Bedding For Hutch - Confused And Indecisive!

[Cavy_lover]

Right so I read the sticky threads and a number of older threads on bedding and I've also done lots of googling. Problem is the more I read the more confused and utterly indecisive I become!

I want something that's:
1) value for money
2) Absorbs well and doesn't stay wet on the surface
3) stays put (I.e. doesn't get kicked around too much and end up with lots in bowls etc, everday)
4) comfortable for the pigs to walk and snooze on and not dusty.
5) preferably only need a full clean once per week - happy to do smaller spot cleans inbetween.
6) nothing that needs machine washing - I have enough washing as it is with 2 young children.

I was just going to get standard horse shavings (kiln dried and dust extracted) - I can get these for approx £7 for 20kg/120compressed litres or I can buy the same amount of snowflake shavings (but in lots of little easier to handle bags) for £10.23.

However I'm worried even dust extracted shavings may still be too dusty, may dry out their feet and that it will get kicked around a lot.

This lead me to look at other things like:
A) finacard (£14.50 for 17kg /220 liters fluffed out) - seems to mostly have good feedback but there are some on forums saying its a bit dusty and not absorbant enough.

B) ecobed cardboard bedding (£9.49 for 20kg) - some people on forums seem to suggest the squares this is made of are not as comfortable or as absorbant as finacard but others disagree. Also its obviously a lot more economical price wise.

C) Megazorb £8.49 for 15kg/85litres loose - reviews in last couple of years seem to suggest it's gone very dusty and also that when wet it sticks to hutch and veg. Also that amount doesn't go that far compared to similar beddings.

Which lead me to option
D) fitch £20.99 for 20kg - which seems extortionate to me . It does however have fabulous reviews, saying it meets all my above criteria (bar cost).

What do people think? Which options do you think will meet my criteria best? Also if you use any of these how big are your cages/hutches, and how long does your particular type of bedding last you? Or is there some other fabulous bedding I've missed?

Sorry that is sooo loong!

 

[biscandmatt]

there seems to be good and bad points to all the beddings! fitch is the better one in my opinion, although i tried finacard recently and that's good too. i'm actually going to mix fitch and finacard next! we also use smaller fleece items in the cage aswell which might work for you aswell as wouldn't be as much washing as if the whole cage was fleece.

i don't think any bedding lasts a week between full cleans though, even with daily spot cleaning. i've never found that to be the case anyway. so that might affect what you choose aswell.

if you are able to get farm bales of hay then a good layer of hay over any of those bedding you mentioned would work well. but if you can't get decent hay for farm prices then you'd end up spending more on hay instead of bedding instead because the hay would need replacing daily

i don't think there is a straight forward answer really because we all have our preferences and whatever you choose, you'll be cleaning alot

 

[Cavy_lover]

I can get farm bales, but not that easily now (round here most hay, even on farms and horse livery yards, is bought from out of area). I was planning to get mom to bring me some, from a farm near her that has lovely hay, when she visits (comes up every week). That will give me plenty to have the bedroom stuffed full daily, and some hidey holes stuffed full daily too. But to cover the whole hutch each day, would take too much (its a 6x2ft hutch).

Why are you going to try mixing fitch and finacard? What do you think positives and negatives of each are?

 

[Veggies Galore]

I'm glad to see you'research doing your research . I haven't fully dicided which bedding I like and use a combination of fitch , finacard , aubiose and fleece !


I like Aubiose for the price but tend to put it just in their hay trays as tends to stick on my boars bits !

I love Fitch but think it is pricy . I quite like finacard . Some of the pieces are a bit big though and I think a Fitch / finacard mix would work well.

 

[Stewybus]

One combination of bedding that ticks the boxes is newspaper with puppy pads on top then a layer of hay on top of that. The puppy pads absorb the wee & the hay is generally dry on top. If you can find a local farm or country store who sell bales of hay. You should be able to pick them up for between £3 & £6. The only downside on this idea is where to store the hay. I use Shires hay bags which you can get on Amazone for £16.99. After the initial outlay you should only need a bale of hay every 8 to 10 weeks for 2 piggies in a 4 or 5ft hutch. The best value puppy pads are Homebargain @ £4.9 for 40 or B&M @ £3.99 for 30 x

 

[biscandmatt]

I can get farm bales, but not that easily now (round here most hay, even on farms and horse livery yards, is bought from out of area). I was planning to get mom to bring me some, from a farm near her that has lovely hay, when she visits (comes up every week). That will give me plenty to have the bedroom stuffed full daily, and some hidey holes stuffed full daily too. But to cover the whole hutch each day, would take too much (its a 6x2ft hutch).

Why are you going to try mixing fitch and finacard? What do you think positives and negatives of each are?

i prefer fitch overall but i go through so much so at the price now (the third increase in not much over a year!) it's just too much really now. some people don't like the wee looking obvious on the fitch but i find it helpful for spot cleaning. with finacard, i have to feel for the wet spots which is annoying but it disguises the poops better so the cage looks cleaner overall. with fitch being white, every poop is obvious. fitch is very soft, softer than finacard, although finacard is softer than you'd expect. benjie will even sleep on it so it must be comfortable. both i'd describe as virtually dust free.

i just think mixing them would work well in different ways and finacard would be a good choice to stretch the fitch as far as possible

 

[madguinealady]

I've used finacard which I like and aubiose which was softer I think.Both good at absorbing.

 

[Hank288]

I used to use snow flake shavings and found that I cleaned the bed end of the hutch twice a week but the rest of the hutch only go cleaned once a week, I found these a really good cheap bedding for them. Drawbacks are the amount of shavings that a) went in the food bowl and b) got stuck to my long haired piggy. I used to buy the large bags for 1.79 in home bargains and 1 would last me a month cleaning out a 6ft hutch and 4ft hutch once a week as it is so compressed.
When I went on holiday recently I used Easibed which really is dust extracted, there was no dust at all in that bag. I did like this about the bedding but when I can back after my holiday the state of my shed after they had kicked it everywhere and I found it ages to clean out. I also thought this bedding felt hard and coarse but I know a lot of people use it, plus the guinea pigs seemed to love it.

However saying all that, I much prefer my fleece bedding, half an hour clean out rather than over an hour, no sweeping the shed and only one extra load of washing per week. Yes I do manage to keep my fleece dry (and mostly clean) for a week. You just need 2 layers of towels .
If fleece is definitely not an option as it is the most cost effective, I would definitely recommend the 2 products listed above.

You can search for easibed stockists by postcode here: easibed : Stockists
I was lucky to find somewhere that sells it cheap in my town so it might be worth a look to avoid the postage costs.

 

[gizzy]

have you considerd Roles of corrigated cardboard, l used them before l got vet bed .
so easy to cut to the size of your cage , and quite absorbant, l used to put them under my fleese cage liners
and if l recall corectly they are cheeper than megazorb ect, and nowere nere as messy

 

[Cavy_lover]

Thanks everyone.

@biscandmatt and @PiggyOwner Interesting that both of you said about mixing fitch and finacard. Do you find both types of bedding stay put / don't get kicked into bowls lots?

@Stewybus is the news paper under the puppy pads, just in case any wee gets under them?

@Hank288 it the home bargains little packs of snowflake I was thinking about. From what I can find on the internet they are 3.5kgs so works out at £10.23 for 20kg, which is fairly cheap and I live less than 2miles from a home bargains. But you have confirmed what I thought it would do re getting in bowls all the time. Oh and I'm surprised a little bag lasts that long on a 6ft and 4ft hutch - I was thinking it would do 1, maybe 2 cleanouts on my 6ft hutch! I was obviously seriously underestimating how far these beddings will go. I'm quite pleased about that.

I've used easibed for horses and wasn't a massive fan.

I have at least 9-10 washing loads a week as it is, its seems relentless (pre kids we only had 2.5 loads of washing a week - how 2 kids produce so much washing is beyond me). So even just the idea of one load of piggy washing makes me

@gizzy I hadn't thought of cardboard rolls but wouldn't I need the fleece layer then?

 

[Stewybus]

Thanks everyone.

@Stewybus is the news paper under the puppy pads, just in case any wee gets under them?

Yes I put full newspapers opened up under the puppy pads. These don't need replacing at every change, just if there's been any seepage. I usually change one or two out of four or five at clean out time x

 

[Veggies Galore]

@biscandmatt and @PiggyOwner Interesting that both of you said about mixing fitch and finacard. Do you find both types of bedding stay put / don't get kicked into bowls lots?

Sometimes I find a bit of bedding in their food bowl - but not much and not enough to concern me. personally, I think a fitch/finacard mix will provde a more even surface than finacard on it's own - but , this is just my own opinion.

 

[7squeakers.]

As far as I know, Vetbed (or Profleece) ticks all of the boxes on your list, except the one for washing. I have not kept my piggies in hutches for years, but when I did, I always used hay or very soft straw. I found that wood shavings and sawdust got kicked everywhere and also got caught in piggie coats and my own clothes. Those were the days before all these new paper-based types of beddings.

 

[biscandmatt]

Thanks everyone.

@biscandmatt and @PiggyOwner Interesting that both of you said about mixing fitch and finacard. Do you find both types of bedding stay put / don't get kicked into bowls lots?

@Stewybus is the news paper under the puppy pads, just in case any wee gets under them?

@Hank288 it the home bargains little packs of snowflake I was thinking about. From what I can find on the internet they are 3.5kgs so works out at £10.23 for 20kg, which is fairly cheap and I live less than 2miles from a home bargains. But you have confirmed what I thought it would do re getting in bowls all the time. Oh and I'm surprised a little bag lasts that long on a 6ft and 4ft hutch - I was thinking it would do 1, maybe 2 cleanouts on my 6ft hutch! I was obviously seriously underestimating how far these beddings will go. I'm quite pleased about that.

I've used easibed for horses and wasn't a massive fan.

I have at least 9-10 washing loads a week as it is, its seems relentless (pre kids we only had 2.5 loads of washing a week - how 2 kids produce so much washing is beyond me). So even just the idea of one load of piggy washing makes me

@gizzy I hadn't thought of cardboard rolls but wouldn't I need the fleece layer then?

i find the odd little bit of bedding in the bowl but only when benjie is doing sprints around the cage! generally they remove their pellets from the bowl and put them down to eat anyway so it doesn't really matter in our case (they have big pellets though - the vitakraft and the galens garden compressed timothy hay ones)

i just got my fitch order today and expecting the finacard tomorrow so i'll see how mixing them goes. cost wise buying one of each is better, and hopefully they will work well together and last the same amount of time

 

[Cavy_lover]

Thank you everyone.

Right so after loads of umming and aaarring I think I've decided.

We're going to trial the snowflake shavings, in the little packs from home bargains, for 2 weeks. Those little packs are 3.1kg and £1.79, so 58p per kg.

Then we are going to trial Finacard, for two weeks (85p per kg).

Then if we're not happy with either those try Fitch (works out at £1.05 per kg).

 

[Cavy_lover]

Had the piggies nearly a week now.

Shavings with them are driving me nuts. They keep moving them from oneside of the cage to the other! There keeps being a bare patch (right down to the newspaper) in an approx 1ft by 1ft arc. Then a 3-4 inch deep area by the plastic house. I don't even fully understand how they are doing it .

All I can come up with is that they are moving a small area of shavings, getting the news paper in their teeth and pulling the corner right back, moving the shavings towards their house, then letting go and the paper flopping back. But it seems highly unlikely. I just cannot come up with an alternative solution for how they keep clearing it so well.

Oh and there's definitely no wind getting in doing it. The wind here is channelled by the houses (a number of terraced blocks all in 2 straight lines) and 99% comes at fence at the back of the hutch. Plus it happens overnight when the cover is down.

 

[Tomsmum]

As I understand it Guinea pigs like to sort their own bedding out! Mine prefer their hay filled bedroom upside down..go figure!

 

[biscandmatt]

Had the piggies nearly a week now.

Shavings with them are driving me nuts. They keep moving them from oneside of the cage to the other! There keeps being a bare patch (right down to the newspaper) in an approx 1ft by 1ft arc. Then a 3-4 inch deep area by the plastic house. I don't even fully understand how they are doing it .

All I can come up with is that they are moving a small area of shavings, getting the news paper in their teeth and pulling the corner right back, moving the shavings towards their house, then letting go and the paper flopping back. But it seems highly unlikely. I just cannot come up with an alternative solution for how they keep clearing it so well.

Oh and there's definitely no wind getting in doing it. The wind here is channelled by the houses (a number of terraced blocks all in 2 straight lines) and 99% comes at fence at the back of the hutch. Plus it happens overnight when the cover is down.

could they be moving it out the way because they don't like it? back in 2006 (back in the day ) when i first got my two rabbits, i used woodshavings as i didn't know there were alternatives and my rabbit matt in particular hated them and he would gather it up and push it to one side or out the hutch altogether onto the shed floor! took me a while to figure out that he just hated it (probably irritated him as he was a chronic respiratory rabbit) and he was really happy when i stopped using it. might not be this but thought i'd mention as an idea anyway

 

[Cavy_lover]

As I understand it Guinea pigs like to sort their own bedding out! Mine prefer their hay filled bedroom upside down..go figure!

could they be moving it out the way because they don't like it? back in 2006 (back in the day ) when i first got my two rabbits, i used woodshavings as i didn't know there were alternatives and my rabbit matt in particular hated them and he would gather it up and push it to one side or out the hutch altogether onto the shed floor! took me a while to figure out that he just hated it (probably irritated him as he was a chronic respiratory rabbit) and he was really happy when i stopped using it. might not be this but thought i'd mention as an idea anyway

I don't know. Maybe it is something like that. I suppose they might be trying to get rid of it and not be intending for it all to go near their favourite house.

I'm going to sort out a finacard order. See if they move that.

 

[biscandmatt]

I don't know. Maybe it is something like that. I suppose they might be trying to get rid of it and not be intending for it all to go near their favourite house.

I'm going to sort out a finacard order. See if they move that.

unless they are being very clever and insulating their little house guess you'll find out when the finacard arrives

 

[Cavy_lover]

unless they are being very clever and insulating their little house guess you'll find out when the finacard arrives

that really made me smile. Got me imagining they are super genius piggies and every time I put it right again they are going "you stupid human don't you understand we are insulating our house!"

Tbh I'm surprised how much they like that one anyway. It was from the rabbits I only put it in because I hadn't got enough little cardboard boxes. At first it didn't even have hay in and yet, in comparison, they hardly use the cardboard boxes with lots of hay in.

 

[biscandmatt]

that really made me smile. Got me imagining they are super genius piggies and every time I put it right again they are going "you stupid human don't you understand we are insulating our house!"

Tbh I'm surprised how much they like that one anyway. It was from the rabbits I only put it in because I hadn't got enough little cardboard boxes. At first it didn't even have hay in and yet, in comparison, they hardly use the cardboard boxes with lots of hay in.

bet they spent hours and hours working on that aswell. you should try putting it in both places, see if they still dig it up or whether they realise the house is already done for them!

 

[Cavy_lover]

bet they spent hours and hours working on that aswell. you should try putting it in both places, see if they still dig it up or whether they realise the house is already done for them!

I will today. Never thought they'd actually move fairly large areas of their bedding. I just thought little bits would be kicked around. Oh well they've definitely got character!

 

[Rosehip]

All of my piggies have always re-arranged their pens when they have been cleaned out, the girls we have now always have a check around, and Lettie especially will pick up her pad with her teeth and drag it to where she wants it and then shift her box on top of it.
She's a very special little thing though! x

 

[smileyface:)]

I have two young kids and was put off by the idea of adding to my washing so tried disposable bedding at the start but I ended up having my bin jammed packed with the stuff you through out.

I invested in a few spare sets of washable bedding so I only have to store the soiled fabric until its ready to wash once a week, and its worked out better for me, I still have to dispose of hay and the odd puppy pad but it means these are contained to one area and are not thrown around their whole hutch.

My best tip for fleece is to get the darker leopard coloured patterns as they hide the camouflage the poops!