Experimenting with bedding

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herriotfan

herriotfan

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I've got a Ferplast 120 cage for my guinea pigs, when I get them. In quarantine at the moment to make sure they're ok prior to homing. It's a long wait...:0
I've put newspaper in the bottom, a fleece vet bed in the main area, with a fleecey snuggle bed, and will use some aspen in the covered part.
The plan is to see which bedding seems to work best both for the piggies comfort and freshness and our noses! :)
Hay will always be in the hay rack and I'm also going to get a hay play-ball. I've got some toilet roll insides to put hay in too.
I've got a fleece blanket for snuggles and cuddles on my lap. x>>
I'll try this bedding combination and will let you know if they like it.
What do your piggies prefer? rolleyes
 
Mine are on vet bed, it works perfectly for me. It wicks their wee away quickly keeping them dry and is cosy and warm! They also have hay racks with a bit of hay on fleece to rummage in. I did have newspaper to begin with in that area but I have a sheltie (long haired) and I found his belly got really messy with the newspaper, it's much better with the fleece :)

Sounds like you've got it all sorted and ready for them! Exciting! Looking forward to pigtures! :))
 
I usually use wood shavings but I'm trying megazorb and I've found it just as good, except it is a little more expensive.
 
One of my guinea pigs is disabled (cant move his back legs) so it is just not possible to keep him on fleece. Because he cannot move much, he usuly ends up sitting in his own pee and poo when I put fleece in the cage. I find it much better when I use loose bedding (megazorb, carefresh, woodshavings etc) because in my opinion it soaks it up better. However, obviously my situation is different from most other peoples, so please dont think I'm trying to discourage you from using verbed/fleece :) .
Good luck with your experiment! :)p
 
My pigs have had fleece bedding from the beginning but it is really important to wash it four or five times first as this does something to the material that lets the wee soak through. They have the fleece bedding, towels underneath then newspaper underneath that and we change their whole cage twice a week. It's not too hard work, just have to shake off the hay from the top layer (obviously we do a poop pick up several times a day!), then throw them and the towels in the wash and throw away the newspaper. The fleece is always bone dry when we change the bed but the newspaper is wet in places so it seems to work OK. We bought them some pet beds but they rarely use them - Burt likes to sleep out in the open and Clive just uses his bed as a toilet! Although it is handy for when they aren't keen on being picked up as we can herd them into their beds and lift them out before they know what's happening :))
 
For monetary reasons I'm trying finacard this week , 220 liters is £13 , 85 litres megazorb is £8 . I don't use shavings as they would work out more expensive and have potential healt effect s
 
For monetary reasons I'm trying finacard this week , 220 liters is £13 , 85 litres megazorb is £8 . I don't use shavings as they would work out more expensive and have potential healt effect
Click to expand...
How do you find the finacard? I'm looking at changing to this and megazorb. I thought a fine layer of megazorb and then finacard. I'm gettting a new room mate so won't be able to wash the fleece.
I love the look of finacard. I used bed excel for ages which is squares of carboard but changed as it wasnt very soft.
How much was it with delivery and where did you get it from?

Also for bedding reviews.....I found this reallt good:
http://www.erodent.co.uk/bedding.htm
 
What is a vet bed? ? would it be ideal use for my guniea who is pregnant? X
 
Vetbed is a type of bedding we use a lot at the vets. Its fluffy on the top and has a great absorbant material underneith it. Have a look at here, i cant explain very well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...ets&hvadid=15209219994&ref=pd_sl_35ap0ne8fu_b

It is safe and fine to use for pregnant sows.

I use a number of different things, Ive got fleece for my herd, although i want to try them with some vetbed. But 8 feet of vetbed is pricey, so i need some money. I also use carefresh for the boys, i find it great for them, much less smelly. I also use hay and straw for hutches and for Saffy. They all have their good and bad things about them.

x.
 
My piggies prefer fleece, with a litter box with litter. The cage get a few strands of litter everywhere.
 
bessiehen said:
My pigs have had fleece bedding from the beginning but it is really important to wash it four or five times first as this does something to the material that lets the wee soak through. They have the fleece bedding, towels underneath then newspaper underneath that and we change their whole cage twice a week. It's not too hard work, just have to shake off the hay from the top layer (obviously we do a poop pick up several times a day!), then throw them and the towels in the wash and throw away the newspaper. The fleece is always bone dry when we change the bed but the newspaper is wet in places so it seems to work OK. We bought them some pet beds but they rarely use them - Burt likes to sleep out in the open and Clive just uses his bed as a toilet! Although it is handy for when they aren't keen on being picked up as we can herd them into their beds and lift them out before they know what's happening :))
Click to expand...

Ditto - I am exactly the same as you - origionally started out with shavings - but too messy and expensive - then moved to vet bed - works well - now on fleece - works as well as vet bed but you can have so may different colours etc - have just bought 2 big pretty fleece blankets from poundstretcher for £5.99 the pair:(|)
 
I have recently changed from VetBed to newspaper, I have to say it is a winner the pigs love having hay everywhere. Although it's more cleaning, I clean them every 1 - 2 days. I moved onto newspaper because of Patrick's bladder problems as I was worried about the hygiene levels with the VetBed.

Big bonus is less washing!
 
So do you all recommend fleece rather than shavings? I'm using shavings just now but going through a lot and when I put them in cage he popcorns and flicks them out lol, very messy! Stupid question but how exactly done fit the fleece to the cage, cut it to fit? Or another way? Xx
 
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