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Wood Pellets/Chips Trying out wood pellets and vetbed

Squibbles

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Glad the post is useful to some. If you are OCD you would go nuts about the hay, it's so difficult to sweep up off the vet bed and my handheld vacuum doesn't pick up hay well at all, even off of a hard surface. You would definitely need a creative kitchen set up or maybe a 1x2 fleece under your hay racks that gets changed more often.

There is still no wetness anywhere at anytime, or bunching with vacuuming or sweeping, and no smell.

It?s awesome that there is no wetness at any point! I?m super excited to try this. Is there any odor at all?

I hay set up in 2 corners of the enclosure and it never leaves those areas. My girls are extremely neat piggies! Although I do clean twice per day in those spots because that is also where they like to potty and their hideys are there as well.


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Marie1234

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It?s awesome that there is no wetness at any point! I?m super excited to try this. Is there any odor at all?

I hay set up in 2 corners of the enclosure and it never leaves those areas. My girls are extremely neat piggies! Although I do clean twice per day in those spots because that is also where they like to potty and their hideys are there as well.


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There is a very mild wood smell from the wood pellets under the vet bed, no smell from the vet bed at all. Full disclosure though that I have a HEPA air filter in the room with them and have since the first week I was given the piggies. With the air filter I could smell a barn smell around day 4 with shavings and day 5-6 with carefresh.
 

Squibbles

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There is a very mild wood smell from the wood pellets under the vet bed, no smell from the vet bed at all. Full disclosure though that I have a HEPA air filter in the room with them and have since the first week I was given the piggies. With the air filter I could smell a barn smell around day 4 with shavings and day 5-6 with carefresh.

I have never used an air filter before. Does it generally eliminate odors? I feel dumb asking this but I really do not know. If it does then I could see how it would skew the results.


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Marie1234

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I have never used an air filter before. Does it generally eliminate odors? I feel dumb asking this but I really do not know. If it does then I could see how it would skew the results.


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Yes the air filter does help with smell and I run it 24/7. I can turn it off for the last 2-3 days and see if I smell anything and let you know. I could definitely still smell something when they were on bedding.
 

Squibbles

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Yes the air filter does help with smell and I run it 24/7. I can turn it off for the last 2-3 days and see if I smell anything and let you know. I could definitely still smell something when they were on bedding.

That would be so awesome if it would not be too much trouble for you! I have no reason to buy and air filter and I certainly would not want to get one just for cage odor control lol. Right now I have never noticed any odor from their area except fresh hay every now and then.


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spy9doc

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Would be so much work to take all the animals out first though so still not sure if it would be frightening. Did you say whether it is very loud?

Yes, it is loud! My boys are so accustomed to the sound that they don't mind it. Sometimes when i'm doing a thorough clean of the cage, the boys sit on a towel in my desk chair nearby. You will note that there is a brush on the end of the vac (it is folded under in the pic) that I always keep extended to avoid having the vac suck up the fleece. I will playfully vacuum the boys' backs and their butts and they not only tolerate it, but Sparky seems to enjoy the experience.....but then, he loves to be brushed. I don't recommend that you do this, but I relate my experience just to illustrate that it really depends on your cavies and how trusting they are. lol
 

spy9doc

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I will look into it thanks! Mine is a black and decker 15$ job I found at Walmart. It works well enough on everything BUT the poop. It smashes it into what ever surface it is on whether fleece or tile.

As I mentioned in my other post, there is the small brush on the end that flips up to an extended position. The brush makes a difference in the way the vac works. I use it for most cage duties but you probably want to experiment with it for yourself to see which position works best for you.
 

dawnmb57

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Yes, it is loud! My boys are so accustomed to the sound that they don't mind it. Sometimes when i'm doing a thorough clean of the cage, the boys sit on a towel in my desk chair nearby. You will note that there is a brush on the end of the vac (it is folded under in the pic) that I always keep extended to avoid having the vac suck up the fleece. I will playfully vacuum the boys' backs and their butts and they not only tolerate it, but Sparky seems to enjoy the experience.....but then, he loves to be brushed. I don't recommend that you do this, but I relate my experience just to illustrate that it really depends on your cavies and how trusting they are. lol
Well mine are timid rescue Piggies still getting used to me so I don't think they would like having their backs vacuumed! LOL! But I don't know that they would mind a noise in their pen since we vacuum around their pen a lot. I think I will try it. And they have two floors so they can move to where I am not vacuuming if they want to.

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Marie1234

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Done. It will be good for me to know too...
 

Marie1234

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My 'brand name's vet bed came today. It does feel a little different than the cheaper eBay stuff, it's got a lower pile but it's more dense .
 

spy9doc

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And they have two floors so they can move to where I am not vacuuming if they want to.

My Chip is a timid, highly-excitable little boy and he adjusted just fine. I usually vacuum before I feed them so they associate it with the possibility that food will follow. Sparky will usually stay on the level where I'm vacuuming but Chip scampers to the loft until I'm finished. They have become more comfortable with time and generally just move to the opposite end of the cage until I'm finished.

BTW, I'm eager to know about this VetBed method. Please do keep us posted.
 

Squibbles

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What do you mean by a lower pile?
 

Marie1234

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Day 7 and no wetness or funky smell, just the smell of the wood pellets and hay. Can't get the hay up off the vetbed though, so it looks messy now. I will post pictures of the cage from this morning (Day 7) when I had the piggies out for floor time.
20180106_102745.jpg20180106_102738.jpg
 

Marie1234

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Cage cleaning day (1 full week). No smell around the cage but I got a wiff of something funky when removing the vetbed. The vetbed was still dry on top everywhere. I have attached a pic of the wood pellets underneath and you can see where my leaky water bottle was....
I shook out and brushed the vet bed and then vacuumed it with a shop vac in my basement. It still has lots of hay imbedded. I will update as to how it washes.
IMG_20180107_085438067.jpg
And here is my new kitchen set up with the brand name vetbed:
IMG_20180107_090441667.jpg
I just have to add some carefresh to the kitchen which I will pick up later this morning from the pet store. Right now the piggies are having floor time.
 

Squibbles

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Seems like it is working out well! Except for the difficulty of getting the hay up. I like the pattern of the new vetbed. It?s really cute [emoji5]. This is the one that you said seemed to be a better quality right? I wonder if it will last even longer... 7 days is pretty awesome!
 

Marie1234

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So the brand name vetbed was better with hay as it's denser and the hay stayed on top instead of getting down into it. Both types washed well and dry quickly. I had my leaky water bottle leak about a half bottle into the cage one day and the vetbed was still bone dry on top (don't worry I always have at least 2 bottles on the cage and usually 3). I had to stir around the wood pellets though as the pellets had to absorb so much water it swelled and created a hill under the water bottle beneath the vet bed. The wood pellets can absorb a ridiculous amount of liquid. Cage is smell free.
 

Squibbles

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Great! I just got 3 yards of fleece in the other day and was going to order more for extra liners but I think I am convinced to try this method. It?s frustrating having to layer towels then fleece. My setup is kind of oddly shaped which is what makes it so annoying to deal with.

I would think that placing the pellets and then just putting the vetbed on top would be a bit quicker. Also I really like the fact that it is dry under the water bottle. I have little pads under mine right now but I have to secure them or they get shuffled around in the cage.
 

Marie1234

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It's quick and easy. I can imagine clean out of the pellets will be a little messy but seeing as it's a rare occurrence it should be fine. I would highly recommend a kitchen set up for hay containment, mine is working out great.
 

Squibbles

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The pellets do not have to be changed weekly though correct? I though I read a post by [MENTION=13820]bpatters[/MENTION] that said something like 6 or 8 weeks? I could be wrong though. My memory is not all that great lol.
 
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