Bedding New Owner, Which Bedding ?

What is it you don't like about the fleece, out of curiosity? I've only used shredded aspen and fleece, so I can't help much, but I love the fleece.

I am worried with the fleece the odor wont be kept down as much as something that is a little more obsorbent. I myself have never tried the fleece, but just what comes to mind for me.
I like the idea of actual bedding and I don't think some members in my family would enjoy me washing the fleece in our own washing machine after my Piggie has pottied on it.

I think I may try Carefresh first, I just read some things that worry me with the Wood pellets on this site.

Like, what worries you about pellets? I use 'em and love 'em.

Anyone else think that CareFresh bedding smells and looks just like a cut up card board box?
Does Carefresh really provide that well of odor control?

Read this from this website:
WOOD PELLETS:

• Wood pellets are very cheap, by weight. They can be found for $3 to $8 for a 40 pound bag, $5 being typical. By volume, pine shavings are much cheaper.
• Wood pellets tend to last a couple of days longer than pine shavings and paper-based beddings.
• WARNING: Make sure that you are buying 100% wood pellets. Make sure there are NO accelerants added! Accelerants are the chemicals used to make lighting fires faster and easier. Wood pellets are normally sold into the wood stove market.
• Wood pellets are extremely heavy. You will need more pellets to cover the same square footage. For example, a 2 x 4 grid cage that used one bag of CareFresh, required two 40 pound bags of wood pellets. That's 80 pounds of bedding to haul in, put in the cage, clean out of the cage, haul out, and dispose of.
• Wood pellets break down into sawdust when wet. Most of the time, the sawdust will be on the bottom of the cage and pellets will remain on top. But not always. Sawdust is recognized by the vast majority of cavy people to be unacceptable as bedding.
• While some people will say they have been using wood pellets for bedding with their cavies for years with no problems, wood pellets have not been studied or approved as safe for small animals.
• Clean up is messier. The sawdust at the bottom of the cage when doing a full cleaning is messier to deal with.

• Look for stores that sell wood stoves to find a supplier of wood pellets. They may also be found in home improvement stores.

Wood pellets are very hard. You will probably find you need to add some other bedding in with them or cover them with something else. Guinea pigs simply cannot run well or be comfortable on pure wood pellets. Try mixing in or covering with Aspen shavings or CareFresh.

Some of the things I read above kind of concerned me, So I think carefresh to start off with might be a good idea?

I was actually really surprised by how well the fleece worked as far as odor goes. I've been changing it out about once ever 3-4 days, but since I do my laundry at the communal apartment center, it can go in a separate washing machine that runs at the same time as we do our clothes. And really, is piggy pee any worse than a kid who wets the bed or his pants?

I used CareFresh with aspen for a ver short time, but since I never had just CareFresh, I'm not sure how that would work out. It's definitely a lot more pricey than the aspen or fleece.

No, It wouldn't bother me to wash the fleece, but to others in my household they wouldn't be thinking the same And bringing this Pet into our household we all have to be on the same page for things to work.
I don't mind to pay more for Carefresh if it works like it says it does. But, I honestly can't do the smell of the Pine Bedding lol I remember being younger when we got a hamster using Pine Shavings and coming home to our whole house smelling like those shavings. Not the Urine/Poop but the actual shavings themselves, just something I personally never liked. I have met people that I can smell the Pine Shaving smell on them and automatically know they have some sort of small pet.

Fleece!!!!!! Uhaul blankets underneath

Where did you find that post about pellets? That's not my experience at all.

For starters, my cage is more than twice as large as the one mentioned there, and one sack of pellets per cleaning does just fine.

Second, the only time/place in my cage the pellets turn to sawdust is when the pigs have been playing with the water bottle. I stick a small dust pan in there, scoop the wet sawdust out, and re-spread the pellets out under the bottle.

The cleanup is NOT messier -- I have far fewer poops and pieces of hay all over the living room than I did when I was using fleece, and don't have to spend ANY time trying to get the hay and hair off of fleece before I can wash it.

It doesn't matter to me whether you use fleece, or carefresh, or pellets, or whatever is safe and works well for you pigs. But since you're copying and posting that quote from another website, you need to include your source. I'd really like to see the whole original website, as I agree with very little of what that poster said.

I got the Above post from THIS Website.

hmm, wonder where my post went. Hang on I will post the link to the post I did have on there.
Bedding <--- click on the bedding link.

SCROLL DOWN to the "WOOD PELLETS" Part.

Thanks, knj240.

Have you had any experience with Aspen shavings? Aspen is almost completely odorless and does a good job at odor control. I just spot clean daily (the pee pee corners) and change out the bedding completely every 4 or 5 days. So far, my 2 piggies 2x4 cage has never smelled. To me, Carefresh (especially the non-bleached brown variety) has an awful smell, but it doesn't seem to bother most people.

ETA: If I were you, I would just experiment with different bedding types until you find the perfect one that suits both you and your piggy(hopefully piggies).

I know it's from here because I wrote it quite a while ago. I tried wood pellets in some of my cages. As I've mentioned in another post, I found them extremely heavy to deal with, not overly conducive to a good cage-cleaning experience.

But, it's all trade-offs. There are no magic bedding answers.

Also, fyi, my comparison was to shavings not to fleece.

lol I didn't mean for this thread to get so out of hand, I am just trying to learn like everyone else
As far as bedding I am going to try your advice and experiment.
I went to tractor supply and opened the Carefresh bedding just a tiny bit enough to smell it and it smelled like just cardboard and the consistency Felt like cardboard. They also have the WHITE ultra carefresh which I did not open but wondering if it doesnt have that cardboard smell.

I of course can handle Some smell, They are animals who use the bathroom in their own living area so I know it will never be completely smell free but the bedding to me makes that huge difference and I just don't like the shavings. I am going to try the carefresh and take your advice piggypuppylove and try different Beddings til we find the right one for us.
Thanks for all your help!

Since you're going to try different beddings, do try wood pellets at least once. They're the only bedding I've tried in two years that doesn't smell at all, even after two weeks (that's in a big cage, mind you -- a smaller one might not get as much mileage). Even my husband, who has the world's most sensitive nose, has commented on the lack of odor.

knj240 said:

I got the Above post from THIS Website.

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Great research knj240 I saw that same post too and that's the same reason I did not go with the wood. I have fleece on half of my cage. The other part, where my kitchen is has paper pellets from Petco. It's for guinea pigs and other small animals and it has gotten great reviews on odor absorbency and easy clean up. It does not pop out of the cage like other litter.

@bpatters - I think that you would enjoy the paper pellets as well. You mentioned that the wood does not pop out of your cage just like my paper pellets. They are much lighter! You should give it a chance.lol

I'll admit that I'm currently struggling to decide which is worse -- the extra smell from fleece (some people say theirs lasts a week or more, but mine seems to be maybe 2-3 days with no odor -- we're pretty sensitive to smells, though), or the smell of apsen shavings in a litter box! I may have to try pellets...

knj240 said:

lol I didn't mean for this thread to get so out of hand, I am just trying to learn like everyone else
As far as bedding I am going to try your advice and experiment.
I went to tractor supply and opened the Carefresh bedding just a tiny bit enough to smell it and it smelled like just cardboard and the consistency Felt like cardboard. They also have the WHITE ultra carefresh which I did not open but wondering if it doesnt have that cardboard smell.

I of course can handle Some smell, They are animals who use the bathroom in their own living area so I know it will never be completely smell free but the bedding to me makes that huge difference and I just don't like the shavings. I am going to try the carefresh and take your advice piggypuppylove and try different Beddings til we find the right one for us.
Thanks for all your help!

Click to expand...

I currently have a 2x3 cage with one piggy and we use the white carefresh. I smell nothing! It has worked great. I am still trying to get my "routine" of cleaning down as I have only had him a week. Right now I spot clean and scoop out the wet parts and as much poop as I can. I am obviously not getting it all, as it gets mixed up and under the bedding. I am considering switching to fleece but not because the care fresh isn't working...simply because I think it "looks" nicer, is more cost effective and less messy. I did cloth diapers on all my babies but I am still trying to figure out the best to use in this cage before I make the switch