Bedding

[Newby Piggy]

Hi I've been reading a lot of threads about different types of bedding and I have been watching guinea pig videos on you tube as well and I haven't seen anyone using woodshavings as their piggies bedding, am I the only one?

I've had Hamsters and Rabbits before and they had woodshavings as a carpet and then extra bedding. With my pigs I put woodshavings down and then I put quite a load more in one corner (where they sleep) so its comfier but all of the videos I've seen people are using towels or fleece etc Is this better than woodshavings? Am I doing something wrong? My boys are a bit too big now to have a huge clump of hay in one corner, I'd use a whole bag if it were for them to burrow into haha!

Also, could you please some rough ideas of how big your cages are? Mine is 23" x 37.5" and when I bought them I was told that that would be big enough for them even as adults, now I'm beginning to wonder, they do look a little cramped? I've been looking at the C&C Cages but they're sooooo expensive! They'd be perfect as they can be extended upwards but I can't afford one just yet :...

Many thanks,

Newby Piggy x

 

[Stewybus]

It's really a matter of preference. Wood shavings shouldn't be used but lots of owners use them without apparent problems though some rescues will not let piggies go to homes that use shavings. See this link from the North East Guinea Pig Rescue: - http://www.northeastguineapigrescue.co.uk/Bedding/

I've tried several different combinations inc. originally wood shavings on newspaper, Vetbed on towels & newspaper, fleece on towels & newspaper & for last 9 months have used hay (the type that stables use @ about £4/£5 a big bail) on top of a 1/2 inch layer of Megazorb. This final combination I feel is the best for the piggies & me. They've got hay everywhere to eat & burrow in & it's the only combination that I can just change weekly without any nasty smells even though they're housed in our conservatory which gets quite warm in the summer.

As far as your cage goes, it's probably borderline on the minimum size required to 2 piggies. Instead of shop bought cages or c&c set ups I've used 2 approx 4ft x 3ft outdoor metal runs with one end taken out of each & joined together. I've had to put the end back in the middle because of bonding problems but have 3 girls in one side & a girl & neutered boy in the other side. One of these runs would be ideal your your 2 boys (I'm presuming it's just 2). In the bottom I put a correx base & I also built a upper section at one end of each run. You can either put this on the floor/or wheeled base on the floor or you could have it higher up on top of something. You'd need to look at where you want the big opening doors on top/on the side or both. If you check on Amazon at present there's lots of these at sale prices from about £30 to £40 pound. To get an idea of what they look like please check out my earlier link "A Different Type of Run" on here at:- http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?103194-A-Different-Type-of-Run&highlight=

This shows it with a row of 4 houses but I only use that in the winter. In the summer I take that out & put longer ramps in. They generally make their own beds in the hay or sometimes have fleece coseys.

At the end of the day, it's what best for you. Good Luck!

 

[biscandmatt]

hi,

some people still use woodshavings but alot won't now as they are known to cause respiratory problems, and also dry skin aswell. there are plenty of alternatives if you would like to switch. fitch is a good one to try if you wanted to keep with traditional bedding. fleece is good aswell.

i think it's nice to have a hay area within the cage for them to burrow through and play and sleep in.

the cage you have sounds very small. i think it works out about 3ft x 1ft, when the recommended minimum size for two piggies is 4ft x 2ft. i would give them as much floor time as possible and increase the cage size when you can.

 

[Claire W]

I use dust extracted wood shavings and always have. However, my four guinea pigs live in a free range 6ft by 3ft shed. I cover the floor with newspaper, wood shavings and then hay on top so they do not have much contact with the shavings.

In their wooden 'hutches' I just use newspaper and hay.

When it is really cold, the piggies come indoors and I use fleece.

If one of my pigs ever had issues with shavings, I would find an alternate bedding straight away but I have never had any problems and they suit the needs of me and my piggies.

 

[Newby Piggy]

Wow thanks everyone! Some really good and useful information thankyou! Mmmm yes I have been reading through some other threads and lots of people have spoken about woodshanvings being bad, mine are dust extracted but come to think of it one of my piggies does sneeze daily.....maybe I should change to something else? As for the size of my cage, it seems my fears are true and it is too small :-( They do come out every day and run around on the floor and I put extra toys and ramps etc on the floor so they can climb, jump, tunnel under etc

We are going to be moving into a house next year and will have a garden so what my plan to do is to buy a shed and put a wooden hutch in there, hopefully a two storeyed one, with the bottom door open so they can actually go out into the shed floor too (obviously made safe) so they can do as they please, with runs out on the garden with plenty of shaded bits. Maybe even have some kind of sliding door that I can latch from the shed straight into a run so they can go outside as and when they want and at night I can put them safely in their hutch, shut the door, slide across and latch the litle door out of the shed into the run and lock the main shed door so they won't get got at by foxes etc :-)

Newby Piggy x