Hay or fleece ?

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Interesting debate this. I prefer fleece but Mr P can get uppity having to deal with hay clogging the machine or not being able to wash stuff due to fleece! mallethead I love fleece, and like knowing if anything is up with Misty - she has a cream fleece on rotation which is how we picked up Storm's UTI before she was squeaking.

However, OH likes the disposable-ness of hay, which I do too - clean out this evening was really quick, hay rolled into a ball with the newspaper and then into a bin bag.

Interestingly, naughty Misty likes best whatever her main bedding is not - when she is on fleece she sleeps in her hay pile, on hay she sleeps on/in her cosies! I can't win! :)) :))
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
Thank you for the link, there is a stockist for this in Doncaster which would cut down on P&P cost.

I'm still worried about the amount of waste. You said you dump yours in a compost heap. I have a plastic compost bin which has been in my garden for years, but it never seems to degrade, even after buying stuff to sprinkle on top! :{
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I have a plastic one as well as an open heap but I agree the plastic ones don't seem to work as well, so I usually put it on the open one. I think the plastic ones have to be in quite a sunny spot so the contents can get hot and you have to turn the stuff with a fork often....which is not very pleasant if it's not rotted down much!
I wonder if you could burn the spent bedding if it's not too wet with wee but then that's a faff too. You could always just get one bale to try and see if it works for your set up, it's all a bit of trial and error and personal choice. :)
 
Experiment

Thanks to 'Cheeky Chubbies' and the link she posted for a beddding called Walmsley Premierbed I bought some today from a local horse supply store.
:)

I'm a total Fleece Fanatic but I'm also a housing Geek so I love to tinker and experiment.
This type of bedding isnt often talked about on here as much as Megazorb or Flax so I was quite inquisitive of how it functions as an absorbent Guinea Pig bedding.

Walmsley Premierbed is basically a chopped up corrogated cardboard.
It has been dust extracted, 100% Biogradable, the high absorbency levels help to control and eliminate odours.

The Bag is big and Heavy 22kg and it cost me £6.30

It claims :-

* 5 x More Absorbent than Shavings
* 6 x More Absorbent than Straw
* 2 x More Absorbent than Hemp
* Dust & Mould Free
* Easily Disposable

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So a layer of Premierbed

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Then a good covering of hay

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Furniture, a fleecy hidey area to the back and Finlay and Salt added
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:)
 
That stuff looks like finacard that I love :-)

I find megazorb is better than finacard though but its 2x the price but do let us know how this is!
 
The premierbed looks good.

Megazorb is great but very expensive - I use half a big bag in a 4 x 2 C&C - that works out at £3.10 per full clean. Like a lot of these new superabsorbant beddings, they actually seem to work better when slightly damp. Lord Bernie on a deep layer of Megazorb plus hay never has a wet bum.

But, I hate the dust in Megazorb - it's not THAT dust free!

I tried to work out a washing machine load of double fleece, under towel & newspapers (the newspapers are free :) ) and I think it works out about 50p to wash a 4 x 2 fleece and undertowel. I dry it outside always (have a carport so even in wet weather it gets a good blow through) and air it on the radiators.

I use a horse wash wear bag - which has been a godsend for the hairs and hay and can highly recommend it x)

I do feel that the megazorb is easier & a bit quicker - just roll up the newspaper and throw. The fleece requires twice daily hoovering and possibly changing every 2 days depending on the peeing piggies rolleyes

I shall try to find the Premierbed stuff for a trial so thanks for the info.

Oh yes, and my piggies love a new type of bedding whatever it is :))

Jo x
 
LordBernieBouffant said:
The premierbed looks good.

Megazorb is great but very expensive - I use half a big bag in a 4 x 2 C&C - that works out at £3.10 per full clean. Like a lot of these new superabsorbant beddings, they actually seem to work better when slightly damp. Lord Bernie on a deep layer of Megazorb plus hay never has a wet bum.

But, I hate the dust in Megazorb - it's not THAT dust free!

I tried to work out a washing machine load of double fleece, under towel & newspapers (the newspapers are free :) ) and I think it works out about 50p to wash a 4 x 2 fleece and undertowel. I dry it outside always (have a carport so even in wet weather it gets a good blow through) and air it on the radiators.

I use a horse wash wear bag - which has been a godsend for the hairs and hay and can highly recommend it x)

I do feel that the megazorb is easier & a bit quicker - just roll up the newspaper and throw. The fleece requires twice daily hoovering and possibly changing every 2 days depending on the peeing piggies rolleyes

I shall try to find the Premierbed stuff for a trial so thanks for the info.

Oh yes, and my piggies love a new type of bedding whatever it is :))

Jo x
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Wow I used less than 1/6th a bag per clean out in a 4x2!
 
Salt n Peppers mum.......I'm glad you have found a stockist near you and look forward to hearing how you get on with your experiment and what your piggies think of it. :)
 
Hi, this is interesting but, I am more curious about your C&C cage that was pictured and seems to made out of glass/plastic, I am thinking of building a C&C cage and would be interested to know what materials you used in your clear one?
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
It's Perspex

Here's the thread on the building of that cage :)

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86263
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Thank you so much for that link, I have e-mailed it to myself so I can find it easily when I am ready to build one.

I was up last night just unable to sleep, thinking of fleece, bedding and cages, and when I went up to bed I still couldnt sleep and propably woke hubby up and then I was telling him about C&C cages and he was killing himself laughing that I was unable to sleep thinking of all the options, lol:(|)
 
update

The Premierbed is working very well for me.

Infact I have stocked up with 2 more bales today.

It's took a little time to get used to my new routine.
Firstly I had to get used to checking the premierbed for wet bits by racking it through with my fingers, initialy I was scooping the whole lot out after 3 days and it wasn't even wet mallethead. So I have realised that the premierbed is still good after a week, that is with the maintenance of racking the hay off the top every other day and replacing with fresh and taking out the odd wet patch of premierbed.

It is taking less time to do the daily cage upkeep.
I still use fleecy beds that require washing every few days but the premierbed doesn't cling to it like shavings or megazorb would.

I use more hay, but can you see the pigs complaining!

My farm hay hasn't been brilliant recently so i have bought loads in from 'hay for pets' and 'dust free hay company' however there is less expense from not buying the disposable bed pads.

I have one cage still with fleece which is changed everyday because of a poorly piggie, and another cage which vet bed and hay box. The vetbed is great but it fills the machine up with no room for anything else.

So 5 stars from me for premierbed. Time saving and the smell is greatly reduced.

I even had time to bake a cake last week which I haven't done in years.
 
Good to know the experiment is working and that you are having a little more free time! :) And you have to make your own cakes when some people don't manage to make them for you.....;)

Yes megazorb does get very stuck to fleece beds and vet bed which is annoying so this Premierbed might be good for that. How much is a bale? (Sorry if that was further up the thread)
 
gplearner said:
And you have to make your own cakes when some people don't manage to make them for you.....;)
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:)):)):)) Our next meet up we will have cake, even if it is a Cooplands Blueberry one!

Oh, yes, and the cost of Premibed, a 22kg bale, (3 1/2 stone in old money) and cost me £6.30 :)
 
Hi could I use premier bed in a hutch with hay ?. And where did you get the premier bed? Looking for ideas for the boys summer pad :)
 
Thanks! Fallen lucky same stockist have depot in Leeds 5min from where oh works! Contacted them today and can collect direct from them :) how long does one bale last you? X
 
Thanks for the update, I'm really pleased it's working out for you.

One of my piggies tends to wee and poop in the same spot so I usually just scoop the soiled bits out and replace it with a dry bit from a place where he never wees and put a fresh bit in that spot. My other piggy goes anywhere so I do the testing for wet bits ritual in his cage!

My boys love rummaging in it & I hide little food treats around their cages in it, sometimes they make little piles of it (but sometimes this is to nibble the newspaper underneath!) :))
 
hazeyg said:
That's why you can just use a sprinkle on newspaper- or just gut out the megazorb altother but you'd need to clean out more. My 9x2 c and c took 3 weeks until megazorb was finished x
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where do you get your megazorb from...I'm off to Central Saddlery tomorrow for a bag but wondering if there is anywhere else locally for it?
 
I have always alternated between sawdust, sawdust with straw and sawdust with hay. At the moment with one piggy I just use sawdust and then have a litter tray under his hay rack filled with newspaper, a handful scattering of those Tesco wood cat litter pellets, another bit of newspaper and then hay. He spends most of his time sleeping on the hay so that is the bit that gets the messiest. I change the litter tray every couple of days but I can leave the main cage for a week no problem.

I am going to try out fleece. Mainly because of the look and I am sick of getting sawdust in my eyes when I spread it around his cage every clean out.
If I could find a close, cheap supplier of megazorb I would probably prefer that.
 
This thread is really interesting.

We currently use fleece with towels and newspaper underneath but have recently been considering changing so to see all these different options in one place is really useful.
I would like to try cage liners to see if they are better than having the 3 separate layers but have also considered trying the megazorb or auboise once we've got our new correx tray, currently just using a tarp after a cage re-design our existing correx tray doesn't fit so we're waiting for our local sign shop to get the correx in for us.

This thread makes really interesting reading- thanks!
 
That does look the same as premierbed, a bit more expensive though (I paid £5.99 for 22kg). I've been using it for about 3 months now and am really pleased with it. I still have to wash their cosies and cushions but I manage to save them and just do one wash a week. :)
 
During the last two years, having at points 30+ pigs, I have had only one hay poke...and that was a young sow who got a hay seed stuck in the corner of her eye...nothing else. If you're having regular occurrences of hay pokes...change your hay!

I'd also like to emphasize - pigs need hay on a daily basis to keep their gut moving...I understand that what a lot of people are talking about here is additional hay as bedding...I just don't want people reading it and coming across this site for the first time, to misunderstand and not feed their pigs hay if they're not using it as bedding.

I use Mendip shavings (dust extracted) and meadow hay for bedding...during the winter I also add a layer of barley straw for extra warmth. I don't like fleece, or newspaper, I've found that it smells too much, and I can't deal with the amount of washing required for the number of pigs I have. I know people who have tried Aubiose, cardboard, paper and every other type of bedding you can imagine...most of them end up coming back to shavings, as they keep the pigs dryer, smell less and is more absorbent...it's all about selecting the right type of shavings :)
 
I'm so glad I put the indoor girls onto newspaper and hay.
I have to buy a 'not so nice to eat' hay for their bedding though otherwise the cage would end up empty. They eat some of it but I put good quality eating hay in everyday so some gets left.

They really seem to prefer lying around on hay and sometimes burrowing into it so I don't think I'd ever go back to fleece now. I think they prefer being in their natural habitat.
 
Forgot to add that the girls have a snuggle sack each and they always sleep in or of top of them so don't actually sleep in the hay.

Our two outdoor boys are on sawdust, newspaper and straw. We have always had our outdoor piggies on this and have never had a problem.
 
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