Fleece

Ramia

Ramia

Adult Guinea Pig
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Do you guys like fleece liners? I ordered a cage and four fleece liners. Two from Kavee and two from GuineaDad. I'm anxious to try them when the cage arrives and I go pick up Chesney to be Stripe's best friend.

I plan on spot cleaning a couple times a day but with two guinea pigs should I do a deep cleaning more than once a week?

I saw that funny meme about going in for cage cleaning with weapons, glad I'm not the only one who stresses when it's time to get them out of the cage! Right now I corner Stripe with a snuggle sack and he runs in and I lift him out. I hope it goes well with two when the time comes.
 
I spot clean daily and I use several smaller fleeces rather than one cage sized one. I also have bath mats/pee pads on top where they pee a lot, these get changed every other day and the main fleece once a week.
With boars, especially young ones it's a good idea to do a half cage clean at a time. This really makes a difference to the levels of dominance behaviour because they don't need to re-establish their territory marking as much. I never replace hammocks/cuddle cups/snuggle sacks for clean ones on the same day as I put clean fleece in either. If your liners are cage sized wipe them with the used ones to give them some scent.
Good luck 🤞
 
:agr:

While the cage obviously needs to be clean, if you clean too much with boars it will cause them to scent mark even more (they won’t like it when their cage is fully fresh) which can make it smell worse.
And definitely only changing the fleece in half the cage at a time (so it can be better to use two smaller fleeces in the cage in one go) or making sure to wipe the new fleece with the old fleece to transfer scent
 
Do you guys spot clean your fleece with a mini broom and dust pan, or a cat litter scooper?
 
Ramia said:
Do you guys spot clean your fleece with a mini broom and dust pan, or a cat litter scooper?
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Use whichever works easiest and best for you - there’s no right answer!

I only occasionally use fleece in summer but I use dustpan and brush
 
They're having a nap outside the hides. Never seen Stripe nap outside the hide. Must be safety in numbers.

I'll try a dust pan and brush. I'll do it in the morning. What I've noticed is when they walk on the fleece the poop bounces around instead of staying in a pile like with bedding. A little harder to clean.
 
I use a dustpan and silicone brush first then go in with the hoover nozzle. It doesn't bother them.
 
Do you guys shake out your dirty fleece in the bushes or woods before washing?

Do you wash one or two at a time. Sometimes when I wash blankets it puts the washing machine off kilter and the washing machine moves because the blankets are heavy and all on one side. Maybe the fleece is so light it won't do that.
 
Ramia said:
Do you guys shake out your dirty fleece in the bushes or woods before washing?

Do you wash one or two at a time. Sometimes when I wash blankets it puts the washing machine off kilter and the washing machine moves because the blankets are heavy and all on one side. Maybe the fleece is so light it won't do that.
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I shake out my fleece into a bin bag before washing, and I wash loads at a time but my fleece mats are quite small ones rather than cage sized ones, so I use lots to cover the area. I guess I'd just try and see... my washing machine deals with it fine but I do find that I have to unclog the filter and clean out the washing machine literally every time I do piggy laundry because it gets clogged up with hay! That's the penalty of having the hay loose I suppose instead of in a rack or bag but the piggies love it being on the floor.
 
Piggies&buns said:
:agr:

While the cage obviously needs to be clean, if you clean too much with boars it will cause them to scent mark even more (they won’t like it when their cage is fully fresh) which can make it smell worse.
And definitely only changing the fleece in half the cage at a time (so it can be better to use two smaller fleeces in the cage in one go) or making sure to wipe the new fleece with the old fleece to transfer scent
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On how many places on the new fleece should I transfer scent? Are two corners enough?
 
I brush my fleece off over the garden and wash it in a pet wash bag to keep any hay and hair out of the machine. How much fleece you can wash in one go is going to differ depending on the size of your machine. I wash 2 2x3 fleeces and 2 pee pads together or lots of pee pads, my machine takes a 7kg load.
 
piggieminder said:
I brush my fleece off over the garden and wash it in a pet wash bag to keep any hay and hair out of the machine. How much fleece you can wash in one go is going to differ depending on the size of your machine. I wash 2 2x3 fleeces and 2 pee pads together or lots of pee pads, my machine takes a 7kg load.
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Ooh what is a pet wash bag?
 
It's a zipped laundry bag for washing pet blankets. They are easy to find if you search Pet Laundry Bag on ebay or Amazon. I get mine on ebay, I tried to do a link but it wouldn't work.
 
piggieminder said:
I brush my fleece off over the garden and wash it in a pet wash bag to keep any hay and hair out of the machine. How much fleece you can wash in one go is going to differ depending on the size of your machine. I wash 2 2x3 fleeces and 2 pee pads together or lots of pee pads, my machine takes a 7kg load.
Click to expand...
Cool idea, I'll have to look into that!
 
I got the fleece in the washer, all is well, it's not off kilter.

When I went to change the fleece I had a hard time catching Stripe. He did not want to go in his snuggle sack like he used to. It's a bigger cage so there was a lot of running around. Finally got him in.
 
Pet wash bag here too. I needed a new washing machine and spent the extra to get a 10kg one for piggy washing. Stuff waiting to be washed goes into an IKEA bag.
My biggest fleeces are 2x3 and I use 1x2s as well as they can be changed without hassle.
 
I have full cage size liners. But I think I'm going to order some pee pads from guinea dad for under the water bottles. Finally got two that don't leak. I washed a Kavee liner a couple hours ago and it is already almost dry. I don't have a dryer. I've got a guinea dad liner in there now, but it feels less fluffy so I bet it will take a while to dry.

I'll have to invest in another drying rack so I can do my laundry, too.
 
So far I like the guinea dad liners best. They absorb water bottle drips best. Plus they are based in the States so it's easier to ship to my house.
 
The guinea dad liners have traction on the bottom and it was rough on my washing machine. Might have to take those to the Laundromat.
 
You know what? It kinda smells in the boy's room. I changed the fleece Thursday. I know some of you only change half at a time, but I have full size liners.

How often should I change them? I spot clean daily and also don't want to upset their equilibrium by changing it too often.

The smell is isolated to their room, so not the end of the world.
 
Try rubbing the clean one with the used one. They are less likely to feel the need to scent mark it.
All of us with boars experience a smelly day every so often when one has a testosterone spurt. It's usually just a day thankfully 😷
 
A couple times when Stripe has been rumbling Chesney pees when he is being stalked by Stripe. Is he scent marking or just peeing?
 
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