fitch bedding :D

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And the bale is really heavy compared to megazorb, which i used for a few months.
There is definitely more in this.
 
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Pigs and I are very happy with Fitch bedding! :)
 
Only one thing that bothers me about this bedding is the fact that it's SO white!
You can see the poos straight away when with finacard it would sort of blend in.
Handy for spot cleaning though which I don't do usually but may start doing now they are so easy to see.
X
 
I think I'm going to try this.

I love my Cavianthus bedding because I can put it straight into the green bin *but* it has been making me wheeze when I clean the piggies out. And when I cleaned Dumpling's cage out today because he doesn't wee as much as the girls being a lone pig at the moment I realised just how dusty this stuff is. :(

If it's making *me* wheeze it can't be good for their little lungs.

ETA: I actually have this problem with hemp too - good for absorbency and easily composted but it makes me wheeze when I clean them out and fill the cage with it.
 
Right, I am taking the plunge & trying Fitch too! I currently use Megazorb with a layer of hay on top but am getting fed up with having to take out soaking wet hay & it not soaking through to the megazorb... it means the megazorb doesn't really get to do its job & piggy cages stay wetter than I would like. I don't like to use Megazorb for them without hay on top as it's a bit dusty.

Ordering now so let's hope it arrives soon :)
 
I still love fitch. As for quantity me and a friend guestimate its about 220 litres a bale (approx same as finacard) whereas megazorb is only 85 litres. Even when the fitch is peed on it just looks like shavings anyway but it still dry it is a winner for me!
 
Fitch is here :) & in two cages already where it seems to be going down very well. I am going to be trying it later with my Snow Pigs who are world champions at weeing so we will see how the absorbancy manages with them!
 
Fitch seems good so far, very absorbent :)& cages are lighter to move than with Megazorb in them. You certainly can see all the poos better too, far easier than trying to pick them out of hay! Think we might be converted...
 
it most certainly is! It was the white stuff in the storage box hamster cage in my front room :-)
 
I've got one bag & a bit of Megazorb left, which should do my big run for 4 weeks. I'll get some Fitch in the meantime, ready for when that runs out. Pity I don't have enough storage space because if you buy 10 bales at a time it works out at only £10.25 a bale inc. shipping.

I couldn't get your picture to work, the link is dead.Speaking of pictures Beks, don't you think the piggy on page 4 of this thread looks like Minnie!
 
As it happens a rabbit breeder I know buys fitch in 10 bale (or more) amounts and sells them on to local people but shes in Markse and only does it now and again but with petrol you'd be as wise to just buy one bale at a time though :-)

The links are dead thats true, I tidied up my photobucket causing all links to die!

Yes that piggy does look like wee minnie moo!
 
I'm going to buy one bale for starters. If I like it I'll use it instead of Megazorb. Then at a push I could get 2 bales. I often store spare stuff for the piggies in the boot of may car.

Funny, you call Minnie - Minnie Moo, we call Minky - Minky Moo. So I guess we've got 2 Moos now! Minnie's not so wee now, she's about 1.280 Kg. She always leads Mitch up to the fresh veggies & loves fresh grass.
 
Does anyone know how many cage changes you could do with the 20 L bag?
 
Not possible to really answer that question as there are sooo many variables. However, the bale is 220 litres ish (it doesnt state on the bag but it seems to go as far as finacard which is a 220 litre bale so assuming it is 220 litres here) so if you have a 120x60cm cage (approx 110x 50 internal measurements) and you use 3cm thick bedding you'd use about 16 litres a changeout and therefore you could get nearly 13/14 out of a bag, more if you use a thinner layer say 2cm you'd get about 20, a thin layer of this stuff is fine I used about 2cm and it was fine for a week but just as an example of what could be done with a bale yet if you use a thick layer say 6cm you'd only get half that number of cleanouts, obviously if your cage is larger say a 4x2 c&c or a 140cm cage you'd be looking at 11/12 cleanouts ish using 3cm.
 
Hi,

I dont know if anybody is still looking at this post but if so could you tell me if you put anything under fitch. Have not kept piggies for years, and am going to rescue two so still at the finding out stage! Should I put newspaper underneath, and puppy pads or do I not need puppy pads? Also, piggies will be kept inside so trying to find the best and easiest no-smell option - how often will i need to change this bedding? Thanks
 
I'm not using fitch but a similar product (see http://www.lawsonanimalfeeds.co.uk/rabbit-bedding/240-white-paper-bedding.html ). I use newspapers underneath it. s for changing, it all depends on the floor area & amount of piggies. My 5 are in an approx 8ft x 3ft run & have a full change every 8 days with a top & tail, maybe a third to a half changed 4 days in between. I also have 4 rescue young piggies in 2 cages 1m & 1.2m. I'm having to change it every 2 to 3 days in these.
 
I tried fitch but i can’t say i love it, and i can’t say i hate it.

I think it’s nice and soft, and it’s quite warm too, but i just found it to be too annoyingly absorbent for one of my pigs. (Sounds silly i know)
Marmite is really annoying when it comes to his drinking from his bottle, if you watch him half the water just falls out the other side of his mouth, and with fitch i found that it just soaked the bedding (like most other beddings) but the wet patch just kept growing and growing, fitch was just ridiculous with how fast it spread. It was similar to watching a paper towel soak up water it just gets bigger, where as with sawdust and fleece the patches of wet stay quite small, i also kept finding blue and red pieces in amongst the white bedding which could be quite alarming until i realised it wasn’t blood but actually bedding.
I know i could just swap the bedding over under the bottle, but i use this sort of bedding to make it easier on me as it doesn’t need as much work as fleece, but after 7 days it was really boggy and damp allover just from the water bottle leaky’ness.

I also found that Marmite didn’t enjoy laying in it very much whenever i looked in his igloo he’d pushed all the bedding away from him and was laying on just the correx, however this was during the mega heat we had recently so he may have just been too hot, as i found the fitch was very insulating, even if you just put your hand in it, it felt cosy.

Other than that the only other downside i could find is storage, there is just so much of it in one bag and i don’t have much room to store something like that, luckily for me i was only trying it from a friend so only took a small bag but you really need to find space for this huge bag.

It is great value for money, even in a large cage and i found that it didn’t fly about like some beddings which i find with sawdust you sometimes end up with guinea pigs flicking it out of the cage where as fitch seemed to just stay put.

I did like how easy it was to clean up too, i found that it came up in nice big clumps which is alot quicker then spending ages sweeping up the last little bits.

I would use it again, if i used something else under the bottle, maybe a bottle pad or something like that or if i used it with my other pigs that don’t create such a havoc with their water bottle!
 
I need a little advice. I've just taken delivery of my first bag of Fitch. I'm currently using a white paper bedding (teabag offcuts) with newspaper underneath it, should I do the same with this?
 
Just bumping this - I am currenly having a fitch vs repti card dilemma. (Repticard is almost identical to finacard, so I'm told, but cheaper)
Some people find fitch more absorbent, others say card based stuff is more absorbent. Any thoughts?
Fitch looks like it will look nicer and appears comfier. (The pics on the start of this thread now don't work)
Any advice much appreciated - need to order soon! :)
 
I've been trying different bedding materials for my indoor run (5 piggies) & 3 cages (2+2+1 piggies). I've tried Fitch & not too impressed though it is good for their sleeping areas (cat lit trays). I would rate it better that shavings, fleece or white paper (teabag offcut) bedding I've used but not as good as Megazorb which isn't recommended for piggies but is the best stuff I've used. I think that if you use Megazorb with a layer of hay on top this solves the dust problem even though it is supposed to be "dust extracted". I've just taken delivery of MaxiBed which is small wood pieces bigger than wood-chips. When you open the bag it smells like pine disinfectant so should be left ventilated for a few hours before being used as piggy bedding. I'll be able to give better idea of what it's like at the weekend when I change it. I've used it the same way I use Megazorb, a 25mm layer covered with a layer of hay so they're not actually coming into contact with it. After 3 days there are no nasty smells so, so far so good. It's looking like this or Megazorb for me unless something else grabs my attention.
 
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