Guinea pig stinky bedding

[dontstopmenow]

Hello all you veteran piggie owners. I'm hoping you can help me out, we have just become the proud owners of two girl guinea pigs. They are young so live inside. I am struggling with the smell of the cage and the quantity of used bedding I have to dispose of.
I have tried using a thick layer of wood shavings all over cage which was the best for minimising smells but creates stacks of waste and our bin gets full up of our waste without adding in theirs.
I then tried lots of newspapers on floor of cage and paper bedding on top for sleeping on which was very smelly with all the wee and I was changing it twice a day.
I know that I wouldn't be able to cope with the upkeep of fleece bedding so please can anyone advise on what works best for indoor piggies??!!
Thank you so much in advance!!

I use a paper based litter called 'back to nature'. It doesn't smell at all.

Also, what are you feeding them. They tend to smell of what you feed them, so if you're giving them lots of cabbage, that's what they'll smell of.

I use newspaper with a layer of wood shavings and some hay.

If I feed ours cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower they absolutely stink!

I have two boars (boys) who live indoors. I find wood shavings just don't work very well and can make their feet sore. Newspaper is fine as a layer underneath the bedding layer but isn't great as an only layer. I like Carefresh or other paper type bedding. I use the Back 2 Nature one here. I have a big indoor cage for the pigs and change the bedding once a week with full cleanout with changing their wee corner bedding every other day.

Oh yes, they have unsophisticated digestive systems and so stinky veg - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc will give them heinous piggy pops.
Our pigs live in DD's room and so we do the stinky veg thing in small quantities (though make sure they get plenty of vitamin c through other veg. Fresh spinach doesn't seem to give them awful guffs, green veg wise).

Thank you so much for your replies! Well.. That explains it. Our piggies favourite foods seem to be broccoli stalks, green beans and cabbage with the occasional sprout thrown in for good measure! Maybe we should try carrots instead! I'll try the back to nature bedding next then!

As for disposal, I take mine to the tip once a week or every other week as our bin fills up with our own waste. We have room to store it outside of the house and so it doesn't hang around the house for a week or so, stinking up the place.

I use hemp bedding from zooplus which is £15.90 for 150l. That bedding from pets at home looks horrifically expensive.

To take waste to dump is certainly an option, I will give it a try. I thought I was doing it all wrong to have soooo much waste from two little animals!!

What shall I give them to eat then if not stinky foods?!!

I buy it from a cheaper supplier and pay half the price which is perfectly fine for my needs but might be v expensive if you lots of cages/hutches to do.

Loads of hay, the food type hay (not bedding type), greener the better (green = fresh and tasty).

guide here from RSPCA with feeding guide

Be careful of too many carrots as the sugar can make them fat. Spinach and Kale are good and not smelly.

If you have a garden bin, you can put the B2N bedding in that, poo's and all. I checked with our bin men. I also put the very pooey bits in the compost bin.

There's two kinds of hay??? Mine just get hay in a bag I bought off amazon. Have I been short changing them on hay too??!!
Thanks for feeding guide. I shall read and learn.

I just chuck used bedding in the borders in the garden ( gerbils not piggies but when we piggy sit that's what I do).

Am I doing it wrong? It's hay/ shavings/ carefresh mixed and I thought it'll mulch the beds fine.

I use lots of hay too. Thanks for that link. I only use one hayrack so need to sort that. Mine pick the pellets out of the muesli stuff but I'll change the dried too.

Theas - it's great on the garden. I do that with the soggy bedding hay and dig it in in the spring.

I just use newspaper in their indoor cage with hay in their houses. I clean them out every other day by rolling it up and shoving it in the bin. My bin is predominantly full of pig paper . They're only in their cage at night though so it doesn't get too bad. During the day they are in their indoor pen in the conservatory. I put old towels down in that and have a haybox. The towels are shaken out on the lawn every couple of days and then thrown in the wash. During the summer they go out in the day so it's much easier. Once a month I steam clean their indoor cage, otherwise I wipe it out every week with a vinegar/lemon juice solution.

It's the best, easiest and cheapest system I found and I tried a lot of options.

I've tried flipping everything I can think of , but I've come to the conclusion that sows just pee more

We use a wood based cat litter (in a huge yellow sack, from The Range) that is suitable for rodenty types. I've seen it used in rabbit cages , they make a nice indentation to sleep in, but as bunnys use a litter area, it stays clean, unlike guineas . It breaks down to a bran type texture when wet, and I scoop the grubby bits. They have newspaper and fleece with a couple of hay cookies indoors (loose hay got all over the hall )

Woodshavings can be sharp, and be aware that some beding can irritate GPs respiratory systems, their faces are right in their bedding.

Make sure they have water on offer all the time (even if they turn their snouts up) strong wee can be a symptom of dehydration

We use finacard,which is a shredded cardboard bedding, topped with hay. I clean out every three to four days, they don't smell at all. Once a week I use a pet safe disinfectant on the hutches.

I always do extra tip runs to take the waste bedding away though. With four pigs, two hutches and only fortnightly rubbish collections we would very quickly get over run with guinea pig rubbish if I didn't.

Fleece!

I use fleece on the bottom, with a layer of either newspaper or puppy pads underneath. You can spot clean this daily by poop scooping and then change the fleece every 3-4 days.

You can also buy fleece liners that are made by sewing some absorbant stuff inside two layers of fleece, that can just be taken out and put in washing machine.

I have had guineas for a year now and own 9 at the mo who are in a massive pen. It works out cheaper for us to use fleece but I like shavings to be honest as you can sprinkle a little more over the damp bit if no time to do a full clean out. But I've just ordered a fleece cage liner for my pen which should be ready in a few days :)

Means I just put the liner in, add all their toys etc and spot clean daily, then 3-4 days later take the liner out, chuck in washing machine and put back in when dry.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=fleece+cage+liners+for+guinea+pigs&safe=off&biw=1517&bih=741&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=8mTwVJ7cJMHaUpnAgtgF&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&dpr=0.9

Some ideas!

We feed ours Ready Grass, which is horse food, freeze dried grass. They adore it, they much prefer it to hay.
It's in a big bag, I think it costs @£12 but that lasts our 4 piggies months. It doesn't spoil when opened.

I had piggies till recently, and used megazorb ( from the hay experts website). It's wood based, dust free and pretty good value.

readi-grass made one of my pigs sneeze !

it has a lovely malty like smell and mine much prefer it to those bags of herby grass (you know the ones that P@H sell with carrot and camomile or dandelion. Very dry , not much aroma)

Be careful with EQUINE foods and pigs. In theory, pigs'n'horses have quite similar digestive systems (can't vomit, prone to bloaty bellies if they aren't fed properly and designed to eat fairly constantly ) but some horse feed is slightly damp.
Fine for horses who eat loads.
Grows mould if it's kept too long after opening, lethal for piggies.

I read on a website (can't remember where) that some guinea-pig owners use cheap kitchen paper shredded for bedding. My piggies have their own shredder (confetti cut not long strips cut)

So I bought some cheapie (Sainsburys own brand basic one) kitchen paper.
It didn't feed into the shredder (too soft)

So I sandwiched it inside newspaper . It shredded , but too for ever and the kitchen paper went really fluffy.

An hour of my life I won't get back

We use wood shavings and straw/hay but they also have a willow house which they tend to sleep in....and eat periodically so we have to replace every couple of months!

I've only noticed them smelling when I'm lax about cleaning them out.

I tend to refer to this list for foods" www.happycavy.com/what-we-eat/

They love lettuce, kale and cavilo nero (not that there's ever much of that left over after we've eaten our fill!!)

They tend to eat carrot shavings more readily than sliced or whole carrots, not sure why.