Next Wheeek!

rattata

rattata

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Apr 24, 2024
Messages
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Location
Norfolk, UK
Hi all! I wanted to say thank you to everyone’s kind supportive messages on my last post where I got “cold feet”.
I’ve been ill and still had (still do have) struggles with my mental health so put adopting on hold.
But now I’m pleased to report that next week I will be welcoming 2 bonded adult boars into my home.
I have everything in place, even though I keep rearranging things until I deem it to be “perfect” :xd:
My questions in preparation for next week are: 1) I’m going to use fleece as the main bedding, however the (pet) blankets I ordered are a lot thinner than I thought. They wick pretty well after having washed them with vinegar on 60 degrees, and I’m putting puppy pads underneath. I’m worried with them being too thin that when the boars are here that with them inevitably marking their new territory the fleece won’t hold up to the job.
Should I use shavings/carefresh at the start instead?
Question 2: the hay I have looks and smells great and has added foraging plants in it. But I’ve noticed it’s very long stemmed and quite stalky, and so I’m worried that if I put it into a pile for them to dig around they’ll get hay-poke? Should I invest in much softer meadow/orchard hay for the pile and use the other hay in their hay rack?
 
You will never completely avoid haypoke - it can happen with any hay. For some perspective, I generally only have spiky timothy hay in the house and managed to stab myself with it yesterday, but it's all Cam will eat and I don't have the space to store multiple hays. It took over two years before Bann got haypoke and they dive face first into it as often as possible, and they nest in it to cool down all the time.

As far as hay goes, it you can find them hay they'll both eat, that's as good as you can do. Even in a hay rack it's not a guarantee of no eye injuries.

Also, I love Carefresh but it's expensive for paper bedding. There's better value disposable bedding out there if that's what you choose to go for.
 
Lorcan said:
You will never completely avoid haypoke - it can happen with any hay. For some perspective, I generally only have spiky timothy hay in the house and managed to stab myself with it yesterday, but it's all Cam will eat and I don't have the space to store multiple hays. It took over two years before Bann got haypoke and they dive face first into it as often as possible, and they nest in it to cool down all the time.

As far as hay goes, it you can find them hay they'll both eat, that's as good as you can do. Even in a hay rack it's not a guarantee of no eye injuries.

Also, I love Carefresh but it's expensive for paper bedding. There's better value disposable bedding out there if that's what you choose to go for.
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Thank you @Lorcan 🙂

That’s a good point, especially if I don’t know what their personal hay tastes will be 😅 I’ll stick to what I have and just keep a wary eye on them, as I should be anyhow.

I think I’ll stick with the fleece and see how it goes, as it does seem more economical.
Currently they’re bedded on just hay according to the lady at the rescue.
 
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