Help With Fleece Bedding

[Ginpig]

Hi all,

Sorry to ask another question about fleece, i've tried looking back through previous posts but i'm just a little confused so thought it would be easier to just ask!
Currently our two sows are in a 120 x 60 cage and we use hemporade and hay as bedding. We have a pop up 'playpen' in the front room which they go in for a few hours every few days as there's more room in there... in this i usually just put down some towels and an old fleece picnic blanket, which then get washed after every 3 or 4 'outings'. They seem to really love this, especially burrowing into the fleece, and it's got me thinking that maybe i should try fleece out in their cage too.
What I don't really get is what all the required layers are... Would towels under fleece be enough or would you need something else under the towels such as newspaper? And would I have to change the towels every day? (They tend to pee in their hay trays which get changed every day anyway but i don't think i could handle having to change towels every day as well...)
How often, on average, does the fleece need to be changed?
I really don't want a bad smell as they're in my son's room so will stick with what we've got if it's going to be too labour intensive as there's hardly any smell at the moment apart from a grassy hay smell which is fine.
I've also read you can use a mattress protector instead of towels, would this be one with a waterproof backing?
Also, final question (for now!) Can you tumble dry the fleece bedding or does this affect the absorbency? we have hardly any drying space and i already do loads of washing so i really need to weigh up the pros and cons carefully!

Thanks for any advice!

 

[rome_italy]

Hi!
I tell you what I do at home and how I use my fleece. Of course you have to take inspiration here and there and then "build" something suitable for you and your home.
I have a cage with an extension; the extension has been next to the cage since the arrival of the third piggie. The first cage is handmade and I built a basis with coretex. Into this basis I put an old blanket (or old towels) covered with leaflets of supermarkets (I get tons of them). The final layer is the fleece. Once a day I remove the fleece, I shake it on the floor, I remove the few wet spots and the few wet leaflets and I put new paper; in the meanwhile the fleece is outside the balcony or on the radiator... and the piggies are having floor time. In the late evening I put on the fleece again.
As for the extension, there is no coretex basis and I actually remove that part of the cage (which is built using a foldable metal pen) and I roll blanket+leaflets.
it is better if I add some pics:






such method is for me totally free because I can get piles of leaflets at the supermarket and into the communal mail box (leaflets are thrown to the bins every day here). I could use newspapers, too, but I should remove too much paper then.
You can use only towels, why not? if you have many...
If the piggies wee in the same corner you have less work.
I wash my fleece maybe once a week, sometimes more often, it depends also on the washing machine... I wash the fleece together with other laundry (and I am not keen to waste electricity and water washing every day and switching on the machine when it is not full).
I think you can tumble dry the fleece, but if you have a 1200 spin dryer the fleece comes out almost dry and in half hour or less it is ready.
My piggies live in the living room near the couch, I don't have any smell. I had bad smell only when they changed the diet due to the snow and the poo was not normal.
The fleece is not smelly at all, maybe only the poo is smelly if they eat in a wrong way.
Waterproof linen honestly is not necessary; the wee is absorbed by the towel or the paper underneath and in the points where they wee more you can add another towel (I put more paper).
This below is how the cage looks like when it is "dirty"


About the box of hay used during their floor time, I put one newspaper and two leaflets under the hay; the newspaper is always new and protects the wooden box; the leaflets become wet and are removed once a day with some waste hay:



I am the one who hates all the smelly odours and I assure you I don't sniff any (only hay but that is good)

 

[Tiamolly123]

Hi I use a mattress protector under my fleece. The face is 100% cotton & Tesco is the only place we can find it. We normally order it. The mattress protector draws the wee into the protector keeping the fleece dry. You need to change it every 4 to 5 days. Although people use different things, choices are what you prefer really.

 

[flowerfairy]

I use cGe liners made of fleece mattress protector fleece sewn together as a sandwich. They are lightweight abpnd absorbent.

I put noodle mats on top (under the beds where they like to lie) and, like you use hemparade and hay in their hay trays.

The cage liners last for around 4 days before getting wet.

I also have some fleece zorb liners and mats. They are brilliant. Zorb is more expensive than mattress protectors.