Bedding For Guinea Pigs - Overview

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Ahhh that's lovely! I only changed over recently and realising how much this is all costing! When I use towels, they only last a day but the incontinence pad takes 3 litres and lasts 2 days - still a lot more washing and drying though, so that puts up the cost.
 
The incontinence pads I use are disposable...they last a week, although I have extra ones in high pee areas as I want to change them mid week from now on. I change the fleece every week as well...but I'm not sure if that is the right solution.

My girls also spend time in a playpen, and the puppy pads in there are changed every two days.
 
I posted recently about getting a new cage for our 2 boars. We have made a version of the ikea hack for lack tables this weekend and I'm now after new bedding for them.

I saw a post about wood pellet bedding and it lasting 3 weeks +. Where can I order this from in the UK? We currently use vetbed and have used fleece each with either newspapers or puppypads in the past but I would really like to cut down the amount of washing because we have rabbits too that have blankets that I need to wash and cut the costs down etc and I love the idea that it helps cut down the smell!
 
Okay guys I have a situation.

I got my piggy about 3 weeks ago and my mom got a very small beddIng bag. It only lasted about two weeks and for the past week I have been reusing last weeks bedding.
My mom just ordered new bedding which is coming in next week but the very little bedding I have right now is just soaked in wee and poop and it is stinking A LOT.

So does anybody have any suggestions on temporary bedding solution?

Thank you so much!
 
Hi guys I'm wanting to try using fleece in my piggies hutch and wondered if the people that make there own stuff use normal fleece that you can buy for kids and dogs etc?Is fleece used for kids OK for guineas?xx
 
I use Becks reusable waterproof bed pads when I deem it necessary, especially since recent due to Gizmo and Gadget having upper respiratory infections and the vet suspecting it's the wood bedding. The size I get it much larger than the bottom of my cage so I fold them in half and then fold the end slightly under the food dish and water bottle.

I was spot cleaning every day and changing the pad every 2-3 days with two piggies, depending on how much urine they produced; now that Gizmo's alone, I plan to spot clean every 1 1/2 day and still change every 2-3 days. The good thing is that you can get them free if you get incontinence supplies where I live. I personally would suggest them since you can get them pretty cheap, if not for free, since you can use them still as bed pads (make sure to wash them first, no matter how much you love your piggies! :))). They're also a good use for putting in your car for long trips with your dog, putting in the bottom of a travel cage with the piggies to not make a mess with bedding, and on the floor when you let your piggies roam around in a pen like I do since they're super absorbent. Trust me, all these scenarios are tested by us personally. XD

Only downside I see with them is having to rewash them often and now being a complete slave to my piggy; he's loving it though, as did Gadget before he passed. Gizmo also likes to chew on the ends of it but he doesn't eat it-eat it.

tWA5WI2.jpg


Gizzy was being shy when I pulled out the camera. That, and he's kind of grieving. But that's what the cage looks like. Remember, white side up with the pads~.
 
I'm going to use fleece blankets for mine. Silly question but what is a horse bag and where can I get one? I want to keep my washing machine from clogging up.

Thanks.
 
a horse bag is a big cloth bag with a zip.It keeps the hair,bedding that may still be on the liner/ fleece in the bag,but can allow water and detergent through to wash your items,stops expensive plumber bills to clean out the filter !amazon and viovet do horse wash bags.
 
eileen said:
a horse bag is a big cloth bag with a zip.It keeps the hair,bedding that may still be on the liner/ fleece in the bag,but can allow water and detergent through to wash your items,stops expensive plumber bills to clean out the filter !amazon and viovet do horse wash bags.
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Do you, or anyone else have a link to some? I can't seem to find anything!

Thanks.
 
Has anybody tried Bedmax Littlemax shavings?
 
By and by i wouldn't hand wash however in the event that you do machine was check your channel after each wash to ensure it doesn't get obstructed of any bits of roughage that you have not figured out how to get off the downy.
 
Emily Blunt said:
By and by i wouldn't hand wash however in the event that you do machine was check your channel after each wash to ensure it doesn't get obstructed of any bits of roughage that you have not figured out how to get off the downy.
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Have you tried the petwear wash bags? There is a link a few posts back :)
 
As much as I love it for their litter tray, I'm finding Carefresh to be too expensive.

Does anyone have any decent alternatives?
 
Natwee88 said:
As much as I love it for their litter tray, I'm finding Carefresh to be too expensive.

Does anyone have any decent alternatives?
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I find it expensive and not any more absorbent that other bedding. I switched to Finacard as much cheaper and just as effective, then I switched to fleece which is the cheapest although I don't know how much it's costing with washing and sometimes drying.
 
JenniferG said:
I find it expensive and not any more absorbent that other bedding. I switched to Finacard as much cheaper and just as effective, then I switched to fleece which is the cheapest although I don't know how much it's costing with washing and sometimes drying.
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Thanks. I use fleece bedding in their cage, it's just their litter tray where I use Carefresh.
 
Fitch is very similar to care fresh,but it only comes in white.it is a 20kg bale retails at approx £20 a bale.you can buy it from amazon or the Fitch website,it is very absoerbent.
 
Never used fleece before just newspaper and hay as mine are outside piggies:no: They are very well wrapped up for the winter.:D They are in a double decker hutch and have decided/discovered to venture downstairs (down ramp?) in the last few months:yahoo:. I am just a bit concerned that in the winter the floor of the downstairs area will become wet as it is directly onto the grass:doh:. I don't think paper will be absorbent enough with the rain and it will be a bit damp.:eek: I was wondering whether to get some fleece cage liners made (not by me I'm hopeless with a sewing machine!:lose:) and then line the ground with newspapers and then the fleece on top. That way I could change it a lot easier than I do now. :nod: Can anyone help please?:ple: Any advice welcome!
 
Hi, might sound very silly but whoever uses fleece can you please tell me how to keep it down flat, my pigs love finding a way underneath it.

thanks
 
You UK guys have so many bedding options! I looked up a few of the mentioned kinds and found that most aren't available to me, and the ones that are would need to be shipped internationally. I live in the US and it seems like my options are either Carefresh or fleece. I don't like wood shavings and all non-carefresh paper products I've tried have been dusty and don't stop odors as well. Carefresh is getting very expensive to keep buying for a 2x6 C&C cage! My local piggie rescue is adamant that fleece bedding is a bad option because it's unrealistically time-consuming to keep clean. I do like the convenience of Carefresh being disposable (plus one day shipping on Amazon) but I'm not made of money and it's a considerable expense
 
you could have two grids as a kitchen area,with bedding and fleece in the 4x2 bit of cage,that works well for me ,use hand held vac to collect poops !,on the top 6x2,i have hay loft and fleece on the bottom 6x2 part,with four piggies and that is manageable.
 
Hi all I'm thinking of getting Tumblefresh for my piggies it says dust free and safe but I just wanted to double check is it a good safe option for Guinea Pigs ?
Any advice would be great :)
Kind regards Donna
 
I haven't heard of Tumblefresh but it looks like Carefresh. I find Carefresh too expensive and no more absorbent than anything else.
 
Phew I just got through reading this whole thread to make sure I didn't miss anything here... seems like about half use disposable bedding and half use some type of fleece/reusable padding.

As NatalieGee mentioned here in the US we have far fewer options for disposable bedding... I have two ideas that haven't been mentioned here yet. The things most easy for me to get are sawdust from the stable I ride at, bales of straw from the feed store, and wood pellets for heating wood stoves.

I know it is a concern for sawdust to be too dusty, but in the barn when we put it down, we take the hose and spritz it with water just slightly. This keeps it from getting dusty and the 'wee' (we say pee in the states but I like your word better lol!) is absorbed very well. As long as you mix it around it does not feel damp to touch. So I'm wondering if that same thing could work with pigs just on a tiny scale, like using a bottle with a spritzer on the top to just mist the clean saw dust and then mix it up.

Also I think it would not be as absorbent but could straw be used with something underneath it? It seems like it would be nice for them to burrow in and you could add more during cold weather. We have very cold winters where I live and we keep our house at only 60-65 F so I thought extra straw would help keep my future piggies warm in my drafty old house.

Last is hardwood wood pellets which I'm on the fence about because it seems not a very environmentally friendly option, whereas sawdust and straw are by products of other things, hardwood is not as sustainable as it doesn't grow back very fast.

What do you all think of those three things? If none of those, I will likely try fleece and towels since I have some unused lengths of fleece left from when I had pet rats (and I ended up using Carefresh, but their cage was much smaller than a pig cage so didn't take very much bedding to fill it). I think using Carefresh bedding is not an affordable option for guinea pigs and the only other readily available thing near me is pine shavings.
 
Personally I would love to use fleece as my guinea pigs bedding and I have tried it before but as I still live with my parents my mum doesn't like me putting it in the washing. I also don't have enough time to be cleaning them out everyday and I also keep the pigs in a shed so it just doesn't work for me.

I also have used shredded paper as my dad is able to get big bags for free at work. I found that they were quite good and really soft for the pigs feet but the only thing is that it got soggy quite quickly.

I am currently using wood shavings which are very handy. I am able to get a huge bag of them for only €9 and they are dust extracted and pine. I clean them out once a week and I find that it doesn't smell.

I just have a few questions:
Is pine alright for woodshavings?
Would it be better for me to go back to shredded paper?
Any other advice in terms of using fleece?

Thanks
 
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