Bedding: Goodbye FLEECE!

[Reason&Rage]

You should try putting a pan under there houses with the shavings, were they are mostly hanging out, might make smell, poop cleaning, and hassel of cage cleaning a bit easier. Also, might be a bit cheaper then changing all over to shavings, to just adding it to there pigloos and hideys. What do you think?

[MOMof3Kidz]

Originally Posted by 3luckyducks

I've had enough laundry! I gave fleece the boot and they are on a pine bedding/aspen mixture right now. I sprinkled hay around their whole cage and covered the kitchen floor with hay. They are in Piggie HEAVEN!
The fleece was nice but I just can't keep up with my own laundry let alone theirs. Now that summer is coming it's too hot to go outside and spend 30 minutes shaking hay off their bedding. It was just become too much of a chore. At least with the shavings I can change it whenever I want and don't have to wait for laundry.

So yeah, I am very happy right now! And thankfully, so are my baby boys.

I am with you on the laundry! I hate laundry and dishes! rofl With 3 kids and me and my husband im bad with keeping wash caught up so I am going for carefresh!

[Bunnah lover]

My mom hates fleece because of all the laundry. She always says, "Annah, when you have your own house under your own roof you can use all of the fleece you like."
It's getting old hearing that.
For my pigs' cage, I just use a small rag under there hideys for comfort, and the rest newspaper. That's just what works for us.

[Onetwo]

I have 2 sons under 3, my husband and 6 male guinea pigs in a less than 1000 square foot apartment. We have a lot of laundry and I have to walk 10 apartments down to get to the laundry room and pay $3 a load but still I think it is better. I use an under the bed storage thing and litter boxes for wood chips, carefresh and hay mixture for their litter boxes. I clean those daily (they do about 50% of their poop and pee in there) and sweep poops and top with fresh hay. It takes me maybe 40 minutes to clean my 2x12 cage and feed all 6 of them. I dont even know how many sets I have. I have tons of fleece and need more towels. But I like it. I have a piggie that is a borrower too. I just sew him a little sleeping bag and then he has a place where he can do that. To keep it cleaner longer I put down small mats of fleece and towels where they pee and poop the most and then I just change those when icky. Then I dont have to change everything. Well good luck to everyone no matter what you choose. There are always solutions to problems that may or may not work, just ask!!!

[MapleOwl18]

Bunnah Lover sorry that sounds rather smelly and unsantirary. How often do you change it? Doesn't the pee just pool in the newspaper.
In fact its usually not a recomended bedding at all. There are a variety of other bedding options that would smell a lot less and be safer for your piggies. Plus your Mom wouldn't complain as much.

In fact I wouldn't be going out on a limb in saying that if it wasn't changed frequently it could cause pododermatitis where the acid in the urine is eating at your piggies feet.

http://www.guinealynx.info/pododermatitis.html

Guinea pig Lynx opinion on newspaper.
X Newspaper
While some people find it useful to line the bottom of the cage with newspaper and place another bedding on top, newspaper alone is a poor bedding material. It does not absorb liquids well, does not control odors, and must be frequently changed.

So I'd really switch to something else.
Bedding
http://www.guinealynx.info/bedding.html

[Peggysu]

The guinea pig I rescued recently was kept on newspaper alone in a small pet store cage. He has yellow stains underneath him and had poop smashed into his fur dried. I felt so horrible when I saw him. He smelled like a barn yard and I'm sure that's why he was outside on a table. He had to have a bath and even after that he stunk up my house all by himself. Three weeks later he's smelling better and better just being on fleece and not smelling like stink. He's white and everyday he gets whiter and whiter.

Bunnah Lover, as the previous poster suggested you might want to look into a different bedding as newspaper is very unsanitary and not good at absorbing anything.

[dra&pigs]

I adopted a girl kept in a Tupperware container with newspaper. Her entire bottom was all yellow from pee, and two of her feet were sore and infected from the general dirtyness on the bottom of the cage. It took me a full two months before her coat was white again, and her feet took quite a long time to heal. Newspaper is simply not a good choice for a full bedding. Carefresh is soft and absorbent, and works well for us!

[PiggyGal]

Originally Posted by snistopher

I was spending about 100-150 a month for carefresh/aspen bedding,.

WOW! I use fleece and kiln-dried pine alternated weekly. I spend $5 for this huge 3 foot tall, 3 foot wide, and one foot in length bag of compressed pine. It last for at LEAST a month and a half for my 3*5 cage!