Guinea Pig bedding

[Flojobunny]

Mine (3 of, indoors) have been on shavings for the past 12 months, whilst trying to find out if I can put them on shredded paper (bought a shredder, and getting much joy out of finding things to shred!), I discovered shavings seem to be a bad idea. So what do yours use? I tried fleece but as my cage is huge it was a nightmare to wash.

We have tried shavings, care fresh, newspaper, hay and fleece. Without a doubt the best thing we've tried is megazorb. We buy it from a farm shop. Found it by googling megazorb stockists. It's £7.50 for a huge sack.

I use a bath sheet size towel over a couple of layers of newspaper. It's very clean and tidy and I've noticed the pigs have started to make poo and wee corners whereas in shavings they just did it anywhere. I use a fresh towel everyday (pick up poos around 7pm so they have a comfy night and change in the morning) and both my house and pigs smell lovely all the time. In my outside cage I use shavings and I think they enjoy the contrast. I can't find megazorb in Germany or I would probably try that. I used straw pellets over newspaper for a while but it gave one pig dry skin on his feet and was awful to clean out. And so heavy to lug in and out of the car etc.

I have a Rex and when I used fleece it made my kitchen stink when I machine and clogged up with fur so never again. I will google megazorb. Is it like a litter?

I use a vetbed fleece over newspaper at their "bedroom" end, and vigorously brush off the debris when I change it (and wash by putting it inside a pillow case tied up with a hair band to keep the stuff from clogging the washing machine, then run it "loose" through the tumble dryer, which picks up the debris in the filter.)

But for most of the cage, I just use hay over newspaper. The hay actually has a lovely smell!

hay over newspaper for us too...

We just fill the "bed" part of their hutch to the top - loosely- with hay, and we put a pile of shavings under it in "pee corner"

Hay and newspaper (changed daily or every 2 days if they've been in the run all day depending how messy they've been), It takes a couple of minutes to roll up and replace.

Cardboard under the newspaper and rubber mats (away from little teeth) under that.

I've tried Megazorb/fleeces/shredded paper.

All have merits.
But in the end, my boys parked themselves in hay. That's what they wanted.
I have tried fleece in the big haybox and hay in a 50litre trug (with a door cut)
They ignored the fleece and crammed themselves into the trug. Looked like two little RSPCA cases looking up but it was their choice.

Newspaper and hay are fine. Megazorb is really great if you can get it. I just bought a bag of Back to Nature small animal bedding in Pets at home at a whopping £17! This was because the farm shop selling Megazorb was shut today, and we'd run out of newspaper. It had better be good stuff.