guinea pig bedding

[lmgakg]

I have a friend with guinea pigs and she knows how wonderfully I always speak of this group...so she asked that I ask a question for her. She really wants to get a cheaper bedding for her guinea pigs, she has two of them and is buying some pet store stuff for the bedding but it's outrageous. I suggested the wood pellets I use for my rabbits, but she said she read that that is not good for rodents because they will eat it. My aunt always used wood shavings that she bought in a pet store as guinea pig bedding and never had a problem with her pig. Does anyone have any other ideas or thoughts????

Thanks!
Lisa

[Unosmom]

Its been a while since I had my guinea pig, but I always used pine shavings with no issues, back in the day it was like $10 for a huge bag at walmart, but I'm sure its more now. Make sure its not cedar shavings which can cause allergic reactions and respiratory issues.
I think ideally I'd use carefresh, but it was always pretty pricy. Maybe its possible to find a supplier that sells it in bulk because I know some people use them for horses and buy them in larger quantities. Another good option is aspen bedding since it doesent have those aromatic oils that cedar does, not sure how much it costs though.

Maybe send her this link since it looks like they have a sale on bulk paper bedding and free shipping on orders over $50

http://www.petco.com/product/3370/Ca...t-Bedding.aspx

[AveryandAudrey]

I have a guinea pig and i used Carefresh brand. Aspen wood bedding in good. Do not used Cedar nor pine. those are very bad for them and cause nasal infections. Tell her to check out cavycages.com. (sorry if I cant reference to other forums on her, I'm not sure)

[swolek]

I know a lot of guinea pig owners who use fleece bedding (sometimes with old towels underneath for extra absorbency). Droppings get shaken out and the fleece gets thrown in the wash (so you'd probably want at least two sets of bedding).

My sister uses Carefresh but it's not cheap. Aspen shavings are cheap but they get everywhere, ugh!

[swolek]

Oh, and here's a link with pros and cons for different bedding types: Guinea Lynx :: Bedding

The website in general is very useful :). I hope it helps.

[lmgakg]

Thank you all very much!!!!

Lisa

[Caty M]

I use pine and then fleece in their hut. I want to see if I can get cheap paper bedding from a horse supplier- I'm sure it would be cheaper than $15 for a tiny bag of it!

[naturalfeddogs]

​Carefresh is really a good one. I use it for our ferrets and it really controls odor as well.

[Huginn]

You can always try the recycled paper pellets. They do not contain the aromatic oils that the pine pellets do (which can cause respiratory infections), are much cheaper and environmentally friendly. A lot of feed stores will also carry recycled paper strips in much larger quantities for a better price. If she buys the recycled paper pellets from the cat litter section they are much cheaper than they are in the small animal section of the store (I recommend this to my customers daily).

[Little Brown Jug]

At work we use Cozy n Fresh. Best stuff ever, does a real good job at controlling odour. We also use Boxo, again awesome at control odour way better then that shaving garbage. Its pricey but you don't use as much or have to change it as often. plus with the cozy n fresh there is a frequent buyer program.