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Bedding Wood pellets or uhaul

Piglet333

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So I am thinking of making my cage bigger. I currently have a 2x3 with one skinny pig. I am looking into getting her a buddy and a much bigger cage. I am thinking 2x5 not sire if I should add the loft or not tho. Also I currently use ubaul pads and fleece. I use yesterdays news in her litter box/kitchen. I just keep reading about wood pellets and thought that yesterday’s new was similar but her box smells by the end of the day and I change it every single day and shes only one pig. Are the wood stove pellets that much better than what I am using for smell? I was thinking that doing a cage that hige wouod be a pain to wash the uhaul liners. I also use pee pads under each hidey she has and change those daily, so its a lot of laundry. Any help or advice is always great. The other issue I have is cage placement. Can the grids support a cage with the wood pellets? I have dogs and the cage cannot be on the floor and my house is an open floor plan so I dont have a seperate room to block them out of, thanks
 

bpatters

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I think wood pellets are by far the best. You can use the ones made for wood stoves as long as they don't have any accelerant added and don't smell strongly of pine. You can also use horse stall bedding, which is designed to turn into sawdust when wet -- that makes a smooth floor in the cage that can be swept. And they're cheap -- I had a 16 square foot cage that could last a year on two $8 bags of horse stall bedding.

Grids will support the weight if you put enough under it and cross brace it. I used closet shelving for the bottom of my cage, which made it sturdier and less "bendy."
 

lunarminx

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Go with wood pellets!
 

Demiba

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I use wood pellets under fleece and love the combination. As long as you prepare the fleece by washing/drying several times to remove the waterproofing the urine goes through to the pellets and the poops stay on top so you can sweep them up. I do that every night. I also use wood pellets in the litterbox and the only time that smells is when there is wet hay. I replace the pellets once a week or so in the litter box and the pellets under the fleece last for months!
 

HunterRose13

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This thread is relevant to my interest. I have some fleece over pellet questions. Is one large piece of fleece used or is it sectioned? How often do you change fleece? Is twice a day often enough for sweeping up the fleece between washing?
 

bpatters

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You can do whatever works for you. I always used one large piece.

Twice a day would be fantastic for sweeping. There were whole weeks when I was lucky to get it done once every 2-3 days. But, in my defense, I did have a very large cage, so it didn't get too poopy.
 

Demiba

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You can do whatever works for you. I always used one large piece.

Twice a day would be fantastic for sweeping. There were whole weeks when I was lucky to get it done once every 2-3 days. But, in my defense, I did have a very large cage, so it didn't get too poopy.

I have one large piece of fleece that is totally wrapped around cage and secured with binder clips to the coroplast because my girls are burrowers. Some owners have been successful with just a large piece of fleece placed on top of the pellets. I made a few pee pads by wrapping fleece around a piece of uhaul blanket to put in popular places and it helps me not to have to wash the main fleece for about 2 weeks or so. I love wood pellets.
 
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