Your opinion - least smelly bedding...

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Lisajazz

Lisajazz

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Hiya

I am trying to find out everyones opinion on which bedding you think smells the least and lasts the longest. So if you could add to this thread what one you think smells the best for the longest period of time and include how often you clean them out and whether they are indoor or outdoor too please.

:)
 
I think i'll let our lovely people from UK and local to you answer this.........after all you want what's easiest for you :)

i use newspaper and hay on top for my girls :)
 
a clean bed is the least smelliest and i think alot depends on the piggies and what they are fed
 
I understand a clean bed is the least smelly :). I clean mine out totally every other day (including washing igloo's and litter trays and cleaning all the correx / cage bases) and sweep up all the mess every day but they still whiff a bit (infact it starts after a couple of hours).

I feed them excel food and unlimited hay and lots of veg. Could the veg be making them whiff a bit more? Is there such a thing as a veg that creates smellier guineas?
 
i have banned my girls for kale as it makes them STINKY i mean really bad, it is the only one i have noticed but it is really really bad!
 
Long complicated answer that probably won't be much good to you!

Poos are swept up twice daily.

I use puppy pads under fleece.
Their beds are on separate little round trays with newspaper and fleece on top.

I change the newspaper under their beds every day. The fleece in their beds gets swapped out every 2-3 days. I empty their litter tray (deep layer of hay with a puppy pad in the bottom) every 2-3 days too. The puppy pads under the main fleece only get changed as and when and I replace the main fleece probably every 5-6 days as the litter tray and beds catch most of it.

I've got to say there's been no noticeable smell since I switched to fleece, and the boys are right in our living room so we'd definitely have noticed. Having read back what my routine is though, it does seem to be quite labour intensive :))
 
Labour intensive is okay. I just don't want to clean out the whole shebang every day instead of every other day.

I use fleece and towels with newspaper in the areas they wee in the most.

Newspapers replaced every day, litter tray cleaned out every day, poops swept up once a day (maybe I should up this to twice), then the whole deep clean and everything replaced every other day. It could be the six in one area that makes it seem that bit stronger as the other 2 in the kitchen have the same routine and food but don't pong like the other 6.
 
lovelygirl said:
i have banned my girls for kale as it makes them STINKY i mean really bad, it is the only one i have noticed but it is really really bad!
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Mine wont eat kale but they do have fresh spring greens twice a day. Hmmm maybe it's this. They love the greens so much though I would feel mean changing it to once daily or every other day.

Interesting.
 
With mine, if anything starts to smell it'll be the litter tray. The puppy pad locks away most of the stinky moisture, but the hay will soak up some of it and as they spend a lot of time hanging out there and eating (their veg bowls are in there too) there's a lot of weeing going on.
 
how do you get them to go in a litter tray? is it worth me trying the guys with one i wonder? they just seem to poo everywhere.
 
i also find towels smellier than just using lots of newspaper under the fleece
 
I use newspaper and megazorb and have no smell. My piggys live in our living room and nobody has ever mentioned that they smell.
I clean out the poop and scoop out any wet corners everyday and then change the whole lot once a week, they do come out on the floor for about 4 hours so maybe thats why they dont smell?
 
I'd like to know how you lot use fleese without your guinea pigs chewing it and eating it! lol I'm damn sure Africa would be eating it all if I swapped from Chipping.
 
Beautifulmess said:
I'd like to know how you lot use fleese without your guinea pigs chewing it and eating it! lol I'm damn sure Africa would be eating it all if I swapped from Chipping.
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I just lay it down in one 3 storey cage and they don't both with it. In the other cage I have to peg it to the sides of the cage as they burrow underneath it and get stuck. I hope once they get used to the fleece they wont burrow.

gypsyandbessienewcagewithupstairs.jpg
 
i tuck the fleece right under so its harder for them to pull it out.
i use a layer of newspaper,towels, puppy pad then fleece.puppy pads hold a lot and it hasnt soaked through to the towels or paper.
 
Litter trays.

Am interested to know how you go about getting gp's to use litter trays. At the moment I have three big cages on the go with three piggies in each. My girls and boys just poo and pee anywhere they fancy, sometimes even in the food dishes! I do a complete clean every other day but would be interested in any tips that make life a bit easier. At the moment I use newspaper on the base with a layer of Easibed on top. :)
 
I haven't had any luck training piggies to use a litter tray! However in my experience, piggies wee and poo most when they're eating. So by putting the litter tray under the hay rack and putting the veggie bowls in the litter tray I catch a large amount of the mess in the tray.

But I don't kid myself that I've trained them in anyway :))
 
my piggy only pees on newspaper for some reason which is good , i just have to put a big square of newspaper in a corner and she mainly goes to the toiulet on that , so i thought id buy a tray but she doesnt have any of it ! she did this her self though , i didnt train her :)
 
My Pigs are indoors, we have a huge cage for night time that is cleaned out every other day, and a big run for day time which is cleaned out every day.

We just use newspaper, sawdust, and hay for bedding, when they start to smell I know its bath time :)
 
i clean mine out every 2nd or 3rd day,daily spot cleans are also how i keep mine clean,some of my piggies are also litter trained,the best way i have found is to put hay in the litter tray and each time you see stray poo's in the cage place them in the tray as this encourages them to go in that area the same applys with many dogs,a good 50% of piggies wont toilet train but sometimes you get lucky and it greatly reduces mess,
i have also heard people place the hay rack above the litter to encourage them to sit in the litter while they eat therefore making them go to the toilet.the downside is they love to eat the hay out of the litter but its not to much of an issue apart from replacing it.
Sawdust.woodchips,shavings,straw are considered by many to be unsafe due to eye injurys from straw,respiratory problems with sawdust and the roughness of chips on a piggies feet which can reslut in bumblefoot and unless you get ultra soft shavings they can be rough too,the chips and shavings can also be treated with unsafe piggy products so i would avoid all of these as much as possible
i use fleece,towels and newspaper in my cages and the only pigs i have a problem with are Zanzabar and Baker who still refuse to use a litter but insist on peeing all in one corner so it gets soggy daily so i place extra toweling in that corner and it seems to absorb it better.
The best bedding from what i have heard is a mix of newspaper,megazorb and hay x
 
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The best tip I have for litter training piggies (or, to be more accurate, keeping a bit more mess confined to one area!) is to put the tray where the food is - ideally under a hay rack. Pigs spend so much time eating, they tend to make the worst mess where they eat. It is very, very, very unlikely you would ever get the pigs to poop in one place, but some pigs do learn to pee in a selected area. It's not so much training them to stop making mess everywhere else, but to confine the heaviest areas of mess!

For the cage the bedding I use is fleece with towels underneath. In my hay trays I simply have hay and newspaper. The hay trays smell terrible if I don't change the newspaper daily. The fleece/towels only smell if I don't change them for over 4 days. I do a complete clean every three days.
 
I use fleece for my 2 older piggies with towels and news paper changed daily and the rest get woodshavings. I clean the damp parts of the woodshavings daily and a big clean of everything every 4 days.
The toilet area is under the table in the middle of there play area (pretty much the whole living room lol) and they pop under when they like. :)
As for toilet training, ive not quite mastered it but they seem to get the idea when they feel like it!
 
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I use Easibed on newspaper. The Easibed is quite absorbent and smells of pine. At the moment I am paying about £8 for a large bale. Have tried everything else and like this the best.
 
re guineas in the kitchen

Lisajazz said:
Labour intensive is okay. I just don't want to clean out the whole shebang every day instead of every other day.

I use fleece and towels with newspaper in the areas they wee in the most.

Newspapers replaced every day, litter tray cleaned out every day, poops swept up once a day (maybe I should up this to twice), then the whole deep clean and everything replaced every other day. It could be the six in one area that makes it seem that bit stronger as the other 2 in the kitchen have the same routine and food but don't pong like the other 6.
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I'm about to have my piggies in the kitchen for the 1st time. It may seem a daft question but I wonder how they'll get on in the cold weather when I'm cooking and the room gets steamy. I do have an extractor hood but can't easily get to the window to open then owing to furniture. I was thinking of maybe having one of those little fan things installed in a window ?/
thanks.
 
I had sam in the kitchen for a bit and he got on ok but it depends on the room. Sam was ok but i moved him to the hall whist i was cooking as the smell was a bit much at times (not a fan of oinions lol)
 
mork said:
I'm about to have my piggies in the kitchen for the 1st time. It may seem a daft question but I wonder how they'll get on in the cold weather when I'm cooking and the room gets steamy. I do have an extractor hood but can't easily get to the window to open then owing to furniture. I was thinking of maybe having one of those little fan things installed in a window ?/
thanks.
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I will probably wheel them into the hall when my hubby is doing chilli as that can sting a bit and maybe if anything else gets too much. This will be a first winter for us in the kitchen so I'm as clueless as you are. Fingers crossed it works out in there. I know Peter Gurney would keep guineas in his kitchen and I didn't read anything to say it wasn't working in his books.

Anyone else keep guineas in the kitchen?
 
Well Mabel is now installed in the kitchen and awaiting the arrival of her new friend. The other thing I'm worried about is the washer - I haven't dared put it on yet! Will the noise traumatise her?
The only other available indoor place is in my bedroom which because of our disabilities could make cleaning etc a bit of a performance. How do the rest of you get hay etc up and down stairs without dropping it everywhere? I have the feeling I'm being very thick here.....:{
We can't put them in the living room because , whisper it, we smoke......
 
I expect the first few times with the washing machine will freak her out but after a while she may find it a reassuring sound (mine do).

As for hay I have no tips - mine gets everywhere. I do use a brush and pan on the floor before I vacuum as I don't want to clog the vacuum (again lol).

Give your guinea time to settle but I bet its not long before she's wheeking when you open the fridge to prepare her veggies. When do you get her friend?
 
Mine used to live in the utility room on the shelf above the washing machine and tumble dryer and they didn't bat an eyelid. I wouldn't have them in the kithen though for hygiene reasons - nor would I have any pet in there.

I have experimented with different beddings and woodshavings is the least smelly but the worst for my asthma. Fleece smells and vetbed was a disaster. I'm now experimenting with carefresh, will see how that goes.
 
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