Bedding options

hay

Do you guys get hay? IUt is the best bedding I've used yet! DELI

Re: Bedding options

I wouldn't use any kind of cat litter, especially clumping. Very dangerous. The non-clumping ones also contain chemicals and ingredients that could be very harmful if ingested (sometimes even just inhaled). I'd definitely go with the kiln dried pine.

I know how you feel with the limitations on what is available. I also live in an area where I cannot get many of the things people suggest to me. Cedar and pine are the most common around here. I finally found aspen at Wal-Mart and used that for a long time (even though the brand they carry isn't very good, some bags are better/worse than others). Now one of the pet stores is bringing in CareFresh for us, but they can't get it in very often and even though we buy a lot, we sometimes run out between shipments and have to us aspen.

I tried kiln-dried pine but the brand I bought was terribly dusty, my whole family was allergic it and I'm sure Piglet was as well...not to mention that it was not at all absorbant and very hard to keep it clean. But that's just that particualr brand (which was the only one they had here, it's made locally). I know a lot of people use kiln-dried pine and say it works great. If not...can you get wood stove pellets and put hay on top (for a soft surface)...or do any of the stores carry compressed newspaper pellets with no added ingredients (such as Yesterday's News)? Just a couple of suggestions. I can't find either here.

Good luck!

Re: hay

Yes, hay is available but not easily in the metropolitan area where I live. Because of this, I thought of using hay as food only. Doesn't hay get soiled too quickly and requires constant changing, even when used on top a newspaper layer?

hay

I had similar problems Paulo, here in NZ. Plus, tremendous cost! It cost us more to keep 2 little pigs that it cost us when we had 2 huge dogs! See my comments under the heading Australia on the subject of bedding.

Re: hay

Yes, hay does required daily changes, so I'm not sure that would work for you either.

I say, go with the pine. If your piggies seem to react OK with it, and it is all you have available to you...then you don't really have much choice. You could also go with towels, which required daily changes. You could try newspaper (no color, and only if ink is soy based) which would also required daily changes. Hmmmm...*cranking brain* That is all the alternative beddings I can think of right now. Just definitely stay away from Cedar. If your pine is "smelly" then make sure to air it out before using it.

Just as Laura mentioned above, do stay away from the clumping cat litters...they can be quite harmful.

Miriam

Re: hay

Hi Maren and Miriam,

Thanks for your replies, I'll check Maren's posting about Australia. There are some brands of cat litter in Brazil, imported from the USA, extremely expensive, and not safe for GPs. There are some domestic brands that are basically a clumping, chemically treated material (sodium silicate). They are also expensive and they are advertised as safe for most rodents, including GPs, but their ingredients are pretty much the same as those of cat litter, so... they're not safe.

I'm using pine shavings. There is a good brand of kiln dried pine shavings, no scents at all and no dust. One 600 g (1.3 lbs) bag of pine shavings is enough for a 3x2 cubes and coroplast cage, provided that there is a good layer of newspaper under the pine. With two pigs in a 5x2 cage, I've been using 1 1/2 bags of pine shavings per week. Odorless, good absorption, and the cavies seem to enjoy burying themselves into it. Cost is very low, about US$0.60 per bag.

Another alternative that I have just seen is an organic cat litter made of wheat chaffing, which the manufacturer states as safe for guinea pigs and other rodents. I'm not sure about any chemicals added to it, but it seems to me that the pigs will end up eating all of it. It also seems rather dusty. Do you have any information about this?

Thanks,

PauloF

Re: hay

Well, if it is extremely dusty I would probably stay away from it. My two are very sensitive to that kind of thing.

Miriam