Least smelly and easiest bedding

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SineadMcC

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi :)
We've decided the guinea pigs will be living indoors for the winter to save worrying about them when the temperature drops. As they'll be in the living room I'm after the best bedding for ease and the least amount of smell. Fleece seems like a lot of hard work with washing etc especially in winter. Also I've noticed fleece liners on etsy recommend washing at 30 or 40 - how does that kill bacteria? But they do look nice and soft. Vetbed seems like similar hard work. Auboise , megazorb, and Fitch bedding are all appealing to me at the moment. Anyone who uses any can you give me an idea of costs and how often you clean out plus if you notice smells after a couple of days. Happy to do a big clean out 2x a week.
 
I use Aubiose. I do spot cleans twice a day and a full clean out once a week. But I don’t throw all of the bedding away (that would get mega expensive) I have trays under each hide which catch most of the pee and I chuck those away, but the rest I turn over and remove any wet bits and then re-use the bedding into the trays for the next week and top up what’s needed with fresh. I have a 7x2 C&C for three sows and I use a bale of bedding about every 5 weeks. To re-fill the entire cage would be nearly a bale a week.
When they run around bits can get thrown out of the cage, but they are easy to sweep/hoover up
 
My two piggies live in my summer house and have a mixture of bedding. Their hutch stands in the middle a 25 square foot c&c run. I do use a fleece in one area of their run (at the moment, I am not sure whether I will use it in winter) but in the hutch and elsewhere in the run I am using finacard with some hay on top. I’ve only been using the finacard for the last five days but so far it is brilliant. I do spot cleans a couple of times a day and a big clean once a week but the same as Guineapigfeet, any bedding which is clean and dry will be reused if possible.
I get my finacard (and hay bales) from a local farm shop. It’s an absolutely enormous bale and I think it’ll last me for about three months (used for the two piggies and a rabbit)
 
Following with interest. I’ve been using fleece bedding (towel sandwiched between fleece) and recently it’s stated to smell of pee within a day.
Over winter it was fine but now I feel like I can always smell it and the girls are out most days.
 
Fleece is what I'd recommend for an indoor setup. Everything else seems super expensive unless you use wood shavings and they are horrible indoors as they get everywhere but perhaps fleece isn't worth it if your going to keep your pigs permanently outdoors next year? Though I will admit I've only used shavings, carefresh and back2nature. All of which are comparable smell wise. However, back2nature doesn't get kicked out so much when the pigs scamper but it is very noisy when they walk on it so not great if you're going to keep them somewhere like a bedroom.
SineadMcC said:
Hi :)
Also I've noticed fleece liners on etsy recommend washing at 30 or 40 - how does that kill bacteria?.
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You can either wash at 60 as the forum recommends and order a size that is slightly too big to deal with the shrinkage or be a rebel like me and wash at 40 but using detol laundry disinfectant. I use the perfumless one too to save the piggy's delicate noses
 
Thanks everyone. I think we've decided they'll be inside in winter and outside in summer after much discussion so ideally want something that will work for us long term . I'm thinking what works indoors might not outdoors but they'll still be back in next year if that makes sense haha. Washing at 40 with dettol sounds good. If I buy a ready made fleece liner does anything need to go underneath it? I might do a bit of both and use a substrate (although which one I'm still so unsure aaagh!) And then have a fleece area. Talulah hope you find some advice on here too :)
 
SineadMcC said:
Thanks everyone. I think we've decided they'll be inside in winter and outside in summer after much discussion so ideally want something that will work for us long term . I'm thinking what works indoors might not outdoors but they'll still be back in next year if that makes sense haha. Washing at 40 with dettol sounds good. If I buy a ready made fleece liner does anything need to go underneath it? I might do a bit of both and use a substrate (although which one I'm still so unsure aaagh!) And then have a fleece area. Talulah hope you find some advice on here too :)
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If you buy a ready made fleece liner it'll already have an absorbent layer inside, so you shouldn't need anything else. However, it depends on where you get them from as to what the quality is like! There's a thread on here somewhere, recommending various places @Veggies Galore bumped it the other day.
 
Here's a list of sites that have been recommended by forum members ...

The Piggy Lounge Gifts for your Guinea Pigs. Cozy Fleece Beds for Guinea Pigs. Cuddle Sacks, Tunnels, Cups, Cosies...

is run by one of our members and she donates funds to rescues at times - she is a regular attender at rescue fundraising days


Piggie Pig Pigs Piggiepigpigs Online Shop Lots of handmade accessories all lovingly handmade

The Sqube Factory https://www.facebook.com/TheSqubeFactory/ - supports guinea pig rescues
by Thesqubefactory


SoWendySew by SoWendySew - this lady has donated and supported TEAS

Ziggy's Piggies

Cavy Couture : Shop

ChuckleBunnies : chucklebunnies | eBay Regular attender at Cavy Corner Events


http://stephspiggieeparadise.weebly.com/ Cage liner Prices


http://www.pawsup4cosypets.co.uk/


Here is the original thread if anyone wants to make any further comments I would like to know everyone's thoughts and recommendations about sites for fleece items .....
 
Brilliant thanks , I'll look at those sites & try fleece out. I just hear mixed reviews about the smell, or that they start to smell after they've been used for a few months? I really want to use fleece though because it looks so pretty, just need something that's also practical and easy . Furry friends puppy pads and hay sounds easy enough !
 
I found fleece really smelly and if you give them lots of hay, then you can’t see the pretty fleece. I use vet bed for poorly piggies and that works well. I also found my washing started to smell after washing the fleece and then it was a pain getting it dry too. I gave up after a couple of weeks, as the only way I could make it work, was to do a full clean of cage every other day.
 
Just have a quick think about whether you have a place you can give the fleece a good shake before washing (ie if you live in a flat) because hay often sticks to fleece and then gets inside your washing machine. I give my fleece a brush in the garden and then a really good shake to get most of it off, but some does find it way into the machine. Others use horse rug bags to wash the fleece in as any hay stays in the bag.
I have a couple of pieces of vetbed as well and it’s thicker and cosier, less smell from it but unbelievably hard to wash and dry!
 
I have one of the washbags, which does save the machine, but then you take the fleece out and it is still covered in bits of hay. I am very allergic to the piggy urine, so that probably doesn't help and I found I was having itchy eyes, sneezing bouts etc when using fleece. I buy my puppy pads at B & M and they cost £12.99 for 100, so work out well cost wise too.
 
Thanks guys. I live in a house with a garden so no worry about having nowhere to shake fleece. However, my son does have allergies so I'm thinking using a substrate would be better if people are finding the hay is still on after a wash & washing starting to smell. Does that happen even if you were to disinfect the machine after washing fleece ? But then you've got to think how much money you are spending on electricity etc and may as well buy disposable... What a minefield!
 
That's another thing I suppose the cost of the actual washing machine cleaner, although I do use one once a month anyway. I would be using a lot more depending on how often I was washing fleece liners. We are getting 3 pigs from a rescue where they use puppy pads and vetbed. I want someone to tell me what to use but I know different strokes for different folks and all that. Fleece really does appeal to me but not at the expense of my families hygiene in terms of their clothing etc. If you factor in buying washing machine cleaner every week and washing fleece 2x a week then I wonder if I might just be better buying something like Fitch/aubioise etc.
 
Bliss is chopped straw if I remember correctly and could be used but be careful because they do a scented version as well and I know that that one is not suitable.
Personally, I’ve not used bliss but I imagine a paper/cardboard based product like the finacard, aubiose or the back2nature pellets would be better. Or, the puppy pads and hay on top as that’ll still be easier to clean up.
Definitely look into everything your local farm shop can offer though because I have found them to be great value
 
SineadMcC said:
That's another thing I suppose the cost of the actual washing machine cleaner, although I do use one once a month anyway. I would be using a lot more depending on how often I was washing fleece liners. We are getting 3 pigs from a rescue where they use puppy pads and vetbed. I want someone to tell me what to use but I know different strokes for different folks and all that. Fleece really does appeal to me but not at the expense of my families hygiene in terms of their clothing etc. If you factor in buying washing machine cleaner every week and washing fleece 2x a week then I wonder if I might just be better buying something like Fitch/aubioise etc.
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I don't use washing machine cleaner. Is that bad? :/ I haven't noticed our own clothes smelling but we do get stray guinea hairs on our clothes. I bought a horse wear laundry bag which has reduced it but it hasn't solved it. I do do a maintenance wash very so often though I.e empty machine on highest temperature and longest setting with only white vinegar perhaps that gets rid of the smell everyone is talking about? Or perhaps we've gone guinea smell nose blind.

The only smell I get from the fleece is if we've not swept them on time or the fleece is due a change usually day 4 (definitely day 5 if we've had a lazy week) and even that is only noticeable right next to the cage. Since I've been using the dettol it's really help keep the smell down.
 
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