Bedding Tips

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RubberDuck

RubberDuck

Junior Guinea Pig
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I'm currently using fleece and towel to line the outdoor hutch with, and hay in the bedding area. However, the piggies have taken to using the bed area as their main toilet and easily soaking through overnight (during the day they're out in the run a lot and this needs a lot less cleaning).

I'm wondering if I should be putting another layer of something in just the bedding area to soak the wee - if only so I can stretch out cleaning a little. We're going away in a month and while my neighbour is happy to do the washing the fleece requires, I feel I can't ask for them to be washing them daily or even every other like I'm doing at the moment for the week that I'm away.

I stopped using woodshavings because I found it was aggravating my asthma. Would megazorb have the same issues? Does anyone else who uses fleece also add something else other than hay in the toilet area of the cage or hutch?
 
I put all their food in a litter box so when they are sitting there eating they do all their "business" in the litter. I hang a hay rack above and place their food bowl inside the litter box. I change the litter daily.

My pigs have a nasty habit of peeing in their pigloo, so I have cut out a coroplast base which fits inside the pigloo and I lay a puppy pad on top of that. I change the puppy pad every day also. As far as I can tell my piggies don't pee on the fleece at all and I have never seen any poos on the fleece either (except those that get kicked out of the litter box ). I only have to change my fleece once a week now :)
 
I have their food bowl right the other side and still they manage it! (They grab a bite to eat then run into the bedroom with it to eat it... sigh)
 
Hi - I am quite new to guinea pigs but not new to asthma! I have switched from shavings to Megazorb and am finding it much better for reducing coughing for me - so assume better for piggies too:). Good at wee absorption.
I have also got some Vet bed to try in the bedroom area with newspaper beneath.
See what other people say but as a fellow wheezy, I would say Megazorb seems better. I am lucky as can get it at nearish farm shop for £6.50 for a big bag, other people seem to find it harder to find
 
Brill, thanks :)

Do you think it'd be okay to use megazorb underneath or ontop of the fleece/towel layer or is that going to be a pain to brush off before putting in the washing machine? Might just have to leave the fleece in main living area only!
 
Think it might be worth an experiment but yes, Megazorb does cling to things so it would need a brush. Don't know if you could try a Megazorb, newspaper, fleece layered sandwich?:))
Should say that Megazorb does have some kind of dustiness but I still find it much better than shavings for asthma. Don't want you to buy loads and it still make you wheeze. :)
 
Did you wash the fleece in the washer for at least 3 full cycles before using it? That will help the urine to wick through and not puddle on top. I have a layer of towels underneath my fleece and could get through 4 - 5 days without changing the fleece and towel. No smell at all. Mine are in their cage the whole day and they pee everywhere too pow-pow
 
Yes, I washed it three times before even cutting and the towel was an old bathtowel that I cut up. I'm going to try putting a thick wadge of newspaper underneath as well to see if that helps a little. If not try a megazorb or aubiose sandwich :))

I suspect half the problem is that I stupidly bought too small a hutch - the dimensions weren't listed on amazon but the reviews all said how good it was for their guinea pigs. Lesson learned. It's a two-storey 3ft but they're not overly keen on the ramp so it's very cramped. Going to bring them indoors into a much larger cage over the winter then in the spring invest in a 5ft hutch on one level and hopefully that will help keep things cleaner too.
 
Yes- we are finding the same thing with a 2 storey hutch. Only one level is really used so they have much less space than we had hoped. We have got a fleecy ramp tunnel now which they will go down but not very often.

Also finding it a pain to devise newspaper folding around the ramp opening!rolleyes
Think one storey hutches are a good plan - I have a 6ft one on order! Good luck with your sandwiches:)
 
Oh god, yes the newspaper is a RIGHT pain cutting it to fit! Because it's a "run" underneath (which we have on patio - in the hopes of keeping their nails down - yeah right :)) ) I have had to cut the newspaper and sew the fleece/towel so it has a "flap" that hangs down when the trapdoor is opened, but which can cover the trap door when its closed. HORRIBLY complicated!

Definitely going for a one level luxury residence in future!
 
A quick update - I've started using a thick layer of newspaper underneath too which seems to have done the trick! Needed cleaning out (other than spot cleaning the poop!) on the 3rd day rather than every other, which is much more manageable. Clearly the towel layer just wasn't absorbent enough by itself - perhaps because they were pretty old towels that I cut up!
 
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