Fleece Questions.

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JetSkii

JetSkii

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So I've recently been thinking about changing my bedding to fleece. I currently have sawdust as my bedding but my guinea pigs have a tendency to "clean" themselves out by flicking it outside of their cage making a trash of my floor. Fleece is also better for piggys feet and stuff. I also love the funky colours of fleece you can get.

So I was just wanting some honest opinions of how the making and maintaining of fleece is I guess. Sorry if this sounds silly.

I used a bit of fleece for a platform once and well my piggy ate half of it overnight. Does anyones pigs do that? Or is there a way you prevent them from chewing because it would be horrible to spend so much time and money for my pigs to eat the floor.

For the daily cleaning. You just have to sweep the poop out once a day and change the fleece once or twice a week? To me the pee after that time would stink. Or is it completley fine?

In pictures there are cute little hay piles in one corner. However in reality mine drag it across their cage to their liking. To me it would be a nightmare to sweep that off the fleece when you change it.

I'm not trying to put fleece down these are genuinely just thoughts that are going through my mind right now.

So if any fleece users could inform me more about fleece. Like how you made it. What do you think of it and stuff. for I know so little. Thankyou :)
 
I use fleece liners and mine have never bitten them or tried to eat them.

I contain the hay in a litter tray which keeps it much tidier and easy to pick up stray strands and but them back.

I have four pigs, so currently poop scoop a couple of times a day, as it does soon pile up! But other than that it's really easy. I'm totally converted now :)
 
JetSkii said:
Ahh the litter tray is a brilliant idea. Did you buy your fleece pre made or have you made them? Thanks
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I bought the current ones I'm using but I'll be making any future ones :)

The only thing I dislike about using fleece is how messy it looks just before the poop scoop. But with patterned fleece it's much less noticeable.
 
Oh okay. I was thinking about making mine. I wasn't sure if I sew all of the layers together or leave it all separate. Or if that even made a difference! XD

Doesn't seem so bad I guess everything has quirks. So you would definitely recommend fleece?
 
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.
 
JetSkii said:
Oh okay. I was thinking about making mine. I wasn't sure if I sew all of the layers together or leave it all separate. Or if that even made a difference! XD

Doesn't seem so bad I guess everything has quirks. So you would definitely recommend fleece?
Click to expand...

Yes :) I love using it.
 
I personally don't find the fleece stinks, I spot clean twice a day, and change the kitchen area twice a week. It doesn't take much really. I have a separate area for hay, which I called the kitchen area, it's just a correx insert at the end of the cage.
 
Completely what @Chief Guinea Pig said :) I will add that if you are handy with a sewing machine and wish to make your own liners a good 'formula' is a piece of 6oz polyester wadding sewn between the two layers of fleece.
Also if you have a hand-vac it can be useful for getting the hairs off before washing :)
 
if you are considering making your own. i bought fleece from B&M £3.99 for two of them, and i bought incontinence pads ( about £12-£15 for two large bed ones ).. I have been using these for just over 2/3 weeks.. I poo pick twice a day, i have plain fleece so easy to spot.. My hay is in a tray and they do drag it out but i just grab bits when i poo pick. When i take it out to change it, I use a really stiff bristled brush to brush the hay off and i use a horse bag to wash it in inside the washer.. mine have had a nibble of the fleece but soon realised it wasn't food.. i use Aldi non bio wash powder as i found this better for getting the fleece to ' wick '.. good luck if you choose to try it x
 
artcasper said:
if you are considering making your own. i bought fleece from B&M £3.99 for two of them, and i bought incontinence pads ( about £12-£15 for two large bed ones ).. I have been using these for just over 2/3 weeks.. I poo pick twice a day, i have plain fleece so easy to spot.. My hay is in a tray and they do drag it out but i just grab bits when i poo pick. When i take it out to change it, I use a really stiff bristled brush to brush the hay off and i use a horse bag to wash it in inside the washer.. mine have had a nibble of the fleece but soon realised it wasn't food.. i use Aldi non bio wash powder as i found this better for getting the fleece to ' wick '.. good luck if you choose to try it x
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before getting a hay tray it was awful when they did a wee on the fleece where the hay was - sticks really bad - and now they do most of their wee in the hay tray which is a lot easier..
 
Thanks I was thinking more on the making my own side of fleece. After looking a lot up and stuff I think I will give fleece a go. It also makes the usage of adorable fleece houses and stuff you can buy easier xD I love the fleece houses but would be a disaster with sawdust.
 
Hi, I Make my own fleece liners and items, I'd say definitely sew the layers together, I started out not doing this but it made daily cleaning of the poops so hard as the material bunched up and you couldn't just sweep them up without shifting all the fleece. I just use a fleece layer, towel in the middle and then fleece on the bottom. I get my fleece from Primark...if you use the really plush looking fleece that's really soft the hay and stuff brushes off so much easier :) image.webp
 
I switched to fleece recently and am really enjoying it. I do not sweep my fleece as it moves and unfolds too much. I just pick the poo out by hand and pick he worst of the hay out but I am not too fussed if it is everywhere. I clean it out once a week but I don't notice any smell mostly because they live outside. I use towels as my absorbant layer which I got by scouring local charity shops.
I have found that the micro plush fleece is better as it is easier to pick out and the hay doesn't stick to it as much. I also have polar fleece winch works just as well but all of the hay didn't come off it during washing. One set of my girls do burrow under and pull the fleece away from the towels but I just fix it every day. You could find some way of fixing it down like pegs or something like that.
The only other advice I have is about washing it to make it wick before the first use. I tried the advice previously given about washing with no detergent. I washed them 8 times with no success, then washed them once using aldi non-bio wash tablets and they were ready to go. So please wash with detergent to make them wick.
Primark is great for fleeces or b and m bargains or shops like that. I got most of mine from Primark but they do have some lovely patterns in the range if you live near one.
 
HansPiggies said:
Haha cool thank you! :) There were a lot of duff ones before they looked ok lol. i'll try and do a basic tutiorial for beginners maybe!
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I would love a sewing tutorial for beginners I am interested in making my own tunnels and cosies. I am sure a lot of other people would like them as well.
 
Just to add my bit... My boys used to live on sawdust and moved them onto fleece and they love it! I've got a video of when I first put them on fleece and they are running around popcorning like crazy, I love to watch it! One of my boys is an avid 'chewer' and he doesn't eat the fleece, but when I first put him on it, he tugged the fleece off the correx and chewed all of that! So I make my fleeces fold over the side and peg them in place as well.

I change it every 4-5 days and have a 'poo picking' every day at least. I put Asda bed mats under the fleece, but have also used puppy mats and newspaper. Each boy has a litter box (which I got from a pound shop) for their hay... but they still flick it out and it gets all over the cage and out of it as well!

Sawdust used to be the bane of my life, I'd get to work and realise I had it stuck all up the back of my tights or it would fall out of my bag when I'd get my purse out, so for that reason alone, I'd recommend moving to fleece!
 
span said:
Just to add my bit... My boys used to live on sawdust and moved them onto fleece and they love it! I've got a video of when I first put them on fleece and they are running around popcorning like crazy, I love to watch it! One of my boys is an avid 'chewer' and he doesn't eat the fleece, but when I first put him on it, he tugged the fleece off the correx and chewed all of that! So I make my fleeces fold over the side and peg them in place as well.

I change it every 4-5 days and have a 'poo picking' every day at least. I put Asda bed mats under the fleece, but have also used puppy mats and newspaper. Each boy has a litter box (which I got from a pound shop) for their hay... but they still flick it out and it gets all over the cage and out of it as well!

Sawdust used to be the bane of my life, I'd get to work and realise I had it stuck all up the back of my tights or it would fall out of my bag when I'd get my purse out, so for that reason alone, I'd recommend moving to fleece!
Click to expand...

Hehe me too! I get bits of sawdust on me aswell and its a nightmare xD I'm glad I'm not the only one! I also have one who eats everything... I had to move him out of my c&c because he would to everything in his power to eat the correx.
 
Hank288 said:
I switched to fleece recently and am really enjoying it. I do not sweep my fleece as it moves and unfolds too much. I just pick the poo out by hand and pick he worst of the hay out but I am not too fussed if it is everywhere. I clean it out once a week but I don't notice any smell mostly because they live outside. I use towels as my absorbant layer which I got by scouring local charity shops.
I have found that the micro plush fleece is better as it is easier to pick out and the hay doesn't stick to it as much. I also have polar fleece winch works just as well but all of the hay didn't come off it during washing. One set of my girls do burrow under and pull the fleece away from the towels but I just fix it every day. You could find some way of fixing it down like pegs or something like that.
The only other advice I have is about washing it to make it wick before the first use. I tried the advice previously given about washing with no detergent. I washed them 8 times with no success, then washed them once using aldi non-bio wash tablets and they were ready to go. So please wash with detergent to make them wick.
Primark is great for fleeces or b and m bargains or shops like that. I got most of mine from Primark but they do have some lovely patterns in the range if you live near one.
Click to expand...

Thankyou :) will definatley be looking in primark.
 
span said:
Sawdust used to be the bane of my life, I'd get to work and realise I had it stuck all up the back of my tights or it would fall out of my bag when I'd get my purse out, so for that reason alone,
Click to expand...
:lol!: I know that feeling. I get to work with bits of hay everywhere. I bought overalls to wear when tending to the pigs - but forget to put them on !
 
Haha i'll post on here when it's uploaded. Can't promise greatness as I haven't even attempted to edit any footage yet and I think a fleece tutorial will need it...I'll give the Doe eyes to hubby :love:
 
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