Fleece Bedding?

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Yipchip

Yipchip

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I currently use Carefresh natural paper bedding, but I was looking into switching to fleece bedding. Any tips on washing and if it's really for me?
 
I'm also looking into fleece as an alternative.... but is there a lot of washing and drying involved? xx
 
I think it depends on the amount of piggies and cages you have. You'll have about two loads of washing each week, as fleece and towels are supposed to be changed every three to four days :) And fleece is almost instantly dry when it comes out the machine, without being tumble dried.

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, bargain stores, 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:
MyGuineaPigPals (on the forum) My Guinea Pig Pals
CandECosies (on the forum) CandE Cosies - Small Animal Accessories
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.

I hope I've covered everything? Hehe :)
 
Wanted to add that it depends how you use it, so hopefully others on here can explain it better :) It took a lot of washing for me at the start because I was clueless, but it's so much easier now. There is this link below if you want it in thorough detail. It may look a lot, but it's not. I got a lot of good tips using this.

Fleece The Fleece Project: The Study

Edit; GPC covered most of it :D
 
Oh that's definitely true! Can't remember what it was, but I got this fleece and it needed washing so often. I think it was anti pill, but it wasn't fluffy enough so poo got mushed and stepped on by the piggies and just stained. I would avoid fleece that feels too flat :)
 
i agree on the flatter fleece, slightly fluffier stuff seems to be easier to poo pick from... i love the fleece.. it is a lot of washing to start with but mine comes out virtually dry but sometimes if i have put too much into the washer i have to spin it again as its dripping wet ! lesson learned lol... its easy to dry in the ' summer ' as it can sit on the washing line all day... not going to be as easy in winter time i imagine but thats what radiators are for !
 
You can buy pre-made fleece liners with an absorbent layer in the middle. Ziggies Piggies are really good value. I recently bought my own fleece (twenty one store, pack of two for £4) which I put on top of a layer of paper and a towel. I washed those for the first 3 times on 60 to allow nny shrinkage and for them to wick (become absorbent), but after that I put in a non bio capsule and detol anti-bacterial wash on a 40, washing on 60 every time might make the fleece shrink more than it would on a 40.

Also, if your guinea pigs are litter trained and wee in a certain area or in a tray etc, you probably don't need to change it out that often. My guinea pig Amber use to wee in a certain place (bedded area) so I use to put loads of shredded paper in that place and change that out everyday, I found that I didn't need to change it every 3-4 days and it could actually go for longer. Now I have Willow she just wee's on the hay so now I am having to change every 3-5 days. But anyway, if they're litter trained and your poop scooping every day you probably wont need to wash as often :)

Personally changing to fleece is the best thing I've ever done, so much easier than trying to scoop out the last bits of sawdust or carefresh! Amber use to have really red feet all the time too, now changing to fleece they've got a lot better and are back to normal piggie feet :)!
 
I have liners and my guinea's get cleaned out at different times, when needed mainly, one cage 2 - 3 days and the others are 3 days, I'm not so lucky to leave them longer sadly, BUT when I do the new cage build I'm going to do kitchen type areas that will be correx, I'm hoping they will go toilet in the kitchen area so it'll cut down on the fleece changing. I've got 5 cages so it's a lot of washing per week.

I would say that liners have been the easiest bedding for us.
 
some people use a horse wash bag to wash their liners etc…but I've found a single duvet cover (childs size) works ok, either put a zip on end or tie it with hair bands.
A lovely lady local to me makes all kinds of fleece items Snoozie's Cozies
 
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