Guinea Pig Bedding

[Puzzlepigs]

I've noticed recently that I seem to be using the guinea pig bedding faster, even though I don't put loads in the cage. I use just enough to cover the newspaper and it's fine - it stays fairly clean with a bit of spot cleaning and the piggies love laying down on it. I use ecobale cardboard bedding. Anyway, my point is that I seem to be buying bags much more frequently and it's costing quite a lot more money that it used to. I clean both cages thoroughly once a week and replace the bedding.

I was just wondering how any of you make your piggy bedding last longer or how you save money. If there is any sort of bedding I could make myself or a different, cheaper bedding I could use I would really appreciate a response. If it helps, I shred scrap pieces of paper that I don't need to make bedding for the chickens, but I think this would be too rough for the piggies to have in their cages.

The bedding I currently buy is dust extracted ecobale bedding (a 20kg bag) for £7.14. It works really well in the cages at the moment (besides the fact that I seem to be getting through more of it/buying more) and it soaks up any wet patches very quickly. In the past I have tried megazorb, though I found that this I used extremely quickly due to it not being compressed into the bag as much as the ecobale is. The ecobale bedding is compressed quite a lot.

At my local supplier, they stock a brand called Eco-Comfybed bedding which is approximately 25kg. It costs £5.99 and is 'carefully selected white wood Eco ComfyBed is manufactured to exacting standards specifically for horses'. Would this be okay for the pigs? I'm not sure whether it would, so any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[willow]

I bought myself a good shredder and shred anything thats shredable for bedding.
Tv mags are good, as is junk mail that comes through the door.

 

[Puzzlepigs]

Thanks, I do this for the chickens but I wasn't sure whether it was soft enough for the piggies to have. Do you put newspaper underneath as well? Thanks for your reply

 

[Mizzpigz]

Hello, I use Eco comfy bed for our chickens and guineapigs and put newspaper and puppy pads underneath for extra protection. Personally I love comfy bed and it is quite soft. Where I get my bedding from he is an equine product supplier and one day I saw that he had cardboard boxes that he gets his products sent in and as a packing they normally put shredded cardboard in which is very similar to finacard. I just wonder if * could ask around various pet suppliers and see if they will let you have those boxes filled with that bedding as he gives them to me for free as I'm taking them off his hands. I love to recycle so its perfect for me and for the supplier!

 

[Puzzlepigs]

Thanks for your reply. It would definitely be worth trying the eco comfy bed with the piggies as it would save me a bit of money. It sounds as if it is good quality too. If the piggies don't get on with it and it's not as comfortable for them, I will return to using the eco bale but reading your reply it seems that is comfy (just as the product states!) and soft.
I'm already lucky enough to have neighbours that give me massive stacks of newspapers to use for the piggies, so that isn't a problem but actual pet bedding can get quite expensive these days! I might look into getting a heavy duty shredder and see whether it would be worth trying to sure cardboard to make into piggy bedding.Obviously I wouldn't be able to make enough for every single clean, but I reckon it could still save me a little bit of money in the long run.

Next time I'm at my local supplier I will have a look at the Eco comfy bed. Thanks for your reply, it really helped.

 

[Puzzlepigs]

Sorry - don't know why I wrote - 'I might look into getting a heavy duty shredder and see whether it would be worth trying to sure cardboard to make into piggy bedding.' I meant - 'whether it would be worth trying to make cardboard into piggy bedding.' ! I also meant to say - 'it looks as if it is comfy (just as the product states).'

I was typing on my phone though, which was probably the reason why I made so many mistakes!

 

[Mizzpigz]

Oh is it an iPhone by any chance!

 

[Puzzlepigs]

I say phone, well iPod but basically the same thing! It's an iPod touch 4th generation, so pretty much identical to the iPhone, just without the call and text features. Do you put newspaper underneath as well (under the shredded paper)? Also, how short does your shredder shred? I was just a little worried that mine would be too long and they'd end up getting poked by the paper. Thanks again.