Guinea Pig Aspen Bedding as Mulch?

by Nikki
(Covington, LA)

Our family has a couple of Guinea Pigs. We clean their cage out aleast twice a week, dumping the used Aspen bedding and replacing it with clean bedding. My question is, can the used bedding from the Guinea Pigs' cage be used in my flower beds as mulch? It seems such a waste to just be throwing it away.

Comments for Guinea Pig Aspen Bedding as Mulch?

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Jun 17, 2010
 Guinea pig droppings for garden
by: Megan

Adorable little pets. I think guinea pigs are so much fun to watch and listen to… lots of squeals and chatter!

Their droppings are pellets, and like rabbit droppings they can be used straight on the garden – this is called cold manure and it means it won't burn plants or need to go in the compost first. You can of course put it in the compost, but if used on the garden, it will break down quickly and activate good microbes, especially if you mix it with the top layer of soil.

Aspen bedding makes a wonderful mulch as it's natural woodchips. The Aspen chips along with your guinea pigs droppings are top notch mulch and nutrients all in one. Use as much as you like, the worms and plants will thanks you.
Jun 20, 2010
 Guinea Pig Aspen Bedding
by: Nikki

Thank you for the feed back. I hated tossing it out if I could reuse it. I have been testing it around my roses to see how they would respond. So far, they seem to like the used aspen shavings & are blooming nonstop. I may try it in my vegetable garden next year if my flowers continue to thrive....

The "Pigs" (as we like to call them) are tons of fun! They are only 6 weeks old and full of energy. I hope my family will enjoy many years with them.
Jan 08, 2012
 piggies and aspen
by: Kathy

I googled the same question and found the answer here, thanks!

I have a large condo for 2 piggies plus 3 litterboxes for my 4 houserabbits so each week I have a large amount of aspen shreddings infused with miracle fertilizer...lol.

Once my flowerbeds are full, I may start offering it to my gardening neighbors.
Mar 30, 2013
 So glad you asked this question!!!
by: Nikki

I was searching for the same thing! We have a Hedgehog and a Guinea Pig and lots of Aspen shavings...I just thought it was wasteful to just throw it out! Glad to know we can use it!
Apr 06, 2014
 carefree bedding as mulch?
by: R

My guinea pig uses Carefree natural bedding which is made out of tree pulp. Do you think it would work as mulch?
Jul 28, 2015
 Urine in the Aspen
by: Curly the little Piggy

Squeeek! (Good day),

oes - Day / y-may / ommy-may /ave-hay / oo-Tay / orry-Way / about-Way / y-may / urine-yay / in-way / e-they / aspen-way?

ank-thay oo-yay,

urly-Cay
Apr 29, 2017
 Aspen for mulch
by: Anonymous

What if your bedding smells from the guinea pig urine. It smells like ammonia. Will that harm your plants?
Apr 30, 2017
 Ammonia smell in mulch
by: ~ Megan

I would say that a strong ammonia
odour means that there's not enough air circulating, probably due to the saturation of urine. It may harm your plants because of the very high nitrogen content and the soil pH will be too low. Best to either add this ammonia mulch to compost, or at least mix it with some carbon materials... that is some dry leaves, shredded paper, straw, woodchips or similar.

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