Flung out the fleece

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hazeyg

hazeyg

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Ive finally decided to ditch the fleece as I didnt have any time to wash my own clothes and they always came out hairy:(|).
So i got some megazorb and hay and sprinnkled it ver the cage with some foreging mix and dried grass and the pigs went nuts...........they certainly prefer eadible bedding.
I also bough a snow shovel so I can quickly change the haya everynight and then do a disinfect once a week.
So going to provide a smellathon account of wiffy ness throught the week compared to fleece.
Day 1:
Hay:Freshly changed and my room smells gorgeous like a field on a summer day so so far 10out of 10.
Fleece: Already lots of poo's about but no smell
And some piccies....well just because theres piggies in them
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I too prefer megazorb and its odour control. It just seems to absorb the urine so much better and seems to keep dry. Great set up, Harry and his ladies must be in wedded bliss!
 
Aww, bet they were all excited by the sheer amount of hay! :)) Will keep an eye on your thread to see how it goes!
 
I love newspaper and hay yes it's more cleaning but less washing so I'm happy. Loving all that hay Harry and his woman will think they are in pig heaven! x
 
it's more cleaning but less washing
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So very true but I think I'll still actually spend less time cleaning out doing 10mintues every night than half an hour every evening and an hour and a half every four days and thats not including the actual hanging up of 8 washes a week.
So far I'm very pleased and I can't see any poo's and it looks and smells so natural and they just scury about searching for little bus of grass and forage, so a lot more stimulating too :))
 
i see you hvae glass bottles to! there fab!
 
it looks great i bet they were delighted when they saw all the hay:)) i have been thinking of getting rid of the fleece too
 
I was just finding it so smelly since got Harry's got his wives. I cleaned out on Friday evening and the under towels were soaked and my bedroom was very very wiffy this morning. And I was sick of the washing, plus I'm getting a flat mate so the machine was to be out of bounds anyway.
Given the choice they would def choose the hay and megazorb. No litter trays cluttering up the cage and eadible bedding :))
 
I couldnt keep up with washing the fleeces. So Bertie has paper, shavings, and hay. Unless I am going to throw a towel out or some of the fleeces that my dogs seem to mange to reduce to shreds, then he has it just before it is thrown away. I just clean him out every day, only 5 minutes or so..xx
 
I hated fleece too it was far too stinky. I love megazorb but it was getting all over the house so I'm trying finacatd which is also cheaper
 
suem said:
I couldnt keep up with washing the fleeces. So Bertie has paper, shavings, and hay. Unless I am going to throw a towel out or some of the fleeces that my dogs seem to mange to reduce to shreds, then he has it just before it is thrown away. I just clean him out every day, only 5 minutes or so..xx
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This seems to be something I am considering at least for my two boars in a non C&C cage. Can I ask you to go into more detail about what you do every day? Do you just sweep up damp bits and do a poo pick? Do you do more each week (say)? I used megazorb when my piggies were outside, but since I brought them in (nearly three years ago) I have used towels, old nappies and fleece. Also, what kind of thing do you mean by forage? Do you sprinkle some food around in the hay? Very interested in finding a way to increase their exploring habits!
 
I am a complete advocate for guineas living like guineas should, they love nothing better than to burrow in hay, just sit or lye and eat themselves stupid and just....well be piggies and make a mess:{ . Whilst I can understand why people prefer fleece etc for indoor piggies as mine are outside in large heated shed I just let mine be au naturel and i think they prefer it and I think more of their natural behaviour comes out as a result.

I do have a little incontinent girl who needs vetbed in her hideys to stop her getting too wet but even that drives me mad having to wash it daily (she gets very wet). She hates it too and given a preference she will choose hay to sleep on every time. I remember whenI started to use it she refused point blank to sleep on it....unfortunately for her I ended up putting it in all the hideys so she ended up with no choice but she was not impressed!

I have about 20 square foot of C&C and just put megazorb on top of correx with plenty of hay. I found using newspaper held too much of the moisture so don't even bother with that any more. In the evening I sprinkle dried herbs and hide bits of food in the piles of hay so that they forage and they absolutely love it. That last night check at 11pm is when they popcorn the most as it means foraging and fresh hay, they go mad for it :(|)
 
I worked out the costings of the beddings for me

Finacard needs changing once per week and I use 10 litres at a cost of 59p. Poop corners spot cleaned daily taking 2 minutes - negative I have to have a parcel delivered and i work weekdays!

Megazorb needs changing once per week and I use 9.5 litres at a cost of £1.23
Poop corners cleaned daily taking 2 minutes - negative so light and fluffy it ends up trained around the house

Shavings would need changing 2x weekly I think due to smell and their lack of absorbency so these would be more expensive than fleece in teh quantities I use

Fleece I bought two at £5 each, then two towels at £5 each, plus newspaper/puppy pads then needing changing every other day . Based on one wash load a week of piggy stuff and using a tumble dryer this would work out at 60-70p per week (detergent and electricity costs). But everyday it took me 30 minutes to scoop poops , pull of hay etc etc. Using one wash a week would be whether I changed once weekly or 2 weekly the cost would be the same

I'm sticking to bedding! my boys pull their hay all of their bedding anyway and I clean up the soiled hay in two minute poop corner clean daily :-)
 
Finacard needs changing once per week and I use 10 litres at a cost of 59p. Poop corners spot cleaned daily taking 2 minutes - negative I have to have a parcel delivered and i work weekdays!
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I am in debate about megazorb and finacard. I am going to try megazorb first as its easier to hoover up :).
Very interested in finding a way to increase their exploring habits!
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You can buy ready made forage mix, if you PM Farquhar she will be able to tell you the name of the brand and how to get it as she gave me a pack to try. Its brilliant so fresh smelling and the love digging about to find all the wee goodies that it has.
With fleece it also took me 30mintues every evening and that was without it being perfect there was still the odd poop about and if the urine had soaked through you had to clean out the whoel cage.
Can I ask you to go into more detail about what you do every day? Do you just sweep up damp bits and do a poo pick? Do you do more each week (say)?
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I bought a snow shovel to scoop out the stuff under the hideys and will just replace with a sprinkling of megazorb and hay and also any other messy areas. I plan evry second day to replace the newspaper by just wrapping ti up and chucking it a bag .The poops drop to under the hay anyway and this morning the cage still looked remarkably clean.
Watch this space for my sniffathon tonight when I go in from work
 
Megazorb is more absorbent and smells nice but it gets all over my house, I use it for my hamsters because its similar to carefresh in terms of them being digging and building tunnels only heaps cheaper.

The finacard is easier to sweep up and doesnt get everywhere at all but its not as absorbent , it also doesnt stick to the guinea pigs fur like megazorb ... nor more pulling megazorb out of their bits!

I dont know which one ill stick to as they both are affordable for me but the megazorb is easier for me to get hold of. Ill use my maxibale of finacard up then decide what to do:-)

Both perform better than shavings (this is for hamsters as I never put my pigs on shavings!) , shavings get wet faster and smell more than either of the two beddings above even in the hamster pee corners.
 
Guinea Slave said:
I am a complete advocate for guineas living like guineas should, they love nothing better than to burrow in hay, just sit or lye and eat themselves stupid and just....well be piggies and make a mess:{ . Whilst I can understand why people prefer fleece etc for indoor piggies as mine are outside in large heated shed I just let mine be au naturel and i think they prefer it and I think more of their natural behaviour comes out as a result.

I do have a little incontinent girl who needs vetbed in her hideys to stop her getting too wet but even that drives me mad having to wash it daily (she gets very wet). She hates it too and given a preference she will choose hay to sleep on every time. I remember whenI started to use it she refused point blank to sleep on it....unfortunately for her I ended up putting it in all the hideys so she ended up with no choice but she was not impressed!

I have about 20 square foot of C&C and just put megazorb on top of correx with plenty of hay. I found using newspaper held too much of the moisture so don't even bother with that any more. In the evening I sprinkle dried herbs and hide bits of food in the piles of hay so that they forage and they absolutely love it. That last night check at 11pm is when they popcorn the most as it means foraging and fresh hay, they go mad for it :(|)
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Sorry to sound dumb but when you say dried herbs do you mean like mixed herbs etc that come in say a spice rack etc? lol. For some reason I thought only fresh herbs could be given.......confused.com mallethead mallethead
 
I can see me throwing the fleece out soon if Bonnie and Lottie dont stop their burrowing-its driving me mad as they end up squabbling under it and I have to get them out.They are knocking their food bowls over too so their food is going everywhere. rolleyes

I dont find the fleece a problem regarding washing and its great because the girls dont wee on it.I fold the fleece under at the top of the cage so that theres just newspaper there and thats where they do all their wees and poops-its like a little mountain and really easy to clean that section a couple of times a week and a full fleece change once a week so I just wish they would stop the burrowing!
 
Well day two: Walked into bedroom after work and NO smell. I went up closer the the side with three and there was a slight waft. But very very slight. Chucked in some fresh forage which took 2mins.....had a look for soiling or damp areas and there doesnt seem to be any. Shall proper scoop out tomorrow. But so far 9 out of 10.
 
Yes, I must agree with this thread, even though my boys love fleece and pop-corn ++++++ when I clean them out and put a clean, dry fleece in, its leaving hairs all over my clothes when I wash them in the washer too. This is even with having done an empty load after each fleece wash, just to clean the washer through.

Originally, I only ever used to use newspaper and sawdust, but then pushed the boat out and spoilt them xoxox)
I think ill have to start using fleece as a treat only. Personally, I never found that it contributed to whiffiness, if anything, I found it controlled the smell better (but I was washing my fleece every day or every other day.)

I see some of you are recommending Megazorb. I might give this a whirl and see how I get on with it as an alternative. I know my piggies will enjoy trying it as they love variety and change, it makes them so happy x>>
 
BTW, I dont know why in my last post when I said popcorn, it wasnt intentional. I have some random dude doing a peace sign. Haha.
 
he he.
I dont have time or the money to wash every other day. Plus my piggies dont get excited by it. They prefer receiving a pile of hay they go mad for it ha ha.
 
aww your white one reminds me of my dear Momo (rip) I do love their hair
I was considering going onto fleece when I go on to coroplast but with all these stinky stories I have no idea if I should now ?/ are boars stinkier then sows?
 
I thought your idea was that good, I went to P@H last night and brought 3 litter trays for my boys.

What an amazing idea, my room is now no longer smelly, the boys LOVE this new concept and they were pop corning ++++++ and its so much easier and cleaner to deal with.

I love giving my boars varitey and new houses ;)
 
LittleEskimo said:
aww your white one reminds me of my dear Momo (rip) I do love their hair
I was considering going onto fleece when I go on to coroplast but with all these stinky stories I have no idea if I should now ?/ are boars stinkier then sows?
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I have 2 sows on fleece and I can honestly say there is no smell-they dont wee on their fleece though.I fold the fleece so that the top end of the cage has just newspaper showing and they wee and poop in those corners.I end up with two little mountains of poops.:(|)
Every other day I just change the paper there.I'm going to try a litter tray in the one corner to see if they would use it-it would be even better if they did!
 
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