Sawdust Slaves

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Branston&Pickles

Branston&Pickles

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I normally buy a big 120 litre bale of woodshavings from CountryWide for £8.99, it says its dust extracted but lately I've found it really dusty and am a bit worried about my one piggie in particular on it. So I was just wondering all the slaves that use woodshavings on here, could you give me an idea of:

Where you buy your woodshavings from?

How much does it cost/how much do you get for the price?

Do you find it at all dusty?

I've tried fleece but really didn't get along with it, so would like to stick to woodshavings ideally.

Any help is much appreciated :)
Rachel xx
 
I went from woodshavings to profleece to megazorb. I tried shavings again for a couple of days recently and found I much preferred the megazorb. I really didn't like the shavings. Also, since finding out that one of the preventative measures of fungal is not to use shavings I won't be using them again. Have you tried megazorb? It costs me £8.46 for 85 litres. It last for ages. I use that topped with hay. I clean out the poops daily, they just lie on top of it so its easy to clean.
 
Thanks Stacey, little bags don't last me very long though as I have four messy boys :)

Sandra, what is megazorb :red sorry I haven't heard of it before. Where do you buy it from?
 
Here is a review link http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=290

When I first used it I thought it was a bit dusty but it's not really. It seems really comfortable and I haven't changed it in over a week, although I clean out daily. I take out any wet bits, all the poop which lies on top and just give it a mix up. You can get it from equine suppliers and you can get it from animal magic pet supplies though a bit more expensive and there will be the delivery charge on top. It's definitely worth a try.
 
I buy mine in a huge bale from the Animal feed/hay suppliers. They have 3 qualities, and cost approx £5.50, £6.50 and £7.50 a bale. (About an eighth of the cost of P@H) Maybe try your supplier to see if they have a better quality one, but from the price I think you already have the best one. You may just have been unlucky with that bale. xx
 
Thanks for your help :) I've read the link and seen pictures, it is like paper texture? i'm still a bit confused, sorry.

Do you put newspaper underneath like others mentioned? or just hay on top?
and clean the top layer every day?

Sorry for all the questions, I want to try it because I'm getting so fed up of dusty sawdust, I'm sure they boys would appreciate it too. I'll have to try and locate some :)
 
Branston&Pickles said:
Thanks Stacey, little bags don't last me very long though as I have four messy boys :)

Sandra, what is megazorb :red sorry I haven't heard of it before. Where do you buy it from?
Click to expand...

I agree with Sandra, and would try an alternative bedding to wood shavings. There is increasing research evidence demonstrating the health risks wood shavings pose to guinea pigs, rabbits, small rodents and humans. Vedra (CCT) states that wood shavings significantly increase the possibility of guinea pigs suffering from respiratory disease or fungal infections.

Megazorb is far more suitable for guineas and doesn't pose the same risks to guinea pigs' health that wood shavings do. You can bulk buy megazorb quite cheaply from horse suppliers.
 
It's like carefresh but finer. I started off using newspaper underneath but found the paper needed changing quicker than the megazorb which made it awkward for me. I just put a thick layer directly onto the cage.

Natural fibre - virgin wood pulp which has been dried and sterilised.

Double dust extracted - ideal for horses with C.O.P.D., free from moulds and spores.

I think it's really good, Basil always seems to move the hay to the side so he can lie directly on top of it lol
 
I pay £5.75 for a big bag of megazorb, but we're really close to the manufacturer so that might make a difference. I go through a bag a week, but I do have 8 hutches.
 
I should say also, I don't completely change the the hay which is on top. I top it up daily though. The 5 bags of dust free hay for £15 from Animal Magic Pet Supplies is excellent value, I think each bag weighs more than 2kg. It's a mixture of timothy hay and meadow hay. If you stock up a few things and spend £75 there is free postage. I don't have the space unfortunately.
 
Thanks for all the helpful comments, I think I'll definatley try it. Five bags of hay for 15.00, thats really good! Branston's excited at the thought of it all :))
I'll have a look at animal magic pet supplies now, sounds good :)
 
I use equestrian shavings so a giant bale costs £6 and is low in dust. If I had fewer piggies I may consider a different type of bedding but with the number I have it just isn't practical (well not for me anyway!).
 
I always used to use Hunter shavings, lovely stuff, we'd have our mare on it if she didn't eat her bedding (daft hoss)

One of my boars however has issues with his breathing and was very snuffly even on Hunter (dust extracted) so I switched him to washed and shredded paper (what we actually keep our mare on) and it's great stuff, very absorbant, I use quite a bit less, not dusty, quite warm as bedding goes as paper is an insulator, and SO easy to clean out! So that's another option to consider.

Romily, not sure where you are but if you ever wanted to try it, I can see if we know a supplier in your area? It used to be a lot cheaper than shavings but the price is quite similar down here now.
 
I think our feed supplier stocks it and it is popular with rabbit owners. I was worried that it would stick to their coats and spread everywhere round the house. Do you know the brand name of it?
 
I've found it to spread less than shavings to be honest, of all the bedding I use (hay, shavings and paper) it is the only thing that I've never found in my bed or undergarments...no I have no idea how the hay gets there, it just does!

I've found for the boys it doesn't get stuck in their manly areas like the shavings used to as well.

Ours doesn't have a brand name I am aware of, it's just called Paper Horse Paper Bedding by the farm shop, unless Paper Horse is the brand name?

It looks like this, sorry photo not great, I can take a photo of it properly tomorrow!

Image059.jpg


As you can see it does stick to manes somewhat...
 
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