help with bedding

I have 2 bunnies in a shed. At the moment they are on newspaper/shavings with lots of hay on top. The amount of hay I throw away is huge. I am allowed 2 wheely bins per fortnight, but even that isn't enough by a long way.

I had tried them with fleeces (they also had 2 underbed storage boxes and a litter tray of hay) and that worked out really well waste-wise. One of the buns has callouses on his back paws, so I went back to newspaper/shavings/hay. Vet said they wouldn't be sore, they are white, skin is unbroken, no pink or red bits. I am trying to persevere with the hay as I feel it would be better for his paws. Would it be ok to go back to fleece or should I stick with the hay?

You could always invest in some large pieces of vetbed which you could then wash. Do they use litter trays? If not, you'd still need some kind of absorbant layer underneath it, which could probably only be newspaper or else it would stick to the vetbed.

I know what you mean about chucking away loads of hay though. Due to Flora's arthritis, her whole shed/aviary and run is on a thick layer of Aubiose covered with hay. I tend to only spot clean the hay and leave the old stuff down for about 2 weeks. They get fresh each day for eating but the bedding layer is only cleared away every 2 days where they've wee'd on it. The only other thing you could do is save any dry hay for litter trays.

I used to use vetbed for Parsnip who had mobility issues and needed a very soft bedding. Fleece wasn't deep enough. I actually put the vetbed on top of Aubiose or Hempcore as neither seemed to stick too badly to it and I could just give it a good shake and then bung it into the washing machine.

One of the buns uses the litter trays - the other likes to poo/wee NEXT to them :roll: but when they are on fleeces, they tend to use the boxes of hay for their toilet. I usually do a full clean weekly with day to day litter/box changes and also the spot cleaning of other bits they have weed on. I already keep half decent dry hay for putting in the litter tray.

vetbed might actually be the answer to my dilemma but is it easy to dry over the winter? It will be nice and soft but will still reduce my hay waste. I also didn't really think the the fleeces (cheap Tesco ones) would be warm enough for winter, whereas vetbed would be nice and cosy

I absolutely LOVE vetbed :wave:

It's really easy to wash/dry over winter because it dries really quickly, within just a few hours really.

I use it for Ash, I have to change it quite regularly because she pees anywhere in her cage rather than just one spot (she is free range in the house, but the cage is her little hidey hole really) so I just put carefresh/similar underneath to absorb the pee The great thing about it is that it doesn't stay wet so she's never sitting in wet bedding.

How does vetbed work exactly? Do you just put it in the sleeping area on its own or do you put hay with it too?

Aside from an absorbant base layer, the vetbed is used as the top layer. It's a man-made sheepskin essentially. I used to use it for Parsnip and I'd just pick it up, shake it out (to get all the stray poops out) and then pop it in the washing machine.

If you are worried about his feet I would cover the shed floor with rubber matting (like stable matting). It's great for bunnies with poorly feet as its cushioned. You could then use your litter trays as you did with the fleece. The matting can be swept and wiped down.