Expansion And Megazorb

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Lorcan

Lorcan

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So I finally had the second Midwest Habitat arrive this morning. Two months late, but that's my fault, so I won't complain, hah.

However it does mean that I'm going to need to switch bedding for them. At the minute I use back2nature, which is great, but one habitat alone takes a 30 litre bag, so I'd end up using 60 litres of the stuff in one go. I live in a first floor flat, there's no way I'd be in one piece from lugging 60 litres of the stuff upstairs.

So instead I've bought a bag of Megazorb from Amazon, because I don't want to go back to sawdust or woodchips and none of the other beddings (like Carefresh) came in large enough quantities. Is there anything specific I should know about Megazorb before I start? It hasn't arrived yet and I'm waiting til it does to expand the cage.

Also if I find I can't work with the Megazorb I'm thinking of going back to wood pellets (like the cat litter, no additives to cause clumping etc) but I can't remember what kind of wood needs avoiding.

As an aside, I'm pretty much going to lose my living room to this. Oops. Never mind!
 
I use megazorb with hay on top. Its brilliant as you can pick out the wet bits and fluff it up and it lasts about a week. It is a bit dusty but no more than hay. Its very heavy when wet so watch your back!
 
Thanks for the warning! I can't imagine it being worse than Back2nature though. One 30l bag takes a minimum of 3 reusable shopping bags when a full clearout is done lol. Thanks for the info though, sounds like I can use it the same way as I do already, which is good news.
 
I used to use megazorb and loved it but it got dustier and dustier and then I started to find rubbish in it. I complained and they made it very clear that it is not designed for small animals. I did find that the dust settled very quickly but their response concerned me.

I started to use Fitch which is paper based and I love it. Zero dust and highly absorbent.

It is a personal choice and I did like megazorb however now I find the shed far less dusty and no more sneezy pigs and humans!
 
Can the Fitch be stored in its own packaging after opening? That square bale is what puts me off tbh, my storage options are somewhat limited. Unless I get a couple of bins or something to store stuff in. Hey there's an idea. I could stick their food in one as well, be easier than trying to keep it in those 10kg bags.

I'm kinda annoyed tbh because the Back2nature is amazing and works really well, but it's just not viable for the bigger cage. It doesn't help that Comet's the type to inhale his food instead of eating it, because extra dust always becomes a hassle then.
 
Lorcan said:
Can the Fitch be stored in its own packaging after opening? That square bale is what puts me off tbh, my storage options are somewhat limited. Unless I get a couple of bins or something to store stuff in. Hey there's an idea. I could stick their food in one as well, be easier than trying to keep it in those 10kg bags.

I'm kinda annoyed tbh because the Back2nature is amazing and works really well, but it's just not viable for the bigger cage. It doesn't help that Comet's the type to inhale his food instead of eating it, because extra dust always becomes a hassle then.
Click to expand...

I had pretty much the same experience as @Guinea Slave (only I never bothered phoning them) and switched to Fitch for the same reason. I buy the 20kg bags as it's more economical but the 10kg bags are good too, are obviously are easier to lift.
You can indeed store it in the bag it comes in. The only warning I can give is that it arrives in a flimsy outer-wrapping. For purposes of dragging it up the stairs I would take that off first. The inner clear bag should be fine though :)
 
Well, the Megazorb is supposed to be arriving today (along with a Tesco shop, because I clearly like having everything happen at once...yup, I'm a dolt), but actually after reading this, AND after buying a couple of bins (useful for the food at any rate), I actually took a look on Zooplus, and they had 50l and 60l bags of Carefresh. So I picked up a bag of each.

Some people buy too many gadgets. Some people buy too much jewellery. Me, I buy too much pet bedding :whistle:
 
I can also say I found Megazorb rather dusty. I used it in their tray where they sit and eat hay in the end, which worked well as it was absorbent and where they spend most of their time. I just made sure to sort of pat it down a little, as then it was fluffed up thats when the dust started flying around.

I used to use Carefresh for my hamster which I liked. But with having 8 piggies it isnt cost effective for me to have that for them.

You'll have to let us know how you get on! :)
 
Lorcan said:
Well, the Megazorb is supposed to be arriving today (along with a Tesco shop, because I clearly like having everything happen at once...yup, I'm a dolt), but actually after reading this, AND after buying a couple of bins (useful for the food at any rate), I actually took a look on Zooplus, and they had 50l and 60l bags of Carefresh. So I picked up a bag of each.

Some people buy too many gadgets. Some people buy too much jewellery. Me, I buy too much pet bedding :whistle:
Click to expand...

Yup, just like @ayemee I used Carefresh for the hamsters, and looked round for a more cost-effective alternative for the piggies. Loved the Carefresh, but found the Fitch to be almost as good, if not as good, with similar sized pieces and very good absorbency, and the bits don't disintegrate when wet, which I was concerned about when I switched. Possibly the Carefresh has slightly better absorbency, possibly possibly, but there isn't much in it if anything at all. If you find the large bags of the Carefresh to not go as far as you like for the money, I'd try Fitch :)
 
ayemee said:
I used to use Carefresh for my hamster which I liked. But with having 8 piggies it isnt cost effective for me to have that for them.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if I hadn't seen the large bags of the Carefresh I wouldn't have bothered, but the larger bags are worth a try. I may end up using something like a layer of Megazorb and then the Carefresh in a layer over the top, that way it might cause less of a dust problem for Comet.

Woe to my bank balance mind you.
 
I love the hemparade that I get from zooplus. It is only used in their litter trays. I am such a great fan of fleece it is just so easy to clean and saves on huge bags of bedding to dispose of.
 
Coming back to this now, I've decided to stick with using Carefresh Natural (the brown stuff) because the boys seem to like it, and I swear there wasn't even a hint of a smell from the cage even after a week. The Carefresh Ultra (white stuff) is good too but because of the colour I swear the cages always look immediately dirty.

I won't be buying Megazorb again although I did like it, and it works really well. Zero issues with it getting too heavy too. But my social worker (who is here at least once a fortnight) has allergy problems with the Megazorb, so to make it easier for her, I've decided to stick with the Carefresh.

The one thing this does tell me is there are always other options if the current bedding isn't working out.
 
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