How many L of Aspen per 2x4 CC cage?

[Cupcake]

Hi all,

I'm going on vacation and I'm switching from 100% Carefresh to ideally 100% Aspen for the two weeks I'm away (with my two best friends watching the piggies). To make it as easy as possible for my friends and as comfy as possible for my pigs, I scheduled 7 full cage changes during the two weeks. I normally buy 50 L bags of Carefresh and use ~35-40 L per full cage change. I bought two 2.2 cu ft. (113 L) bags of Premier Pet Aspen because that's all they had; I would have preferred a third to feel reasonably confident that it would cover 7 full changes.

For those of you who use Aspen bedding and/or have a 2x4 CC cage, approximately how many liters do you think you use per full cage change? The bag says that the 2.2 cu ft. expand to 5 cu ft., but as I've never used it before, I have no idea whether or not I can rely on that claim.

Thanks for enduring my rambler of a 1st post... I can't wait to see your responses!*

Jessie



*P.S. I love this site and consider it a veritable bible of Cavy care, so much so that I preach the bigger-is-better philosophy, recite the minimum cage size requirements from the home page, and actively encourage customers to forgo even the largest cages we carry at the pet store where I work in favor of CC standards (out of earshot of my boss, of course ). Really, you have no idea how many times I've borrowed the phrase "glorified litter box" since finding this site several months ago.

 

[pennick]

I use the same size aspen for a 2x4 cage. I have 2 piggies. I line the bottom with newspapers and then the shavings. I use approx. 1/3 of the bag and I change the bedding every 2 weeks.

7 full changes in 2 weeks is quite alot. Why do you have to change it so many times. I can see once a week. Thats changing your cage every other day. Is this correct? or am I reading your post wrong.

 

[Cupcake]

'Tis correct: once every other day. I feel guilty not changing it more often---my pigs don't believe in wet spots or potty corners. I also didn't always change this often before my pigs had a case of mites a few months ago. Absolutely infuriating... nothing can make a cavy lover anal about cleaning like a good case of mites *grumble*

Like I said, I don't normally do full changes every other day; but then, I use spot cleaning as bonding time because I make it my goal to get every single dropping I find. I consider the wet spots the bigger issue, but beyond that, I really do sit there and sift through everything. I can't ask my friends to do that, but I'm afraid to let them go more than a day between cleanings. I suppose I can tell them to go after wet spots... now that I think about it, one of my best friends grew up riding horses with me, so she can zero in on a wet spot from a mile away.

I think I'll try using newspaper underneath bedding as well; being able to roll up most of the bedding instead of scooping it out with a dust pan could definitely shave a lot of time (and back ache) off of the process. I'd read about the newspaper method when I first visited the site, but never really understood how it differed significantly from the 'regular' way. I really like to make things difficult for myself, apparently.

I'm starting to feel more relieved already... thank you for offering your perspective, pennick!

 

[pennick]

In the beginning I changed it every week. Any wet spots I just grab some shavings from a dry area and drop it on the wet spots. I do this daily. Also when I put the shavings in I try to put extra in the areas I know they will wet more. I find when I change the shavings most of the areas are pretty dry and all I was doing was wasting good shavings. It is very strenuous on your back . I have back problems and it can take about 1 hour and one half to clean my cage out and it hurts the body. So the longer I can go without cleaning the cage the better for me. I do have the hay in a separate area and I do have 3 levels so all this helps.

Good luck.

 

[Cupcake]

Sounds like a good system... I'll see how things went with the Aspen after I get back.

It's funny, but I've never been this fastidious about anything in my life. Nor have I been any kind of "neat freak"--- my mom jokes that the pigs' cage is always the cleanest, neatest thing in my room. Go figure.