didn't fancy using fleece but didn't want to use wood shavings so find this is working best for me & my two girls :)
 
Thanks Mummy Maynard, it's good to hear that someone else uses newspaper and hay and that it works for them, as I've seen some disparaging remarks about that and wondered if I shoudl switch to fleece. If I'm honest, it works for me as cleaning out is quick and every 2 days isn't a chore. Mine do love the hay and make burrows and nests in it and always squeak and popcorn when they go back into a clean cage, so I guess it is partly about what the piggies themselves like. I have found 2 very good hay suppliers who do a huge bag (lasts about 2 weeks) for £6 and it's luscious green, soft, sweet smelling hay with no dust, lovely long strands which make good nests and apparently is tasty as they eat that as much as they eat their forage/herbage which is about 10 times the price! I like this forum cos you can get lots of different points of view. Thanks guys, you're cool 8)
 
Jennifer said:
Thanks Mummy Maynard, it's good to hear that someone else uses newspaper and hay and that it works for them, as I've seen some disparaging remarks about that and wondered if I shoudl switch to fleece. If I'm honest, it works for me as cleaning out is quick and every 2 days isn't a chore. Mine do love the hay and make burrows and nests in it and always squeak and popcorn when they go back into a clean cage, so I guess it is partly about what the piggies themselves like. I have found 2 very good hay suppliers who do a huge bag (lasts about 2 weeks) for £6 and it's luscious green, soft, sweet smelling hay with no dust, lovely long strands which make good nests and apparently is tasty as they eat that as much as they eat their forage/herbage which is about 10 times the price! I like this forum cos you can get lots of different points of view. Thanks guys, you're cool 8)
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If it suits you and the piggies are happy, why change ?
I use vet bed and do a full deep clean every 4-5 days for the pens with more than 2 piggies living in there but my two sets of boys have been left for a max of 7 days on it without a problem.
Washing/drying can be a bit of a pain but we have 15 piggies in 5 pens so have to spend a whole day off dedicated to their laundry :))
Can I ask which hay you use - that sounds excellent, can it be ordered online as we have to travel a bit for our supply rolleyes :))
 
Thanks Guinea pig slave, I guess it works well really so if they're happy, perhaps I shouldn't be messing around with things just because other people seem to prefer fleece. I'll think about it a bit more.

I get one set of hay from a local (Southend on Sea) cattery - http://www.shalynncattery.com/index.html
a really friendly place which does home visits (my cats get to stay at home and be looked after, which they love) as well as pet boarding.

The other hay was thanks to my Mum (she's such a star!), who had my piggies to stay over Christmas while we were away and spoiled them rotten. She got it from a local pet shop (in Kent) which I need to find out the details of, as this is the nicest hay I have ever seen. It's top quality, so fragrant and green that I'd happily eat it and the piggies adore it! Kent is a long way to go for hay but it's so good that whenever my Mum comes to see me or I go to see her, we arrange to get some more! Probably not a lot of good to anyone not in the Kent/Essex area mallethead
 
Jennifer said:
Thanks Guinea pig slave, I guess it works well really so if they're happy, perhaps I shouldn't be messing around with things just because other people seem to prefer fleece. I'll think about it a bit more.

I get one set of hay from a local (Southend on Sea) cattery - http://www.shalynncattery.com/index.html
a really friendly place which does home visits (my cats get to stay at home and be looked after, which they love) as well as pet boarding.

The other hay was thanks to my Mum (she's such a star!), who had my piggies to stay over Christmas while we were away and spoiled them rotten. She got it from a local pet shop (in Kent) which I need to find out the details of, as this is the nicest hay I have ever seen. It's top quality, so fragrant and green that I'd happily eat it and the piggies adore it! Kent is a long way to go for hay but it's so good that whenever my Mum comes to see me or I go to see her, we arrange to get some more! Probably not a lot of good to anyone not in the Kent/Essex area mallethead
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Ooh, a bit far for us :)) Have emailed them and ask if they post, willing to pay p+p so see what they say. Always looking out for good hay suppliers for our bunch and would order a huge amount as we have storage space :) It sounds wonderful and love spoiling them x)
 
I make cage liners but it took me a lot of time money and trial and error to get to what i like, if you are happy with what you use i seriously would stick with it as its a lot of faffing about finding alternatives, i only did it because shavings was expensive for me and i don't get newspaper to line it, it also took me ages to clean the trays thoroughly and they got marked quick so i had to find something better for me.

If your happy with what you have theres no reason to change it
 
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