Attempting Fleece Again

Status
Not open for further replies.
CarnivalPiggy

CarnivalPiggy

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
1,650
Reaction score
1,259
Points
755
Location
Norfolk, England
Hello! I'm going to try and attempt fleece after more than a year. I wasn't prepared last time so I've come for help :P

Where can I buy fleece locally? My dad's dead set against ordering things like this online for some reason. I'm unable to use fleece liners for the moment as my base in the cage has different heights that were cut badly so needs replacing. Could I hold it down with something? Also, could I buy fleece at asda or tesco etc? How do you manage your boys who make the fleece smelly? That's one of the reasons I got so off put heh. How often do you replace your fleece and change it out? Can I just put the guinea pigs out for floor time and shake it on the grass then wash it? Can I do this each time I need to poop pick and then put it back down? I have more questions, but I think I'll leave them for now :D
 
I buy fleece from allsorts of places: Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, The Range, Store 21, Primark. These are all good places to get them from! I change my fleece every 3-4 days and sweep out every day :)
 
Thanks! Do you have any methods with washing them? I also saw some put megazorb under but I'm hoping there's an alternative to this.
 
I started using fleece about a month ago and I don't think I'll ever go back to anything else! It has drastically cut down the amount of time it takes to clean out, the piggies' feets are not as crusty looking and they love flumping out all over it!

I got mine from B&M, but like @Flutterby says, you can get it from all over the place! I give my new fleeces a few spins in the washing machine (with just washing powder) before using it, it seems to help with the wicking process.
 
I use towel under my fleece. I wash it on a 40 degreee intensive wash twice each time, with non bio powder. A lot use white vinager too. :)
 
I'll see about getting some fleece today then. I did switch from easibed to snowflake wood shavings for a week or two and noticed the piggies feet weren't as nice-looking (for lack of a better word) after only a few days.

I'm finding towels are expensive in my area? How do you do with puppy pads? I found them sticking to the fleece last time.
 
It's the same theory with the puppy pads, you line them underneath the fleece, but you just throw away and replace them instead of washing them like towel. Do you have an Ikea near you? I get my large bath towels from Ikea for £5 each :)
 
I use towels under my fleece. I just went to the charity shops and asked them. They often do not have the towels at the front of store they keep them in the back as people want them for drying dogs etc. they sell them for 50p each in Oxfam where I go. There is no point buying new towels to soak up guinea pig wee.
 
I don't have an ikea near me, as the closest one is past Norwich. They don't have any at the Oxfam shops either. I'll see about the puppy pads when I get the fleece and see how it goes.

There's no chance of me sewing, I screwed up making a cozy for five hours so there's no way I can do that :))
 
I can try!

Also, would any of you mind posting pictures of your cages with fleece? I'm curious as to how it looks and what you use for keeping hay tidy.
 
Your cages and piggies looks lovely and so does the room! Thanks for posting the link. How do you manage with boys? Do you find them as clean as girls with their business?
 
Yeah to be honest I don't :) It took my a while to get used to the fleece system, but it does work with perseverance!
 
Ginny's marking makes the cage a little smelly at times. What's the litter/bedding you use in the hay trays? :)
 
Would I be able to instead of poop picking twice a day or so, just take the fleece out and shake it off onto the grass? :)
 
The matierla ones I got from The Little Pet Warehouse, they are great!
 
katanamoon said:
Mine looks pitiful in comparison!

View attachment 31547 View attachment 31548 View attachment 31549
Click to expand...
No, you have a beautiful cage. And beautiful piggies.

Anyway, to fleece, I usually post this just because it covers most of it really :)

The fleece you would be looking for is called anti pill fleece, or invest in a slightly more expensive anti pill micro fleece. These can be found in stores like Primark, eBay, the range, asda and other supermarkets.

Fleece needs to be changed every three to four days, without a fabric softener, but with non bio detergent and white vinegar(optional) at 60 degrees. Before first use you have to wash the fleece without any detergent at least three times to allow it to remove the water barrier. You can check this has been done successfully if a drop of water on the fleece sinks through, not stays on the top. If it stays, you need to wash it again.

Fleece also needs an absorbent layer underneath to hold the urine. This can be towels, which I find great. Or puppy pads. You can also buy cage liners which are fleece, but built in absorbent layer. You can buy these from:
http://ziggyspiggies.webs.com

Fleece needs to be spot cleaned (remove poop) at least once a day.

To avoid clogging up washing machine you will need to brush down the fleece and shake it to remove loose hay and hairs. And optional would be to have a horse wash bag, found on amazon/ebay which allows fleece to be washed well, but all hay and hairs keep contained in the bag.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top