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gingerlily_14

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Hi, was wondering what you guys would recommend more fleece or saw dust? my guinea pigs are currently living on saw dust but it gets a state super fast as it is super difficult to spot clean i have also found that ginger has been getting some sores on her feet only miner but i do not want her to be in pain what do you think?

If you recommend fleece i was wondering what the benefits are?

i also have a few questions and concerns with the fleece situation ...
would my guinea pigs ingest it they love to chew on everything hides food bowl toys etc?
would it begin to stink? i would be willing to wash it once a week would that be enough?
is i really expensive? i would probably be willing to pay £30 for fleece or is that not high enough for quality fleece?
any inexpensive recommendations?
 
By saw dust i assume you mean shavings as sawdust is not suitable at all.
I’ll leave her feet to a health contributer
We use fleece and I absolutely love it!
it’s easy to spot clean I have a little cordless car hoover that gets most of the poops and it also doesn’t make a mess!
Our pigs love to chew but have never shown any interest in chewing their liners, obviously it depends on the pig!
we put a disposable puppy pad under our liner and don’t fins it smells as all, ours is washed every 5 days and we use smaller puppy pads in hightraffic areas!
it looks expensive at the start but you only need two sets and so in the long run it pays for itself vs using disposable bedding.
you can use a simplefleece throw with an absorbant layer or buy liners, I have bought liners and they cost around £35 for the size we need.
if You can see it’s much easier to make them! Fleece costs £4.50/m andI got 5m of wadding for£11 on Amazon!
another option you could try is middle bath matswe use the IKEA ones which are £5 each, the hay shakes off these much easier to we always have one at the end of the cage! With fleece you will also need a pet wash bag so your washing machine doesn’t get clogged.
Here is one of ourset ups I buy the liner shorter as I know there will be a bath mat at the end!7A65C41B-FF95-4AD0-8B53-6807EB6C322A.webp
 
thanks so much for the advice will do some research on that in a moment
but i cannot believe this i have been using saw dust for my guinea pigs for over 3 years and i have only just found out that it is not safe i first got guinea pigs when i was 11 and my parents bought me them from a pet shop 🙄 now i know that that is not ok but i was young and dint have a phone and never thought to do research about the products i was using.
i am so upset at myself my guinea pigs are sat right next to me and they have saw dust in their cage right now but on the package it says that it has the dust extracted but i know in the past i have used just normal sawdust d you think the dust extracted one will be ok?
 
Sawdust is way to fine, guineapigs have very sensitive respiratory systems and so saw dust could affect that, we used shavings at first and even those made one of our piggies sneeze!
where do you get it from?
Pets at home sell wood shavings very cheaply which are okay to use, I would look to switch as soo as you can!
Guineapig care has come along way in recent years, you are on the right place to learn! 🙂
 
Regarding her feet, then only a vet can really advise you with a hands on check. It would definitely be a good idea to get them seen though given Bumblefoot can occur.

The type of bedding you use is personal preference though. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

Fleece needs to be changed out every few days. Its going to be dependent on cage size, number of pigs etc but needing to be changed every 3-5 days would be what you should expect. You can also use small pee pads in high traffic areas which are obviously easier to change out than changing the whole fleece.

If you want proper liners then £30 probably isn't going to be enough, given you need multiple liners as you'll be changing a couple of times in a week.

I use a mix of bedding for my boys. They live in a hutch in my shed with free access to the shed floor. The hutch is bedded with aubiose or shavings topped with hay all the time. In winter the shed floor is also aubiose/shavings and hay, but in summer for the shed floor I use puppy pads and then lay a fleece blanket on top. I do this to have a saving on bedding costs in summer (you cant use fleece outside in winter) but I personally prefer the disposable bedding over the fleece. I spot clean both disposable bedding and fleece daily but I have to change the fleece out twice a week whereas I only need to fully replace the disposable bedding once a week.
 
I use fleece. I can sew so I've made my own bits and pieces to save some cash but even if you can't sew, you don't necessarily need to spend a lot.

My main 'liner' is just a piece of fleece that I wrap around a piece of mattress protector. You need something absorbent underneath the fleece - some people use puppy pads, towels, U-Haul blankets too. I bought a king size mattress protector for £15 from Amazon (cotton topped) and then cut it to size. I just had to overlook the edges to stop it from fraying. I prefer to keep the fleece and protector separate as it makes it easier to wash.

You can get polar fleece blankets from some budget shops. Pound Stretcher sell 2 for £6 I think...these are a bit thin but I use this kind in the boy's playpen and 7 months on they're still going strong. I've got some slightly thicker fleece that I bought off the market for £5/m.

I then use pee pads and bath mats over the top of the fleece. And I have a large hay tray where the boys do most of their wees anyway. I change these out every couple of days and my main fleece gets a wash once a week. Usually there's no sign of any wee on the mattress protector as the pee pads in their usual spots do the job.

I work in the same room as my piggies and don't notice any smells.
 
rp1993 said:
Sawdust is way to fine, guineapigs have very sensitive respiratory systems and so saw dust could affect that, we used shavings at first and even those made one of our piggies sneeze!
where do you get it from?
Pets at home sell wood shavings very cheaply which are okay to use, I would look to switch as soo as you can!
Guineapig care has come along way in recent years, you are on the right place to learn! 🙂
Click to expand...
Now that I think of it ginger has been sneezing slot recently we thought it was because she was getting a draft from under the door
Thanks for your advice I will look into fleece tomorrow x
 
@Pretzelpigs Guineadad liners look good but they out of the price range the OP said. I looked at them at one point, even had one in my basket. But I couldn’t justify the cost given I could buy fleece and a liner for less and make it myself. I like the pockets though!

I like fleece too and so did the piggies. They’re now on shavings.
 
Siikibam said:
@Pretzelpigs Guineadad liners look good but they out of the price range the OP said. I looked at them at one point, even had one in my basket. But I couldn’t justify the cost given I could buy fleece and a liner for less and make it myself. I like the pockets though!

I like fleece too and so did the piggies. They’re now on shavings.
Click to expand...
I agree they are sooo expensive! We have the pee pads and to be honest I don’t rate them.. the only advantage is the fleece brushes off a bit easier but I find they get wet a lot quicker than fleece!
 
rp1993 said:
I agree they are sooo expensive! We have the pee pads and to be honest I don’t rate them.. the only advantage is the fleece brushes off a bit easier but I find they get wet a lot quicker than fleece!
Click to expand...
😯 is there not something absorbent in between?
 
Siikibam said:
😯 is there not something absorbent in between?
Click to expand...
I think it’s some bamboo fibre... but they have a waterproof bottom so the pee doesn’t sock through like fleece! And they shrink!
 
Siikibam said:
@Pretzelpigs Guineadad liners look good but they out of the price range the OP said. I looked at them at one point, even had one in my basket. But I couldn’t justify the cost given I could buy fleece and a liner for less and make it myself. I like the pockets though!

I like fleece too and so did the piggies. They’re now on shavings.
Click to expand...
I tried to sew but my sewing machine broke. But I love the modern look of the liners!
 
Siikibam said:
@Pretzelpigs Guineadad liners look good but they out of the price range the OP said. I looked at them at one point, even had one in my basket. But I couldn’t justify the cost given I could buy fleece and a liner for less and make it myself. I like the pockets though!

I like fleece too and so did the piggies. They’re now on shavings.
Click to expand...
Oops! I live in America and had a brain freeze on how much a pound is LOL.
 
rp1993 said:
I think it’s some bamboo fibre... but they have a waterproof bottom so the pee doesn’t sock through like fleece! And they shrink!
Click to expand...
I have heard they shrink and you have to wash them on cool.
 
I'm just transitioning part of my set-up onto fleece. First time in 10 years, but the current batch of pigs are hanging out in different places!

I started with just a piece of polar fleece fabric (not a throw) it doesn't fray so you don't have to stitch the edges. It was a good weight, about £6 per meter and was 150cm wide. I put this on top of some cheap, disposable 'puppy pads' which are like a thin, flat 60x60cm square (£4/30 pack). I could see from this:
1. How dry the fleece stayed over the days
2. How much pee could be absorbed by the pads
3. When things started to whiff!
4. Who nibbled what (I was particularly concerned that the puppy pads didn't get nibbled as I reckon this can be serious for the guts)
5. How easy it was to spot clean/brush off hay/wash in machine/get dry

So I had a £10 initial investment and I was very happy with the result, so the next stage was to get some 'Zorb Original' fabric and make a fleece/zorb/fleece sandwich stitched round the edge. I don't need a waterproof backing as it's on a tiled floor. This has also worked very well: the Zorb is imported from the States, I think, and is pricey here in the UK at £13/metre for 45inch width (about 114cm) and this shrinks a bit... inevitable with the natural fibre content (the polyester fleece doesn't shrink but then these man-made fibres don't absorb!). Zorb is lightweight but super-absorbent and I've ordered more. I think you can probably get cheaper versions but I can't see them beating this. It's got to hold the pee well as I have to stand in part of the enclosure when I'm watering my seedlings on the windowsill and I'm heavy, so I don't want pee soaking up into my socks! My final product won't win any craft awards, but then again it's just a big potty. They're not going to say "hey - I'm not pooping on that... your stitching is wonky!"

My 'sandwich' will easily last the week when I get a couple of pee pads in critical areas (which will be smaller versions of the sandwich) One of my girls has tender little feet so keeping her floofy hocks trimmed and making sure she has a series of dry pads to lie on is vital for her. The others are more sensible... My boar loves his snuggle tunnel so much he has stopped peeing in it at all and it stays dry for days at a time (you have to shake a cr*p ton of poops out at night though!)

We have also tried Aubiose bedding which was fine but inside our plastic tray cages the most absorbent bedding I've found is called Back-2-nature. It's little grey pellets which absorb a lot of pee/stinkiness! Downside - it's expensive and 'nobbly' to walk on, even topped with hay, which triggered bumblefoot in one of my old sows, so it only gets used in the 'bedroom' areas where they sleep at night. I'll be trying various combinations to find what's best for us now, but also what the neighbour can cope with cleaning if we're ever allowed to go on holiday again! I started out with shavings years ago but actually I found the pine odour went through the whole house and I found it too strong myself. I didn't even think about the pigs - they always looked happy enough though! :roll:
 
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