New bedding

[popandmop]

Currently our girls are on wood shavings covered with hay, but they are sneezing occasionally. Not URI sneezing, just as if they had dust up their nose, which I am worried they do with the shavings (or is this fairly normal anyway?). They are kiln-dried, dust-extracted pine, but I still think they aren't great for them. I don't know anywhere to buy megzorb/auboise near me, the local horse/country supplies shop dosn't have them. They're on Pillow Wad shavings, and hay.

The meadow hay is ok, dust-extracted, sometimes really nice, but recently there are proper twigs in it, so I don't know whether to change, is Timothy hay a better permenant alternative?

Also the problem is we don't have enough space to store any more than a couple of the kind of pet-shop sized bags of each, eg. 1 x 0.5 metres.
I would like them on carefresh, but it would cost too much.

I suppose I'm just looking for reassurance, and whether there are any better alternatives; pets at home have some new bedding in, the other pet shops near me don't have any other alternatives.

Thanks

 

[mikulinek]

Currently our girls are on wood shavings covered with hay, but they are sneezing occasionally. Not URI sneezing, just as if they had dust up their nose, which I am worried they do with the shavings (or is this fairly normal anyway?). They are kiln-dried, dust-extracted pine, but I still think they aren't great for them. I don't know anywhere to buy megzorb/auboise near me, the local horse/country supplies shop dosn't have them. They're on Pillow Wad shavings, and hay.

The meadow hay is ok, dust-extracted, sometimes really nice, but recently there are proper twigs in it, so I don't know whether to change, is Timothy hay a better permenant alternative?

Also the problem is we don't have enough space to store any more than a couple of the kind of pet-shop sized bags of each, eg. 1 x 0.5 metres.
I would like them on carefresh, but it would cost too much.

I suppose I'm just looking for reassurance, and whether there are any better alternatives; pets at home have some new bedding in, the other pet shops near me don't have any other alternatives.

Thanks

Hi Pop and Mop,

OK, if you don't have much space and your piggies are reacting to their flooring, I would definitely recommend moving over to something like fleece or vetbed or the two in conjunction - we use vetbed with a fleece over the top:

http://www.petnhome.co.uk/veterinary-bedding-c-11.html?gclid=CJq3v4_T3LACFSghtAod3lPFvA

It's a little expensive to buy but it will last a long time and, if you wash it inside a duvet cover, it's a lot less mess than wood shavings etc.

Secondly, there's not much different in terms of nutrition between meadow hay and timothy hay but timothy hay is sweeter smelling/tasting and is often fresher than the meadow hay you find in shops. We use "Alfalfa King" timothy hay (misleading name...) but I know Oxbow is also good. It's £7.99 for 1.8kg.

Timothy hay is also less dusty in general tham meadow hay.

Hope this helps

 

[piggyfan]

I use a layer of towels and two of fleece. You can get fleece cheaply from Primark,Tesco,Asda or Ikea. You have to wash and dry it three times to ensure it wicks away water. My piggies love it.

 

[Shuvvy]

I would definitely go for fleece. I had my boys on wood shavings and my poor long hair kept getting it stuck in his bum skirt. As others have mentioned you can get a layer of fleece and something waterproof underneath. You can also get all in one liners that have two layers of fleece with wadding and a waterproof layer in between. These are washable. They can be bought online at Cosy Cavies and I think a couple of people here make them too. Or there are online guides to making them yourself.

 

[hollie917]

i would suggest moving to fleece i have just made the change from just newspaper wich i had to change everyday to fleece and a matteress topper 4piggiepigs has kindly done a tutorial on how to make one, they are realy good and do stay dry as i had doubts but it is still dry on day 2 and smells clean too she said she canges them every 4 days i think heres a link to her tutorial http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=65091