Hutch bedding? straw or hay?

isabelbella

isabelbella

New Born Pup
Joined
Feb 24, 2021
Messages
29
Reaction score
8
Points
70
Location
united kingdom
As I'm going to be moving my guinea pigs into an outdoors hutch very soon, I've been thinking about what to use to keep them warm and snug (of course an insulator will also be on the hutch and sawdust/woodshavings as usual).

I've previously used straw for all my 4 previous guinea pigs. I know this tends to be frowned upon somewhat but I have never had any issues with it and I'm not sure what else to use. My guinea pigs eat timothy hay which isn't 'puffy' enough to be used as bedding to keep them warm and which they can burrow in.

Would cheaper hay (along with the usual woodshavings/sawdust I use) be possible to be used instead of straw? The biggest worry I have with this however is hay pokes in the eyes which has happened to a guinea pig of my two times in the past. Also would this cause them to eat the cheaper and less nutritious hay rather than the high quality timothy hay which is much better?
 
Straw should not be used as bedding, it is too sharp and isn’t edible.
Timothy hay also cannot be used as bedding as it isn’t soft enough. Soft meadow hay makes the best bedding And meadow hay is also absolutely fine as food as well, any grass hay is food. My piggies are bedded on and fed meadow hay exclusively (i keep trying them with timothy hay but they tend to leave it and prefer to eat the meadow). They can’t differentiate what is bedding and what is food, so they just eat everything from everywhere. Their hay is topped up everywhere in the hutch multiple times a day.
Hay pokes are part and parcel of piggy keeping. The risk can be minimised by keeping stalky timothy in a tray or rack but they will always be at risk of haypoke even if you use racks.

Its too early to move indoor piggies outside yet. You really should wait until the night time temperatures are much higher - usually around April time If possible.
 
I buy bales of farm hay which tends to be long strands so ideal for burrowing into. Provided the hay you buy cheap is clean and smells good, it will be good for your pigs. Mine won’t touch Timothy hay.
 
Straw is much too coarse to use as a bedding for guinea pigs and you run the risk of eye poke which can be a costly injury if things go wrong. hay is the best for bedding I think. If you have access to a car and can drive to a farm shop you could buy a bale of meadow hay which costs around £5/6 and that will last quite a long time. Of course you do need somewhere dry to store it too.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Straw should not be used as bedding, it is too sharp and isn’t edible.
Timothy hay also cannot be used as bedding as it isn’t soft enough. Soft meadow hay makes the best bedding And meadow hay is also absolutely fine as food as well, any grass hay is food. My piggies are bedded on and fed meadow hay exclusively (i keep trying them with timothy hay but they tend to leave it and prefer to eat the meadow). They can’t differentiate what is bedding and what is food, so they just eat everything from everywhere. Their hay is topped up everywhere in the hutch multiple times a day.
Hay pokes are part and parcel of piggy keeping. The risk can be minimised by keeping stalky timothy in a tray or rack but they will always be at risk of haypoke even if you use racks.

Its too early to move indoor piggies outside yet. You really should wait until the night time temperatures are much higher - usually around April time If possible.
Click to expand...

Okay thank you I'll look into some meadow hay for them!

Yes it is a bit early right now, but I ran into a bit of a complication with my guinea pigs. Although I had 4 guinea pigs in the past (who were outside) I've ended up developing asthma around my guinea pigs inside (in my bedroom) and couldn't breathe well at all. Currently I have just moved their C&C cage into the spare bedroom, but they won't be able to be in there full time as we need to renovate that room out.

Late March or Early April is when I'll be moving them out! Just want to be prepared (:
 
isabelbella said:
Okay thank you I'll look into some meadow hay for them!

Yes it is a bit early right now, but I ran into a bit of a complication with my guinea pigs. Although I had 4 guinea pigs in the past (who were outside) I've ended up developing asthma around my guinea pigs inside (in my bedroom) and couldn't breathe well at all. Currently I have just moved their C&C cage into the spare bedroom, but they won't be able to be in there full time as we need to renovate that room out.

Late March or Early April is when I'll be moving them out! Just want to be prepared (:
Click to expand...

Ah, I see!
In that case, I recommend you get plenty of snugglesafe heatpads. They are essential for outdoor piggies. My piggies live in my shed year round so have warmth and protection from that but the snugglesafes are still used from around the end of September until April/May
 
You also shouldn’t use sawdust. Woodshavings and aubiose are good options.
 
When my piggies were outside, I had washable puppy pads and lots and lots and more lots of meadow hay which I bought straight from the farm. I popped the haybales in hay bale bags and they kept nice and fresh and dry.

Too much hay 1.webp

This picture is from the summer time in the winter time there was so much hay, I had difficulty finding my piggies!
 
Bill & Ted said:
Straw is much too coarse to use as a bedding for guinea pigs and you run the risk of eye poke which can be a costly injury if things go wrong. hay is the best for bedding I think. If you have access to a car and can drive to a farm shop you could buy a bale of meadow hay which costs around £5/6 and that will last quite a long time. Of course you do need somewhere dry to store it too.
Click to expand...
KathT said:
I buy bales of farm hay which tends to be long strands so ideal for burrowing into. Provided the hay you buy cheap is clean and smells good, it will be good for your pigs. Mine won’t touch Timothy hay.
Click to expand...

I couldn’t manage to find a farm shop near me which i can get to, except for one quite far which i could go to if there is no other alternative. but i have found this meadow hay online, is this a good one to use? it says it’s dust extracted so i think it should work well (:
 

Attachments

  • 2601864B-EDC8-44BD-8BF2-F2DBFDA60D71.webp
    2601864B-EDC8-44BD-8BF2-F2DBFDA60D71.webp
    24.7 KB · Views: 7
Pretty much any meadow hay will work as bedding. The quality can wary and some will have short strands which piggies will struggle to go under (but not all piggies do burry under hay). And are more expensive in a long run because you're buying small amounts.
I wouldn't bother spending money on straw. It's useless as pigs cannot eat it and can be sharp. Just give them lots of meadow hay. You can always buy meadow hay for bedding and have better quality hay for feeding.

As well country stores, search for Equestrian Stores. They often have bales of hay.
 
its also about quantity. I have a five animals (three rabbits and two piggies) so I buy a lot of hay (15kg every three weeks from Haybox on subscription) but when I work it out, just my two piggies get through about 5 kilos of hay a week in bedding and eating. It’ll be less in summer when they won’t need such a thick bedding, they will still eat a lot though and there is always waste, plus the need to remove wet areas of hay every day.

I’ve just had a look online at the bag in your picture to see the large bag is 1.8kg and a maxi bag is 4kg.
 
Last edited:
Look online at ads for bales of hay for sale. I found an ad for a goat farm not far from me who have lovely hay, which has kept me going through winter. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue to buy from the them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top