Material Bedding

[Hanwombat]

I'm thinking about putting my lot onto material bedding instead of shavings / hay

They live outside in our outbuilding (except Sky) but my boyfriend has a computer in there and its always warm in then so they won't get cold. Its warmer than my house!

I was thinking about getting some towels, do you just put newspaper underneath? Would it not get really wet quickly or not?

How do you go about them getting hay or over the material? As don't want it to clog my washing machine up.

Thank you!

 

[madguinealady]

You put puppy pads then fleece then towels and fleece where they per .The per fleeced need changed every day and you just shake them.You can buy bags to put the fleece in so your machine didn't get clogged up.I have litter trays as well

 

[piggyfan]

I would not just use towels as it will just get wet and the piggies will be walking on wet towels. They can also catch their nails on towels. I have towels and vet bed. Just shake off the hay and wash the vetbed and towels in a duvet cover or you can get a horse wash bag.

 

[Hermes]

You can buy or make cage liners which are just fleece with an absorbent layer sewn on (can be a towel or a cotton mattress topper) which can make it easier to manage. The principle is that fleece wicks moisture down which is then absorbed by the layer below so it's important to have both. Fleece does require a lot of upkeep with daily poop clearing and washing every few days. It will depend on your setup/cage size/pigs/management etc. as to how often you'll need to wash it but I never found fleece and towels to be as effective as finacard (which I use now). You can shake, brush or hoover off bits of hay and use a washing bag to keep your machine clear. It's also useful to have hay trays/hay loft with another substrate in for the hay to reduce the amount spread across the fleece, hay trays etc. usually need to be changed daily as they'll use that space the most.