disposing of guinea pig bedding..

[wohmum]

our 4 new lovely guineas are fab ...... but generating an awful lot of poo!

how should i get rid of the soiled bedding? we use newspaper as a base, followed by wood shavings and some hay on top. after 1-2 days there is so much poo hta I need to changeteh whole lot - but what to d owith the old?

i have put a couple of loads in the compost heap but don't want to put too much as i guess it's not ideal - do I just put it i the bin ? not very green for it to go to landfill.

will also put this in ethical living - they may have some ideas..

I've recently changed my gp's bedding to vedtbed.

It's fab. I spot clean the poo everyday, just sweep it out, every five days I take the vetbed out and wash it and stick it on the line, it dries in about 15mins.

Then disinfect the hutch, line with paper, put vetbed back in with some hay and bingo!

Much easier and greener imo than woodshavings and the piggies seem to love their new carpeted home.

I take my bags of guinea pig waste (ie hay) to our local dump because, believe it or not, they take it as 'green' waste - ie it goes into the skip with the garden rubbish.

I'd not heard of vetbed before minniedot - it sounds really good - a lot less messy. Are there any problems with piggies eating it?

Vetbed is usually used for dogs - as bedding, but had a peek on a gp forum ( yes there are quite a few lol ) and quite a lot of people use vetbed for there pigs.

At first I was a bit sceptical, but thought I would give it a go and i'm really pleased, they don't eat it and it just seems cosier yhan woodshavings.

My next question can I shove it in the washing machine with say my towels or is that too slovenly?
Also, does the hay stick badly to it?

Thanks!

no.... just wash it on its own and dont forget to shake off as much as you can off the cover before you put it in the wash

...and put your washing machine through a rinse cycle afterwards and make sure you check the filter regularly!

Ok - thanks

Yes what biglips and whispy said.

Brush all the hay and poo off then a quick wash, hang out, dry and it's ready.

I have used vet bed before but found it a nightmare to wash everything stuck to it got fed up with it and only use it for emergencies now. I wouldn't use wood shavings with pigs anyway but I do use newspaper and then hay on top then just roll the paper up and pop it in a large wheelie bin when the wheelie bin is full I get himself to haul it up to the compost pile.

Guinea pig poop with the newspaper as well makes excellent compost.

However if you have a small composter or small garden I guess vet bed is a good option. If you can put up with the washing (too lazy I am lol) guinea pigs love the comfort of it. Just buy a good few so you have changes. It comes in various colours too.