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My bedding story, finally found the perfect solution!

bpatters

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Nothing will make pee burns on the coroplast -- that stuff is nearly indestructible.
 

icicle

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Hi everyone! I'm new -- haven't introduced myself since my daughter hasn't got her piggies yet -- but I'm excited to read and follow this thread. It seems like a perfect solution for us too when we finally adopt. I've done cloth diapers so I had an idea what fleece and uHaul pads might be like and I was a bit hesitant to commit to that level of laundry. Hardwood pellets are easy to find and relatively cheap here in Vermont -- just found a bag yesterday for $6/35lbs -- and it would fit into our busy life so much better. One small load a week of fleece covers, pads, hidey's etc. is completely do-able.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing and I hope people do keep updating their experiences with pellets as it's incredibly helpful to us newbies/wannabes.
 

Lord Pigwidgeon

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I've had mine a couple days now and I absolutely love it!! Easy to sweep up, easy to shake the fleece out, and no smell!
 

lost_lover

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I am tempted to give this a try, after my move of course. Not sure how easily I will find wood pellets in south Florida though .
 

Lord Pigwidgeon

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Any feed stores should have them, I'd call around and ask for feed stores nearby [MENTION=30351]lost_lover[/MENTION]
 

lost_lover

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I will call up the one that I use. They are not far but not really on the way to anywhere.
 

pigger123

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I realized that I miscounted the number of weeks, so sorry! It's actually just 4 weeks tomorrow. I'm going to change them tomorrow, and I'll update how it goes. I could definitely go longer since there's still very little smell and a lot of whole pellets left, but I want to try changing them out.
 

pigger123

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And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! (dun dun dunnnn......)

I did a full cleaning. Scooped out all the wood pellets, swept the coroplast, and put new pellets in. It was actually relatively easy to scoop out the pellets and sweep up the dust (there was a lot of dust, which could be a problem if you have asthma or something), but the hard part was disposing of them. I had been dumping them into a trash can lined with a regular garbage bag as I was scooping them out, but the problem was that the pellets were so heavy that once it was full I couldn't take out the bag without it just stretching and tearing. So I had to get my dad to carry the whole trash can filled with about 40lbs of wood pellets (I only fit half the cage into the bag) outside and dump it in the woods behind my house. Then I scooped out the other half and had him dump that out. Fortunately, my dad didn't mind! I swept out all the dust and leftover pellets, and poured in 2 fresh bags of pellets, and voila!

So they are very heavy, and it's dusty when you're scooping them out, but all I'm all I think it's worth it and I think I'm going to stick with this bedding. After all, this doesn't need to be done very often. I may possibly try fleece bedding (but probably not flippers) again at some point, but for now this is working well for me.
 

zsguineamom

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And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! (dun dun dunnnn......)

I did a full cleaning. Scooped out all the wood pellets, swept the coroplast, and put new pellets in. It was actually relatively easy to scoop out the pellets and sweep up the dust (there was a lot of dust, which could be a problem if you have asthma or something), but the hard part was disposing of them. I had been dumping them into a trash can lined with a regular garbage bag as I was scooping them out, but the problem was that the pellets were so heavy that once it was full I couldn't take out the bag without it just stretching and tearing. So I had to get my dad to carry the whole trash can filled with about 40lbs of wood pellets (I only fit half the cage into the bag) outside and dump it in the woods behind my house. Then I scooped out the other half and had him dump that out. Fortunately, my dad didn't mind! I swept out all the dust and leftover pellets, and poured in 2 fresh bags of pellets, and voila!

So they are very heavy, and it's dusty when you're scooping them out, but all I'm all I think it's worth it and I think I'm going to stick with this bedding. After all, this doesn't need to be done very often. I may possibly try fleece bedding (but probably not flippers) again at some point, but for now this is working well for me.

Thanks for sharing your clean up experience. It doesn't sound too bad and maybe it's something I will implement next summer. Our cage is on the second floor and I cannot imagine carrying the trash bin outside in the VT winter to dump, though it's only once a month at most. Arrgh when I think about it I go back and forth. I guess I am in a rhythm of sweeping and changing and washing and I don't really mind it. Plus I just got a sewing machine and I am so into sewing fleece flippers and all the other accessories. But thanks SO much for the update. I actually like the idea of just dumping everything in the woods behind our house as well. Here I go again, just can't decide. Maybe someone else can update with their experience.
 

bexta89

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This sounds like such a great idea....I found some wood pellets locally that are $14 for 15kg bag....just need to work out how much I would need for two 2x4 cages. How thick do you have the layer of pellets in the bottom?
 

pigger123

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3 bags would be plenty for 2 2x4s. I use 2 bags in my 2x6, and it makes a layer about 1.5" thick.
 

bexta89

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Cool, thank you :) Now to wait until pay day to get the supplies :D
 

Ash14

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1.

3. I used 2 full 40-pound bags, which each cost $5. That only $10 for a full cage of bedding that I only plan on changing every 6 weeks or so!

.
What brand of wood do you buy and where?
 

sallyvh

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So I just wanted to share my experience with wood pellets.

I purchased just one bag of Canwick hardwood pellets to try in my 2 cages (both are 8sqft). My usual bedding is a mixture of kiln dried spruce and fir with soft aspen shavings on top.

I put the pellets in yesterday evening and topped them with a thin piece of fleece. I realized right away that they were not really going to work for me. The pellets are LOUD! My guinea pigs seemed to enjoy them but with every step it sounded like maracas. I left them in over night to see but they were way too noisy during the night because my pigs are in my bedroom.

I'm a little disappointed because they do work well but the noise was just too much for me. I took out the fleece this afternoon and put a layer of shavings on top of the pellets instead to try because they eliminate the noise.

I'll see how it goes with the shavings but I don't really think I'll be buying pellets anymore.
 

pigger123

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@Ash14 I bought Lignetics hardwood pellets at a local feed store. Any brand of hardwood or kiln-dried softwood pellets will work (you want to make sure they are pure wood without any fire starter added), and they can usually be purchased at feed stores or some home improvement stores like Lowes.
[MENTION=31353]sallyvh[/MENTION] they are really loud for the first few days. Having a thicker piece of fleece on top helps, and they definitely become much quieter as they get peed on and some of them turn into dust, which then packs itself together to muffle the noise and prevent the pellets from moving around as much. Sorry it didn't work for you though!
 

Ash14

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@Ash14 I bought Lignetics hardwood pellets at a local feed store. Any brand of hardwood or kiln-dried softwood pellets will work (you want to make sure they are pure wood without any fire starter added), and they can usually be purchased at feed stores or some home improvement stores like Lowes.

Sorry for all the questions but how do you know if they have a fire starter in it? They have these at the tractor supply here- (broken link removed)
It says the materials are "hardwood" and the fuel type is "hardwood". Do you think that would mean it's clean?
 

pigger123

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Yes, those pellets would be perfect.
 

Ash14

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Thank you!! I will definitely be trying this as soon as I finish my C&C cage tomorrow. I just got my piggie yesterday, new bedding, and it already smells. She came in a tiny little cage (adopted from bad situation) and I'm working on making the new one. She hasn't ate anything either besides hay, which is worrying me, but hoping it's just the stress of moving. She also had a friend there with her that she bonded closely with so I'm sure she's lonely. He was a male though and I didn't want any babies or problems, so I just took her and found someone else to take the little boy. I felt bad separating them but I know it's for the better in the long run.
 

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@pigger123 - 5 of my 7 pigs are burrowers, so I sewed the cage liners where the sides come over the top of the coroplast, and back down the sides... Because of this, getting the fleece in is somewhat of a chore, so I'm thinking it would still be easier if I could vacuum for spot cleaning, rather than removing the fleece and shaking it off. My liners are pretty taut and don't get sucked up into the vacuum when I spot clean, so I don't think that'll be a problem - only issue would be the uneven surface problem. Do you think you could adequately vacuum with the pellets underneath or is that just going to be impossible?

I am going to try it, I think, as soon as I can get to the feed barn to get some pellets. I'm going to have to get horse pellets, because apparently wood stove pellets don't exist in a climate that is still in the low 100s.
 

pigger123

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It's harder to sweep or vacuum when the fleece is just laid down in the cage because it gets moved around, but it should be fairly easy to vacuum if it goes up and over the sides. I actually might try that in the winter so I don't have to shake out fleece in the snow!

If you get horse stall pellets, just make sure they're kiln-dried if they're not softwood. I looked at some horse pellets when I was buying mine and they had a very strong smell.
 
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