Trial of Simple Hay and Newspaper!

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Ashleigh825

Ashleigh825

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I've been using pine shavings for my piggies and they don't seem to mind it and it doesn't give off any horrid smells, either, but my big problem with it is it's a PAIN to clean. All those itty bitty shavings everywhere! Makes cleaning out poop a nightmare. It also gets pretty expensive.

So this time, I'm going to try newspaper with a layer of hay overtop. This seems to be ideal because my piggies will have oodles of hay to munch on whenever they want and it doubles as something comfy to sleep on. Hay is also something I'd buy a lot of, anyway, since piggies need a constant supply of it, so I wouldn't be spending any extra money on bedding and then hay on top of that.

What do you guys think? Has anyone tried this?
 
Ive tried this and my boys loved it. Atm I'm using hay on puppy pads more absorbent than paper and takes up less room in the rubbish
 
Oh excellent! I guess I'll try that then! I'll update to let everyone know how the newspaper and hay goes.
 
I tried it a couple of years ago when my boys first moved into the shed, but one of them kept pulling up the newspaper and chewing/eating it. I didn't know if it did them any harm so I went back to bedding with no newspaper.
 
Well, I just finished the messy task of cleaning up all those shavings and replacing them with the newspaper with hay on top. It was so funny watching them move around in their new space for the first time. They sniffed at the ground, like "... You mean.... my bedding is ALSO my food?! O:"
 
Peter Gurney recommended hay and newspaper in his book.

I have been using a layer of newspaper, a scattering of bedding and then hay to top, when soiled I just roll up the newspaper with everything inside ( I use those thin latex gloves so any moisture doesnt get on my hands) and then I put it in the recycling green bin.
 
How much hay and how much newspaper do you need to use? I tried switching to using it but it just didn't seem to work - no absorbency at all in the newspaper, I was changing it a couple of times every day?
 
When I used newspaper I was using about 6 to line my Liberta 150 cage. Anything less than a whole paper opened out was just too wet. I cover all the paper with about 1inch of hay with a big pile in one corner
 
I might try that when their woodshavings run out, I don't like using that stuff. And I guess I could use newspapers from work, we have a delivery of about 40 every morning.
 
I have always used newspaper with hay on top. It works really well and cleaning them out is easy. The only downside is getting a constant supply - we have several neighbours saving them for us!

When we've started to run out of newspaper in Winter, I have used a thin layer of newspaper with puppy pads underneath the paper. I just don't want to have to keep buying puppy pads.
 
I guess fabric/disposable bed pads would work as well? I could get those from work. I'm sure they won't miss them. 2 fabric ones would cover the whole of my 5ft cage. Hmm how to sneak them out...though I managed to take a plug in heater and 3 bags of carrots once and nobody noticed!
 
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