Bedding: Bye Bye Bedding?

[JD In Van]

So Buddy and Baby came home on Friday to a lovely 2 x 4 cage with three hidey holes and a nice kitchen area on a nice soft fleece and I realized within a few hours that this wasn't going to work. Two things became readily apparent - my piggies like to pee in thier houses and they like to eat in their houses. Over the course of the night they dragged almost all the hay from the kitchen into the larger of the two hidies and snuggled up in it and peed all over it.

And so the next day while Buddy and Baby were sitting on the floor looking stunned and confused about what they should be doing outside of their cages I redecorated. I took two plastic trays (the same size that you would commonly see at a food court), put a couple sheets of news print down (is the newsprint going to hurt them? They don't seem to eat it at all), then a thin layer of carefresh, and their hay and put the hidies back on top of each of these. Voila.

Sun morning, true to my expectation, the fleece was completely dry and the news print was soggy but mostly under the hay, they'd pushed the care fresh to the side and out of the house and been happy to nest on the hay.

Well Hay is WAYYYYYY cheaper then carefresh given I have access to feed shops and the like. I'm wondering if the boys are going to keep peeing on their trays if I can just use the newsprint/hay combo and change out the print once/twice a day (they seem to pee the most at night and during their afternoon nap time) and do away with the other bedding? Or if the hay's not going to be enough buffer between the damp paper and their bodies.

[Peggysu]

Hay isn't going to be a good buffer. It can easily mold and it will get smelly throughout the day. Have you thought of a hay rack made out of grids? and using a litter box underneath? This is what I have done and it works wonders. You can use aspen shavings or Yesterday's News. I still get hay all over my house, but it doesn't spread all over the fleece unless I spill it on the fleece while filling up the racks.

One thing I would like to add is that news papper can get pretty nasty fast. I don't use it and will not use it. My male piggie that I rescued was housed on just newspapper before I took him. He smelled so horrible when I brought him home.

[JD In Van]

I'm making a box hay rack for them but they really seem to enjoy playing in it and sleeping on it.

The probably is still that they're more interested in peeing where they sleep then any where else, and what can be done to keep that area clean and dry. The paper and an extra layer of hay seemed to be an easy fix as it can be traded out in the morning and evening with relative ease. I'll see about getting some differant beddings and seeing what they will sleep on that will absorb the pee.

[Peggysu]

I use fleece and that keeps my piggies nice and dry. My male that I mentioned in my previous post that smelled horribly when I brought him home also was yellow on his belly and around his rear end. Since I have had him on fleece he hasn't got a stain on him. Granted he's in a big cage and isn't forced to sleep in his pee. He prefers to sleep in his poop and gets it in his feet.

[JD In Van]

*nods* Well I have fleece through the whole rest of the pen. It's not that they're forced to sleep where they pee, they have LOTS of room. It's that they choose to pee where they sleep.

Maybe they're just marking up territory and they'll get over it eventually in the mean time I still need some extra absorbancy in that area some how.

Poop is not a problem for me at all (knock on wood). They poop every where but I've found a toliet paper roll makes a perfect poop scoop and that at least is easy to clean up.

[Ly&Pigs]

If you using local newspaper, call them up and ask if they use soy based ink. Soy based ink is safe where other inks are not.

[akstrohm]

Did you try putting extra layers of towels under their houses? Those should be easy to change out too.

[Deb's4Pigs]

Mine have a kitchen area with carefresh in it. And a fleece area. They don't like the
fleece area too much. I have the big house in the kitchen area, because they just pee in it.

[danav]

I'm fairly new to having pigs (7 weeks today!) but what I have done seems to be working well so I'll share it. I am using fleece in my cage. I also made several small pads of fleece/towel/waterproof liner (actually crib pads) sewn together. I put these pads in the areas that my piggies tend to poop/pee most - under the hay rack and in the hidey-corner. The pee wicks through the fleece into the towel, so they aren't laying in it, but doesn't get on the main cage fleece underneath. The pads can be changed daily and I don't have to change the entire cage fleece as often as I would if they were peeing directly on it in those areas. It sounds like something like this might work well for under your pigs' hidey houses, too - you just carry the pad outside, shake off the poop and hay they've dragged in there, throw it in the wash, and put a fresh pad down for the day.