What to use??

[arionat799]

Well,I've finally been directed to the forum section and have a few questions.

a) What is the best bedding to use?! I was told fleece but then I watched a video on fleece vs bedding and I don't hav a bunch of time to pick up all of the poop every single day! Then aspen/wood chips seems like it has a lot of risks, so is regular care-fresh the best choice? (In the vid she had fleece in one cage and wood chips/aspen in the other)

b) suppose i do choose fleece, my dad said theres no way he'd let me wash it and the peed up towels in the washing machine, and hand washing is too much work. Any help there?

c) and finally, what are alternative hay storage places? (other than a hay rack) I'm planning on making a 1x1 "hay space" (just cut off by grids) so I was wondering what I could use to hold the hay. ps posting this in another section too. (just "c")

Thanks for the help

[OllieandFriends]

a) I think I know the video your talking about! I was using fleece during the summer because my mom said that I can't use the washing machine either. So I hand washed it this summer, it wasn't that hard, but it was time consuming. Right now I am using wood pellets that are used in wood pellet stoves. It lasts longer then the fleece did.

b) Like I said before, my mom is the same way so I can't help you here. Sorry.

c) Put it in a tray or on the ground! My boys love to burrow in it, lay on it, hide in it and sleep in it. I also put it in Kleenex boxes and they have a blast climbing in them as well as just eat from it. EDIT: I just noticed that you said you are making a 1x1 hay space, if you had this you wouldn't need to use a tray. Put something under the hay though, so any pee would be absorbed.

[pinky]

I run an empty load with a cup of vinegar after my guinea pig laundry to disinfect the washer between loads.

[C1407]

I have no experience with fleece yet as I haven't gotten any more pigs with my last one, but I've bought the fleece and uhaul pads for whenever I get more. I don't think it takes too long to clean up the poop, though. It seems like it would take maybe a minute each day (or less) to scoop it all up. I wouldn't recommend the carefresh for it, simply because it seems like it would end up costing a lot (admittedly, I only had pet store cages for my 2 pigs last time, so naturally I wasn't using as much so it wasn't costly).

As for your dad and the washer...My mom is sort of the same way, but she said she'll compromise if I rinse them out first in a bucket or something. I personally don't understand that logic, because they had us kids, didn't they? They put our peed on stuff in the washer, and considering what humans can eat (all the junk food nowadays), it seems like the waste products would be SO much more dirtier than that of a guinea pig's. So I try to explain to my mom that if she could wash babies' stuff, then she shouldn't have a problem with pigs' stuff. But of course, she just won't accept that

For the hay rack, I plan on using a untensil holder for mine (Jumbo Stainless Utensil Holder - Bed Bath & Beyond other people suggested this and say it works fine). Again, no experience with this, so I can't say for sure. I have a shoe box cut up in a way that will hopefully keep most of the stray hay in there (though I think the sides aren't going to be tall enough). As someone else suggested, you could use a kleenex box; I've seen other suggestions of using extra coroplast to make a box; in that video she used a litter box, etc.

Also, I looked at a later video she posted ( ), and she's using fleece again in that same cage because her pigs were mostly going in the upstairs dining section, so she could just change out the bedding there. Maybe it will work out like that for you too.

Good luck figuring everything out!

[Onetwo]

Hopefully your parents would conceed if you use the peed beds and poopped streaked pants from when you were little arguement, its really no grosser than that. Hehe could always tell them when they are old and have accidents that you'll make them hand wash their soiled items. LOL, no just kidding. Or bring up the fact that human feet sweat 1 pint of sweat a day and human sweat is grosser than piggy pee so they shouldn't wash their sox in the washer either?!?! Tell them you'll run a load of bleach/vinegar through the washer after and then you'll do your clothes or something to make sure its cleaned. If you only have 1-2 piggies and a smallish cage you'll only need to do a load every 2 weeks max. Tell them how much cheaper it is, how more environmentally friendly, etc etc etc.... Better yet make a power point presentation like the commercial thats on right now! Haha

[C1407]

Hehe could always tell them when they are old and have accidents that you'll make them hand wash their soiled items. LOL, no just kidding.

Haha, I'd really like to try using that argument. Of course it would never work since they would just say they let me live here free, etc. Still a good and humorous one nonetheless!

[Onetwo]

You could also ask them to take you to a laundry mat and wash the bedding twice a month there.

[CavyMama]

Sweeping up poops from fleece is actually easier than trying to scoop it up out of wood based bedding or Carefresh. As the pigs walk, run and lay on it, it gets flattened out and you end up scooping up large chunks of bedding and sometimes during said scooping, you get the random airbourne poops that end up all over the floor.

If prepared correctly, it will smell less than wood bedding. And I don't know if you've ever tried to scoop up wet bedding but it tends to get rather heavy.