How often do you change your fleece? + Beginner Questions

Doragon

Doragon

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
May 5, 2015
Messages
950
Reaction score
1,323
Points
675
Location
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Hiya! I currently have three females in a ...2x4 (I do hope that’s the right way around) C&C and I’ve just made the swap to fleece this week. They’ve had the fleece down since Sunday! I poop pick and sweep up the hay twice a day, once before I feed in morning and last thing I do before going to sleep. Oh, I should mention I’m looking to upgrade and add a loft area next month! I’ll be adding a 2x2 loft, which I’ll mainly use as a food area.

Today the fleece is really smelling (sorry, piggies!) so I’m just wondering if it’s normal to swap and wash the fleece every 4-5 days ish? Sadly I don’t have another fleece yet as the second set hasn’t arrived, but thankfully I do have some extra wood shavings I can use for a day or so while I get their fleece dry again.

Another beginner question, but - I know I can’t tumble dry fleece, but is a heated airer okay? I’ll use a tiny bit of laundry detergent in the wash, no comforter. Spin cycle as much as I can and then heated airer to finish? I struggle to get things dry in my flat without the airer so just wanted to be sure :)

Oh, the fleece is currently loosing the ability to hold in liquid in one spot, near the hay bag - I’m presuming it’s because most of the pee is there and that’s normal? I think what I’ll do tonight (waiting on my laundry to dry 😂) is swap them back into wood shavings and wash the fleece once this set of washing is dry!
 
A 2x4 is a bit small for 3 piggies, so you might be better adding your new loft on the side at floor level as not all piggies will use a ramp and a loft- upper levels dont count towards the overall floor space- only 3 of my 6 use their loft area! More floor space might help keep the fleece cleaner.
We change our fleece twice a week, every 3-4 days. If you have a proper absorbent fleece cage liner, it should mostly soak up 3-4 days of pee without smelling, but we have a washable puppy mat underneath in the high traffic cage areas. Other people often use incontinence mattress protectors the same way. Or, you could buy some smaller fleece pads to sit on top of the floor fleece in the wettest places, and change those more frequently.
Possibly if your fleece is new, it hasnt been washed enough to wick away the wee properly, all fleece liners improve in absorbency with repeated washing!
Its useful to have 2 or even 3 changes of fleece if you can to allow for the washing and drying :)
 
Ahhh I see thank you! I need to pop into work later anyway, so I’ll pick up some puppy pads for the high traffic areas I think! And that’s a good idea. I wasn’t planning on three in there originally, the third piggy was a single from work - I didn’t want her to stay single so I just merged her in with my herd, whoopsie-

I will definitely try and put the loft area on the side, I haven’t bought it yet thankfully! Il check how much floor space I have when I get the stand today - I bought a stand in order to slide hamster cages underneath to give me hopefully more floor space and be able to do expansions! But I’ll definitely grab puppy pads for today :) thank you!
 
DoragonHinansho said:
I....wasn’t aware you’re meant to put anything down underneath. The seller said you just needed to put the fleece down as it’s supposed to be waterproof -
Click to expand...
So do you have a commercially made fleece pad?

The fleece allows moisture to be pulled through by an absorbent layer beneath. The absorbent layer retains the moisture so the fleece remains dry. If you hav3 a commercially made pad then there will be an absorbent layer of something. If you are just using a piece of fleece then you need something underneath it.

When you say it isn’t holding the pee in one spot, what is happening here? If you push down on a newly wet area you will get some wet pushing back up through the fleece but if it is sitting on top of the fleece and not soaking through at all, that takes more thought. Might be as simple as putting something else there in addition.

I change mine about weekly. I don’t think it smells but I could have gone blind to it!
 
I have 2 boars in a 2x5 C&C cage I don't use fleece as I use vet bed with newspaper and puppy pads underneath. I spot clean twice daily in the morning at breakfast time and in the evening just before I go to bed it only takes me 5 minutes.

I love vet bed as its so easy to do a full cage clean quick brush down to get the hay and hair off then wash in the washing machine at 40 degrees with non bio detergent and some white vinegar then hang over the radiator and its dry within the hour. I do this twice weekly.

My boys love it as its nice and warm and they snuggle right into it but the best bit is there is no smell and mess.
 
Tigermoth said:
So do you have a commercially made fleece pad?

The fleece allows moisture to be pulled through by an absorbent layer beneath. The absorbent layer retains the moisture so the fleece remains dry. If you hav3 a commercially made pad then there will be an absorbent layer of something. If you are just using a piece of fleece then you need something underneath it.

When you say it isn’t holding the pee in one spot, what is happening here? If you push down on a newly wet area you will get some wet pushing back up through the fleece but if it is sitting on top of the fleece and not soaking through at all, that takes more thought. Might be as simple as putting something else there in addition.

I change mine about weekly. I don’t think it smells but I could have gone blind to it!
Click to expand...

Oh, what I mean was the pee seems to begin to soak through the other side of the fleece - so it's meant to have an absorbent layer inside, and it only gets wet underneath in particularly busy areas, such as hideys and under the igloo areas.

It really smells right now. I ordered multiple fleece at the same time, but only one set has turned up at this moment. I stupidly thought that this one sheet would be alright until the others turned up, but apparently not, haha! I'm going to take the fleece out and swap back to woodshavings just until the rest of the fleece turns up I think :)

I could pick up some vetbed today though, we have some at work! Hmm...wondering if it's better to grab vet bed for another spare?
 
I’ve got fleece (probably like yours since it’s pretty absorbant for the most part) with cheap bath towels only under the parts where their hides are or where I know they tend to pee. I change every 4 days (occasionally 3) so 4-5 sounds pretty good to me 👍🏻
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top