Cost of fleece Vs sawdust

[daisyboo]

Hi everyone,since having my pigs i have always used fleece and have always been happy with it but since my piggy family has grown i was starting to wonder how cost effective it really is?At present i have a 6x2 c&c and a 4x2 c&c cage and i must be doing approx 8 loads a week of washing.So with the powder, the electricity and i am on a water meter i think the cost must be mounting up.
I wondered if anyone on here had experience of using both and the costs involved?Thanks in advance.x

 

[HyperHeavenly]

I save up all my piggy washing until I have a good load, then I rince it through in the sink before putting it in the washer once or twice a week. We've found using the puppy pads have really helped with the ammout we change the fleece but then we've only got the one piggy at the mo.

 

[daisyboo]

In my big cage the towels alone fill my machine and the fleeces and beds are another load!Its a miricle we ever get our clothes washed,piggies come first!|)

 

[Bekki]

I worked it out a while back that fleece works out more expensive than finacard for my cage (4x2 cc) and megazorb works out equal in cost when electiricy and detergents are taken into account x

 

[Connie]

I would say, if you are only using towels and fleece, how often are you needing to change the cage?

I started with towels and fleece, but having smelly boys in a fairly small cage i was needing to change every other day. I have now "perfected" my routine which is one layer of fleece, with a matress protector(this can be cut to size or sewn into a cage liner) Then with dry nights bed pads inc. I only need do one load of washing every 6 days (including coseys, and i have an L-shaped cage which is a 2x4 with a 2x1.5 tagged on.. roughly the same as your 2x6. I'm not sure of the exact cost of washing it, but i know the bed pads (which i need one and a half of, come to 64p per clean out. These really cut down on the smell!)

 

[4piggiepigs]

I use a cageliner and i wash the liners in one load and fleece toys in another, I have a 2 level 2x4 c and c cage, i only change once a week

 

[daisyboo]

Thanks for the replies,I clean them out every 3 days and do them alternate else i dont have enough towels to do them the same day!My towels i double over to be more absorbant but of course that doubles the amount i need to use.
Does anyone use shavings in a C&C?Just wondered how much more trouble it was to clean them out?.

 

[Dh1971]

I use a cageliner and i wash the liners in one load and fleece toys in another, I have a 2 level 2x4 c and c cage, i only change once a week

Is a cage liner the fleece with mattress protecter sewn on? Trying desperately to get my head round all the great advice on this forum!

 

[Connie]

Yes. Your description is exactly what a cage liner is. I thought it wouldnt be absorbant enough at first (because its not that thick really) But its so much more absorbant, and less smelly than towels.

 

[4piggiepigs]

Yes but the toppers suck pee into it then dries it so the topper don't get saturated like towels do and the hole thingcan be washed together they are rather thin and light and just so much easier than anything else and ive tried pretty much everything