Changing bedding

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Amysmom

Amysmom

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I took all the tips on board from people who replied to my burrowing under the fleece problem but they arent really going to work for me so I'm going to give megazorb or something similar a go.

The main reason is that the bending over the cage to adjust/tidy up the fleece is killing my back.I had my spine fused top to bottom 16mths ago and the leaning over the cage us causing a burning sensation which I think is the muscles being aggravated on my metalwork.:(

Does anyone use Megazorb (sp?) or anything similar?
Does it work out expensive?

I love using fleece but for now I have to find easier ways with my back because I'm in a lot of pain.If it doesnt work out we are going to have to consider selling the cage-its on a low stand, and buy one I could put on a table or unit of some kind so that it will be waist level.
 
Megazorb is great stuff...!
But can work out fairly expensive... I use hemp bedding that is pretty decent...

Have you thought of getting one of the dust pan brushes with really long handles to scrape it up...?

x
 
Its not so much the scraping up as I can put my hand through the door-its when I have to place he fleece down plus I have to try and tidy it up daily because they are still burrowing under it.Its such a mess and they even tip all their food up.

Whats hemp bedding and where do you get it from?
 
Amysmom said:
Its not so much the scraping up as I can put my hand through the door-its when I have to place he fleece down plus I have to try and tidy it up daily because they are still burrowing under it.Its such a mess and they even tip all their food up.

Whats hemp bedding and where do you get it from?
Click to expand...

Messy little ...!... :))

I use bliss basic... Have you got an feed shop or horsey supply shop by you...?
Are you close to Tamworth...? There's a shop I get all my guinea pig stuff from in pinwall... Just outside Tamworth...
x
 
i use a mixture of megazorb and wood shavings - it work out cheaper and still has excellent absorbancy and doesn't smell much at all - i change my boys out once a week.
 
I think the pigs just like burrowing under things. Do you have snuggle rolls and stuff they could burrow in instead, if you change the bedding that you use? I think it would be a shame to stop them being able to carry out this natural behaviour.
 
I have been using Carefree for the last 6 months (only used 1/3 of the big bale which cost 19.99 but got it in October last year as had a 10% P@H coupon). I tried megazorb, but I was allergic to it :(

Other people have recommended Back2Nature litter, which is 16.99 for a similar size bag, so I'm going to give that a go!

HTH...
 
What's always concerned me about things like that, is what if they eat it? I know mine are little for chucking their veggies around and stuff sticks to them.

I tried fleece. I tried vet bed (a good alternative to stop them wrecking the place maybe?), but I've resorted back to newspaper and hay. Yes, it's hell for my allergies, but it's by far the pigs favourite!
 
claremw92 said:
Messy little ...!... :))

I use bliss basic... Have you got an feed shop or horsey supply shop by you...?
Are you close to Tamworth...? There's a shop I get all my guinea pig stuff from in pinwall... Just outside Tamworth...
x
Click to expand...


WE do have a stables near us where I get my bales of redigrass from so I might go and see what bedding hey have.
 
Amanda1801 said:
I think the pigs just like burrowing under things. Do you have snuggle rolls and stuff they could burrow in instead, if you change the bedding that you use? I think it would be a shame to stop them being able to carry out this natural behaviour.
Click to expand...


They have a big snuggle sack each and I have a small piece of fleece I put in to see if they will burrow under that but no thats not good enough.:(
 
Floydie said:
Have you got the fleece hanging over the tray and tucked under?
Click to expand...

I dont think this would work on our cage plus with my back I would find it too difficult to do.I'm also starting to think that brushing the fleece off etc isnt the easiest thing regarding my back.I need something which wont aggravate my pain when ive done it.
 
I'm actually tempted to give just hay and newspaper a try-I think I will try this over the weekend until ive looked into carefresh etc.
 
Amysmom said:
I'm actually tempted to give just hay and newspaper a try-I think I will try this over the weekend until ive looked into carefresh etc.
Click to expand...

I use this on the indoor cages... I find bedding inside gets everywhere... Pretty easy... Just roll it up and bin it every other day... :))
x
 
Noone has mentioned this yet so I will just put this out there as another suggestion!

Finacard!

I use Finacard (chopped dust free cardboard) which is £13.99 for a big bale and free delivery. I get about 5 cleans out from a bale and my cage is a 5x2 c&c so quite large.

My pigs love chucking the stuff about rolleyes
 
xkatymayx said:
Noone has mentioned this yet so I will just put this out there as another suggestion!

Finacard!

I use Finacard (chopped dust free cardboard) which is £13.99 for a big bale and free delivery. I get about 5 cleans out from a bale and my cage is a 5x2 c&c so quite large.

My pigs love chucking the stuff about rolleyes
Click to expand...

Not heard of that one, which supplier do you use?
 
Amysmom said:
WE do have a stables near us where I get my bales of redigrass from so I might go and see what bedding hey have.
Click to expand...

Ooh, never heard of a bale of readigrass :) Can I ask where you get it from ?/
I buy a kg bag so anything larger is a plus rolleyes
Have you considered vet bed - I hoover it if I'm aching or tired after work etc. Takes a few minutes.
I pop cosies, cuddle cups and little pieces of furry blankets in the pens for them to burrow under too - they love it :))
 
Guinea pig slave said:
Ooh, never heard of a bale of readigrass :) Can I ask where you get it from ?/
I buy a kg bag so anything larger is a plus rolleyes
Have you considered vet bed - I hoover it if I'm aching or tired after work etc. Takes a few minutes.
I pop cosies, cuddle cups and little pieces of furry blankets in the pens for them to burrow under too - they love it :))
Click to expand...

Did you not see my 15kg bag of it...?... :))
And you are totally committed to your babies...! I've seen the washing to prove it... :))

As mentioned above vet bed is great stuff...! I love it... But it's way too much work with the amount of animals I've got...!... I really don't know how you do it...!... :))
x
 
Amysmom said:
I'm actually tempted to give just hay and newspaper a try-I think I will try this over the weekend until ive looked into carefresh etc.
Click to expand...

I loved Carefresh when I used it- it just worked out too expensive for me long term though.
 
Guinea pig slave said:
Ooh, never heard of a bale of readigrass :) Can I ask where you get it from ?/
I buy a kg bag so anything larger is a plus rolleyes
Have you considered vet bed - I hoover it if I'm aching or tired after work etc. Takes a few minutes.
I pop cosies, cuddle cups and little pieces of furry blankets in the pens for them to burrow under too - they love it :))
Click to expand...


I dont know what area your from-I'm 7 miles outside Wolverhampton but its from a stables near Wall Heath on a road called the mile flat.

Sorry my mistake but its graze-on, I presume its the same as Redirass?
Its a 15kg bag and only costs around £7, lasts ages because I only give them a small handful a day.
 
I use the normall stuff sawdust with dust extracted and a friend of mine has hay for her horses and the gunieapigs eat it in bucket loads the hay is so soft! they now have a hay rack and fresh hay in it everyday! :) one a week i clean mine out and my girls and boys i have to say i'm lucky they are very clean! X
 
xkatymayx said:
Finacard!

I use Finacard (chopped dust free cardboard) which is £13.99 for a big bale and free delivery. I get about 5 cleans out from a bale and my cage is a 5x2 c&c so quite large.

My pigs love chucking the stuff about rolleyes
Click to expand...

My brother used to buy that for his rats - he loved it, but I've never tried the piggies with it.
 
I <3 megazorb and it worked out at about £1.25 per week for a 4x2 cage for my boys , cleaning once per week . I also <3 finacard but not as much as its not as good it smells more but that works out at about 60p per week for the boys cage. Washing stuff and using a tumble dryer eats electricity and the washing liquid made it work out over £1 a week for that changing once per week.

I am currently on fleece as the weather is good enough to dry it outside so thats saves electricity and I found a washing liquid that is really good and works out at about 8p per wash load rather than the usual tesco bought stuff that is more like 30p a wash plus the lec for the washer and lec for the dryer based on a 1hr wash and a 1hr tumble dry.

I now have 3 cages with fleeces that all fit in the same wash load so its about £1 per week for all three cages which is great for me but with one cage id never use fleece!



Hope that helps :-)
 
Do you think they mind swapping from fleece to megazorb each change? That's what I tend to do.
 
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