Fleece Bedding Tips

[Dana95]

So I was thinking of switching my boys to fleece and I've read pretty much every article about using fleece as bedding and I am sure they will love it. I am writing it here, because I would love to hear your tips if you're using fleece, or maybe even if I should use it at all(did it work for you?)....how often do you change the main fleece pad, what absorbent layer do you use, do your piggies chew it ? Thank you

 

[rome_italy]

my experience: totally satisfied of the fleece.
I use simple pieces of fleece used as a bedlinen; underneath I put old newspapers/leaflets from supermarket. Under the newspapers, only for having a thicker floor, I have put old cotton towels (which have been there for months, never washed because they are clean).
Once a day I remove the fleece, shake it on the floor with all the poos and leftovers; I hang out the fleece for some cool air, replace the few wet papers with new ones and then I cover the floor again with the same fleece. In the meanwhile my piggies have their floor time.
I wash my fleece maybe once a week, sometimes more often only for changing the colour of the cage or because I have the washing machine ready for a laundry... (I wash the fleece with my laundry).
The cost is zero and the piggies' feet and hair are clean.
Anyway, you can use puppy pads under the fleece; some owners sew the fleece with the absorbent layers, a lovely result, but I am not able to sew...
This is how my cage looks like:


this is when I shake the fleece on the floor


the cage is in my living room and there is no smell at all. Totally satisfied!

 

[Louise's Zoo]

I love using fleece. It's so easy to keep clean and tidy and the pigs seem to enjoy laying about on it.

I use puppy pads underneath and change the fleece and pads every 4 days or so. I am going to be making my own fleece cage liners soon which will be even better.

I use a hand held vacuum to hoover up the poops twice a day. That's it

 

[flowerfairy]

My guinea pigs have not chewed their fleece cage liners.

I use a layer of polar fleece an absorbent layer and another layer of polar fleece in a sandwich.

I use zorb (highly absorbent but exoensive)

Cotton mattress protector (thin so have used a double layer in one liner)

An incontinance pad, washable (rather thick and heavy but absorbent enough)

I also use extra mini cage pads made the same way as the cage liners to put in their hides and in high traffic areas.

You can see the microfibre shower mats under their ikea dolls beds in this picture.

Guinea pigs like to eat poo and wee all at the same time so I use hay trays (cat litter trays from poundland) with a hemp based bedding and loads of hay where they do most of their wees.

They get their poos shaken off their fleece bedding every couple of days and their hay trays spot cleaned every two days. Their fleece needs washing about once a week. They have a big cage which makes less work.

 

[Dana95]

Thank you all for the lovely ideas. It is day two on fleece and i have never seen my boys happier lots of popcorning and happy squeaking.....also no dust, which is a plus for me.

 

[Diane Owen]

Thank you all for the lovely ideas. It is day two on fleece and i have never seen my boys happier lots of popcorning and happy squeaking.....also no dust, which is a plus for me.

I'm on day one of using fleece, how are you getting on with it? Any tips?

 

[Dana95]

I'm on day one of using fleece, how are you getting on with it? Any tips?

Hi
I''m loving the fleece and so are the pigs. I have three 100% cotton fluffy towels, then fleece and few little liners in the most poopy areas. I have also added small corner toilet under a hay rack,with wood pellets and bit of hay on top. They love to pee on hay, so that makes the cleaning easier. The small liners gets changed every one or two days, i sweep the poops and hay/veggie leftovers once or twice a day and the main liner gets changed once a week. Good luck

 

[Diane Owen]

Hi
I''m loving the fleece and so are the pigs. I have three 100% cotton fluffy towels, then fleece and few little liners in the most poopy areas. I have also added small corner toilet under a hay rack,with wood pellets and bit of hay on top. They love to pee on hay, so that makes the cleaning easier. The small liners gets changed every one or two days, i sweep the poops and hay/veggie leftovers once or twice a day and the main liner gets changed once a week. Good luck

What are the little liners made of?

 

[Dana95]

What are the little liners made of?[/QUOTE
Two layers of fleece on top,two layers of towels and fleece on bottom. I have the small liners sewed, but the main 'liner' I'm just laying down unsewed(once I'll buy same sized towels I'll sew it as well)

 

[Dana95]

I was also quite worried if the towels would work, because everyone is having those fancy u-hals, matress protectors and puppy pads, but the towels are doing its job just fine. Everybody has its favorites....