Bedding Hoping for clarification on bedding for my pigs.

[Ccualumni]

I have two very cute pigs who live in a c&c cage. Boomer and Buster are happy and hungry pigs.

boomer is very shy, but the moment I leave the room he gets right to eating. Buster wants your attention when bringing out the food as he expects me to give him some food instead of waiting for me to put it down. Shake any bag in the room and he expects you to pull food out of it.

For my bedding questions:

we have a c&c cage with a kitchen and a 2nd story. The pigs love the 2nd story and the kitchen.

I have fleece, but it always smelled even after we washed it with vinegar. I switched to the wood chips and paper bedding recommended here and it works very well. The problem is that I change it constantly so it is a great deal of work and gets a bit expensive.

I tried the horse pellet bedding, but the store is 45 minutes away and the bag I bought had a strong smell to it. I still have it and am hoping it will air out, but I am too worried it will smell too bad for them. I recently put a piece of fleece on top of the wood chips, but they all stuck to Teh fleece so it was a pain to get the chips off.

I was hopijg to put the fleece fleece on top of the pellets maybe, it it is too long of a drive to go to the horse store each time I need a bag.

What is the best bedding for my pigs and what is the easiest to manage? They sell pellets at Petsmart, should I put them down with fleece over them? I watched a few videos on the pellets and it looks like the pigs Pee on it and you just move the pellets around and leave it in the cage. I would think you would take out the used stuff and when the guy stirred the pellets, it looked mostly like dirt. Is that really what the pigs like?

Any suggestions for what to use? Fleece with something under it for the smell, just the wood chips and paper bedding, maybe the pellets?

Thank you

 

[equinox96]

Hi, I know you wrote this a little while back but in case you are still looking for a solution...

The trick with fleece is that you need something absorbent under it. Fleece is great since it wicks pee away and dries really quickly IF used with wood pellets or cotton padding like uhaul or zorb. On it's own, it does nothing but create a mess and a risk of skin infections like urine scald and bumblefoot to name a few.

To wash liners (fleece + absorbent layer + fleece) you need to use

- unscented laundry detergent

- bleach can be added for really messy or smelly liners

- baking soda can be added to soften water and help detergent

- vinegar can be used ONLY IN THE RINCE cycle since it eliminates soap

- never use fabric softener in the wash or dryer or it will prevent fleece from wicking

If you have any questions, don't hesitate. I have been making liners for a very long time and have quite a bit of experience

 

[Ccualumni]

Equinox, thank you for the response. The fleece we purchased had an absorbent pad in the middle, but it always s,Ellen even after washing it. We tried using vinegar and a laundry booster for pet smells. If we let them sit for awhile after washing and drying, they didn’t smell as bad. The room would smell though.

I now use the aspen chips chips and shredded paper unscented that I get at the pet store. I go through a ton of it each week (seems like it), and I was hoping for an easier solution.

I put the fleece on top on top of the aspen chips, but they stick to the fleece. It smelled better, but it took forever to get the chips off the fleece. I drove almost an hour to get the horse bedding pellets, but when I got home, the scent was too strong and I was worried it would hurt my pigs so I threw it out.

 

[bpatters]

You can use very hot water, strong detergent, and lots of bleach with fleece. The stuff is nearly indestructible. That may help with the odor.