Feeding and fleece

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edna&mildred

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I’ve been transitioning my girls onto fleece bedding and it has been a hit with them but I have a couple of questions about feeding.

On shavings, I basically had hay everywhere - in tunnels/hides/houses, random corners etc. Then I also had hay stuffed into enrichment toys like a wooden play tunnel and small grass houses. On fleece, I have just been putting it in those corner litter trays that you get for rabbits and in a hay bag, but wonder if they are getting less enrichment from this? They tend to wee in the litter trays and so I clean them out and replenish hay twice a day when I shake out all the fleece bedding and sweep up poop and hay. Should I keep feeding them hay like this or accept that hay gets everywhere and use some of the enrichment toys as well? I have a horse bag for the washing machine but would like to limit the amount of hay that ends up in there!

Second query is about nuggets. I scatter feed them their nugget allowance, split into two small meals as they would inhale it if they could. On shavings, they had to forage in the hay and stuff to find them but on fleece, is it really foraging if they just have to collect them from the surface of the fleece? They get most of their veggies when they are out in the play area so they still run around looking for those.

Sorry for the essay. Tl;dr - best ways to feed for maximum enrichment on fleece bedding?
 
Hi, I'm afraid I don't have any answers but I'm keen to follow your thread -

I had to travel away from home for a week and switched from fleece to wood pellet/hay bedding temporarily so it was easier for my husband to manage the piggies cleaning and care. Now I'm back I feel the piggies might be happier with their current pellet/hay set up given the all-day abundance of hay everywhere along with the wealth of foraging for pellets and enrichment opportunities.

They seemed perfectly content before on fleece before but now I'm torn whether to change them back to fleece permanently or even mix it up occasionally with the pellet/hay set up. And quite honestly this set up is a lot easier to daily manage than fleece but much more expensive... hmmmm decisions...
 
My opinion is that having hay contained is less enriching but only in some situations - I agree with Swissgreys, large trays are better than corner trays. I think trays are better than hay bags (if you are only using a bag) as with a bag all they can do with that is sit and pull bits out, its not foraging in quite the same way as being able to get right inside a big pile of hay and play in it, sleep in it, forage through it and they can do that whether it is loose on the floor or in a tray. It also depends on your piggies though - I find with the few times Ive used corner trays, they tend to just sit at the edge of it and eat the hay where they can reach (terribly civilised of them!), but they just dont find it anywhere near as enriching as just a loose pile directly on the floor which they can pull around, sleep in, run through etc.

My set up is different to yours though - they live in a hutch in my shed and have free roam between the hutch and shed floor. The hutch is aubiose/shavings and fully covered with hay year round. The shed has fleece in summer (fully hay in winter). In summer when its fleece, they obviously can get to a fully hay area just by going back into the hutch and foraging through there, but I still prefer to put a big pile of hay directly on the fleece so they can get to a hay in whichever area they are in. What I find is that having hay in the shed on the fleece also encourages them to use all the space and they tend to be much more active. if there isn't a large pile of hay on the fleece, then they tend to spend much more time in the hutch and as it isn't such as large space as the shed floor, they aren't nearly as active as when they get the whole shed to forage through. This brings me to conclude they are simply happier being amongst big piles of hay all the time. Yes it makes a mess with hay on the fleece and the only reason I use fleece at all is to reduce bedding costs for at least a few months of the year!
 
Like swissgrey above I have a big hay tray in my fleece cage. I’ve also started doing a hay pile again in the middle of the cage on a bath mat and accept that hay pretty much gets dragged everywhere, but then it did when I just used hay trays too.
Means a bit more sweeping and cleaning for me but the pigs enjoy running through the hay and dragging it about! Haha.
I’ve been considering having a half fleece and half hay cage for a while now and still haven’t got round to giving it a go.
 
Mine have a hay tray and I will put their veg in there and nuggets sometimes to give them something to hunt out. I stuff hay into boxes, loo rolls etc and veg in egg boxes to create enrichment and just accept the added sweeping that comes with it.

We care about hay that has been peed on. Piggies don't so don't worry too much about that.
 
I use mixture. Meadow hay in haybags and underneath the haybags are large hay trays filled with more hay, storage boxes filled with hay and separate area with feeding Timothy hay on bath mats. It still gets everywhere,but easy to clean. My boys like to snuggle up in hay trays and one even pulls more hay from haybag if he feels the tray isn't fluffy enough :))
 
Hi all, thanks for all the feedback. I will add some larger trays of hay instead of the corner litter trays. They sit in the litter trays and eat hay at the moment but it would be nice for them to have a bit more space to move around in them - they are still growing at the moment. I think I will then scatter their nuggets in the hay trays for them so they can properly forage. I will add some of their enrichment toys for feeding hay back in too - the hay bag was just an addition to the trays so they could pull hay out of it as a different way of feeding.

I would like to keep them on fleece as they genuinely seem to prefer it despite the loss of hay piles everywhere. I conducted an informal place preference test and they spent more time on the fleece than the shavings! I just want to be sure they get the same level of enrichment they had before. I can accept hay everywhere if it makes them happier :)
 
Is something like this any good for hiding their food in as an addition to encourage foraging on fleece bedding? Would appreciate opinions if you’ve used one!

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I’ve never used anything like that. Have a read of the enrichment thread. I’ve done paper bags (handles cut off) stuffed with hay and something in the bottom to find. Toilet rolls stuffed with hay and veg in the middle. Veg and pellets under a pile of hay.
 
edna&mildred said:
Is something like this any good for hiding their food in as an addition to encourage foraging on fleece bedding? Would appreciate opinions if you’ve used one!

View attachment 167173
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I tried one and to be honest it was ok but nothing amazing. To be honest mine had more fun finding treats, nuggets. forage etc in large piles of hay and in paper bags, etc.

I think with guinea pigs less really is more.
 
edna&mildred said:
Is something like this any good for hiding their food in as an addition to encourage foraging on fleece bedding? Would appreciate opinions if you’ve used one!

View attachment 167173
Click to expand...
Mine have one and seem to enjoy it, although it doesn't take them long to find everything so doesn't hold their attention for too long!
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Swissgreys said:
I tried one and to be honest it was ok but nothing amazing. To be honest mine had more fun finding treats, nuggets. forage etc in large piles of hay and in paper bags, etc.

I think with guinea pigs less really is more.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your feedback. I didn’t intend it to wholly replace other foraging options, just wondered if it would be a safe and fun activity for them. I will try it out and see what they think.

Hath said:
You can make those at home with pieces of fleece. Google snuffle mat.
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Yes, I was thinking about making one myself! I have loads of scraps of fleece left over from making their bedding. If nothing else, it will keep me entertained with a sewing project!

CrestedPiggies said:
Mine have one and seem to enjoy it, although it doesn't take them long to find everything so doesn't hold their attention for too long!
View attachment 167188
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Aww, they look really cute there. Thank you for your feedback. I’m going to try it out and see what they think of it but I’m going to pick up some big trays for hay today so they can forage in those.
 
Mine have hay boxes big enough for them to sit in and i. Recently started putting pellets through the hay which they are enjoying and keeps them busy burying themselves in the hay. They have space to run and opp to hay forage etc so guess they adapt to what you provide. Good luck
 
Update - they are fully on fleece bedding now and seem really happy. I added two cat litter trays in for hay and they have been in and out of them and burrowing through the hay so appreciate the suggestion! I’ve also added hay stuffed into a variety of enrichment items back in, and have been hiding their nuggets in the hay trays and inside other toys to make them look for them. I definitely get the sense that they prefer the fleece setup from their behaviour so sticking with it. I bought a large trug, which makes shaking out their fleece liners easier so the added hay isn’t that big a deal really. Thanks for the advice!
 
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