DIY Pet Bedding

We are trying something new. We generally keep our buns on straw in the winter but inevitably the straw comes with mites. YUK!!! We don't like that and neither do our buns. The pet store has some great options. There's shredded coconut bedding, shredded corn cob bedding and paper pulp bedding. The only problem with any of these is that I would have to get a few dozen bags each week to keep up with our litter box needs. So I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to get affordable bedding without the bugs.

Here's what I've come up with:   Make My Own Recycled Paper Pulp Pet Bedding

How To:
1. Get Paper - My aunt saves tones of newspapers for me anyway to line my solid floor cages with, so I have a nice stockpile to start with. Then there's the daily junk mail that can be added if need be.

2. Shred Paper - 4 kids plus the neighborhood kids make short work of this. The little ones like to see how small they can get their pieces.

3. Make Pulp - For this you need a bowl or in my case a few buckets. Put in the shredded paper, some water and vinegar or bleach to make things all white, smelling good and bug free. If you're using a bowl, a kitchen mixer is a good choice for beating up the paper to pulp. I use a beater on the end of my drill, works great.

4. Dry The Pulp - Squeeze out as much water from your pulp as you can and lay it on a screen to dry. An old screen in the bath tub works fine if it's raining outside or an extra windy day. Fluff it occasionally.

Voila! You have pet bedding that cost you nothing but time.