I think I have narrowed by whelping box choices down to two, Durawhelp or the Little Heart Beats Cassie Basic.
My question for those of you w/ Durawhelps, if you have a bitch that is a nester and likes to dig, does that impact the box? Will it dislodge all the bedding?
Anyone have the Little Heart Beats box? Pro/cons?
Yes, I have searched the forum and read everything about whelping boxes going back years.
I only do about 1 litter every year or so and bought a little heartbeats box last year. I think the general construction and materials are way better than a durawhelp would be.
I love the way the little heartbeats assembles and like most of the design including the hinged drop down door for mom's easy of entry. The workmanship is very nice.
I didn't buy the bottom because of the added shipping costs but have mine sitting on a sheet of linoleum. I use the gray fleece whelping pads with a pooch pad underneath. A 48x48 of each works just perfectly. I found the pooch pads in that size at Revival.
There are some draw backs. I don't like the pig rail system, the way they make it, two of the side rails float freely and I find that mom can easily knock them out of place. I've tried to modify with some cabinet door catches but that didn't work very well and at the end of the day I end up using duct tape to hold all four sides of the pigrail together at the corners. I would be nice if there was a way that all four rails could snap together somehow so it could be easily disassembled.
The puppies have chewed the corner posts and the edges of the box but we've cleaned the corner posts up with a coat of spray paint. The sides are not in bad shape yet but the melamine coating isn't as thick as I might have expected. I had handles added to two sides and turned them to the inside of the box. I used one handle to hang a water bucket from and found that when the puppies start knocking the water bucket around and spilling water, it soaked thru the melmine and made the particle board swell along the bottom edge of that side.
I had mine made with the 18" sides and kept a litter of 5 in the box with the 2ft extension that made it a 4x6 right up until the litter went home at 8 weeks. I had room for a 3x3 litter pan right in the box.
If I did more litters in a year, I'd probably look for something else but for my purposes the Little Heart Beats overall is working out just fine.
I cannot imagine keeping a litter of puppies in a 4x6 box until 8 weeks. No wonder you had chewed corners. Mine are out in a bigger area -- 10x 12, in the same room by the times they are able to crawl over to the edge of the box. My Durawhelp has lasted for 13 years and about 15 litters but as I said, they are out of there and exploring and playing by around 3 weeks.
I cannot imagine keeping a litter of puppies in a 4x6 box until 8 weeks. No wonder you had chewed corners. Mine are out in a bigger area -- 10x 12, in the same room by the times they are able to crawl over to the edge of the box. My Durawhelp has lasted for 13 years and about 15 litters but as I said, they are out of there and exploring and playing by around 3 weeks.
I got the two 4x5's using the second 4 x 5 after 3 weeks, attaching it with no door from one to the other. It's a dream! One is more for potty & feeding, the other for sleep and play. The pups can go back and forth at will. Even a litter of 11 and 12 do fine with two 4 x 5 footers. They also make gray fleece with Velcro or Zinfndel sells better fleece cut to order.
I would go Durawhelp or Jonart. A huge price difference but anything in between is just that. Durawhelp for the price and easy, lightweight storage is the best for the buck. Jonart is great but 2 1/2 times the cost and clumsier. If used often, leave it up. Otherwise the Durawhelp gets cleaned and back in the box, easy peasy. I get 7 to 8 litters in 6 years out of each Durawhelp, not a bad deal at all. There are now top corners available to be purchased to reinforce the box, not necessary but nice to have. If money is an objective, go Durawhelp. I never heard of the other Hearts box and I'm breeding for going on 3 decades.
