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Cage various cage questions (loft, hay, etc)

chickpea222

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
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Joined
Jan 23, 2018
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I have been researching loft/hay/kitchen stuff for hours and my head is spinning! There's so much good info out there, yet I can't decide what to do. Here's our situation:


1) just ordered a 2x5 C&C cage with wide loft (2x2) from the Cages store (yay!) Still waiting for it to arrive, but trying to plan ahead.


2) In our current 2x4 setup, I have a kitchen area that I made with leftover coroplast -- contains a vertical hay rack made from leftover cage, water, pellets, and CareFresh bedding


3) Thinking of using the loft area as a "hay room" and relax space -- ended up ordering fleece flippers for the loft area because we use fleece flippers already and thought it was a good idea (plus daughter really wanted fleece up there, lol


So here are some random questions:
First, the kitchen: as I said, I use Carefresh on top of coroplast and clean daily. The pigs mostly pee and poop in there (and their sleeping area), so it does keep the mess nice and contained. However, Carefresh is expensive (!) and I keep reading about all these other alternatives (Yesterday's News litter, newspapers, wood chips - and if so, what kind?, etc.). If you have a kitchen area, what do you use there?

Second, the loft: I'm thinking we are going to use it for a hay/relax area - so do I just dump hay on top of the fleece? I see people using plastic storage box with an entrance cut to kinda form a hay room - do you just throw hay in that thing, or do you need something on the bottom? I'm guessing you should have something there - if so, what?

Third, food: currently we have 3 pigs. Two are in the 2x4, and another one that we got 3 weeks ago is still in the quarantine cage (but looking forward to the big introduction when we get the big cage). The new pig is on a different pellet brand/formula than the older pigs. When they are all housed together, how can I keep their food straight? I don't think the little one should get to their adult pellets yet....

thanks for reading my long post.....thoughts??
 

bpatters

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Wood pellets are great for odor control, and cheap. You want the kind that have no accelerant added, and that have no strong pine odor. You do NOT want pellets for grilling -- they're way too expensive. If you can find horse stall bedding, that's perfect.

Feed them all the same thing, and take the baby out for a sprig or two of parsley a day.

I hope they're not three boars -- the chances of that succeeding are slim and none.
 

chickpea222

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Cavy Slave
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Jan 23, 2018
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Joined
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Nope, not boars! :) So for clarification, are you saying get the little one on the adult food? I use the Oxbow for the big pigs, but the little one came with a brand called "Sunseed". And do you have to do a gradual switchover (like cats)?

And where do you buy those wood pellets?

thanks so much!
 
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