Help with Fleece bedding?

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MrsWilsoncroft

MrsWilsoncroft

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Hi All

I have always used newspaper and wood shavings for Reggie's cage.
I am soon getting him a new cage so thinking of trying fleece bedding, I have him indoors so hoping it will be less messy too :)

I showed my Hubby some of the pics on this facebook group and all he said was "ewwww a blanket in the cage will be well smelly" lol!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.228472113850185.63779.215129088517821&type=3

So I was wondering if you can tell me what you all do with you bedding etc and any advice for me.

Reggie tends to poop wherever I put his food bowl, like right next to it so not sure if a small litter tray or not would be good.

Cheers

Stacey x
 
I am a recent convert to fleece, in the past 11 piggy owning years I started with wood shavings (got in all their "bits") then progressed to newspaper & hay, then soft chop straw Russell bedding & hay.

I can honestly say fleece for me is the best! I do have 3 females which are probably less smelly than boys, in a 5 x 2 weird shaped C & C cage, but I am changing it all every 4th day which is less than I used to. I have a feeding area, I got a tray from Morrisons as it's melamine they can't chew it, & put newspaper in that & a corner litter tray, followed by some Carefresh & then put their dry food etc in it & most wees/poops get done there. I also cut extra pieces of fleece that I put in the areas they tend to sleep in & change them daily, so the fleece is more or less always clean underneath. They have a hay foraging area too. I wash the fleece with non-bio after giving it a good shake or vac it, & it drys really quickly. I don't think it smells anymore than anything else, just clean it twice a week minimum :))

Oh & the best thing is they love it of course lol! I've never seen so many chicken legs & I've only had them about 5 weeks :))
 
First things first, there are two sorts of fabric bedding Fleece, and vetbed, I use fleece, So i will tell you about that and what works for me. This doesnt work for everyone, and I'm sure many people will give you other suggestions.

since changing from wood shavings to fleece i have tried fleece on top, then towel, then newspaper on the bottom, which i found needed changing every 2 days, and smelled. I then tried fleece, then towel, then pampers disposable baby changing pads. This increased it to 3 days, and smelled MUCH less. However was still fairly soggy, and i found it annoying to wash as it took forever to dry.

I am now using A home made fleece cage liner. This has one layer of fleece, and one layer of matress protector (sometimes called a matress topper) Underneath, then the pampers baby changing pads. I am so far on day 4, and no smell yet, but i will be changing them tomorrow anyway.

I find my piggies like to use a hay tray, this alllows them to still forage as they naturally would. The do SOME but by no means all, wees and poos in this. I find mine poo around whereever they are, and as they are often eating, this is often the food bowl! I poo clear my cage once a day, sometimes twice if a poo mountain appears. (poo clearing literally means either scooping up all the poos, or shaking the poos off the fleece outside then replacing it.)

Please be aware, fleece will need to be washed 3 times before it will properaly wick away the wee to the underneath layer, and it should always be washed with powder but no soft rinse. :)

Hope that helped!
 
Thank you for your fantastic replies :)
Really helpful.

Also where do you buy your fleece from? I want to stock up on a few to give it a try.
I like the idea of poop a scooping daily too lol. That should keep all their little bullets away lol! x
 
I have got mine from various places, inc charity shops, primark, and dunelm. :)

If your really interested, i would seriously suggest you make some cage liners. If you want to but need a little more instruction PM me and i will explain/take pictures.

The liners mean there only one large thing to take out and wash, no fiddly putting together every clean out. It also mean no poos escape under the corners of the fleece and make a mess! :)
 
Connie said:
I have got mine from various places, inc charity shops, primark, and dunelm. :)

If your really interested, i would seriously suggest you make some cage liners. If you want to but need a little more instruction PM me and i will explain/take pictures.

The liners mean there only one large thing to take out and wash, no fiddly putting together every clean out. It also mean no poos escape under the corners of the fleece and make a mess! :)
Click to expand...

I make liner's


http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=75478&highlight=cageliners


http://guineapigcomforts.weebly.com/cage-liners.html
 
Heres a boarly one i made

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And a boarly fish bed lol

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I love how you said Boarly lol! :))
They look fab. How much is one like that then? x
 
Cant remember the measurements of that but they had 6!
went all the way to turkey! heres a price list
I add bits like elastic or ties if needed, are you planning on a C&C?

2x1 C&C / 69cm x 34xcm £15.00 plus postage
2x2 C&C / 69cm x 69cm £20.00 plus postage
2x3 C&C / 69cm x 105cm £25.00 plus postage
2x4 C&C / 69cm x 142cm £30.00 plus postage
2x5 C&C / 69cm x 181cm £50.00 plus postage
2x6 C&C / 69cm x 214cm £60-£70 plus postage
2x7 C&C / 69cm x 248cm £65-75 plus postage
3x3 C&C / 105cm x 105cm £30.00 plus postage
3x4 C&C / 105cmx 142cm £50.00 plus postage
3x5 C&C / 105cm x 181cm £60-£70 plus postage
3x6 C&C / 105cm x 214cm £65-75 plus postage
 
I have bought a few bits today to give the fleece a try to see if I like it and if the Regmeister likes it too :)

Will post some pics later x
 
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