inco pads?

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hot fox

hot fox

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Hello, I have a relatively new C&C enclosure, I'm using fleece on the top followed by a layer of newspaper and a layer of towels underneath. I'm finding we can only go 3-4 days until they need to be cleaned out, not because the top is wet, but because of the smell of wee! I've looked into the inco pads, our enclosure is 185 x 109 cm and the cost of 2 on and 2 in the wash would be £50, is it worth it?
Any comments on experiences with the inco pads would be gratefully received, how easy to wash, sourcing them etc.
Thanks so much
PS We have five Piggles by the way.
 
Yes, very much so.

However I do clean my piggies still every 4 days. They could probably go longer but as there in my bedroom. I think to keep them as clean as possible xx.
 
I agree they are most definalty worth the money! I bought four for my c&c and have two in the cage and 2 spares. I change the inco pads once a week as they dont smell and they absorb the urine very well.

:)
 
hot fox said:
I've looked into the inco pads, our enclosure is 185 x 109 cm and the cost of 2 on and 2 in the wash would be £50, is it worth it?
Click to expand...

My last comment what a bit blah and not helpful at all I now realise! I'll put it into perspective for you...

One set on and one set in the wash like you've said would mean that you could get away with changing once a week, although some people change 4 or 5 days in. But for this purpose we'll say once a week (which is what I do). The write up on them says they last for up to 200 washes, which potentially means 200 weeks use per set, which goes up to 400 weeks use because you'd have 2 sets, which is 7.69 years use! So cost over lifespan is £6.50 a year for the actual pads.

Then only thing is, because people haven't been using them for that long, we haven't established whether they actually last 200 washes!
 
I use the same washable inco pads and fleece for my 3 pigs in a 3 x 4 c & c. I use 2 pads and 2 quarter pads per set (so bought 5 in total). I cut one into quarters to fit the space I had. They cut really well and I just bought some bias binding to sew down the raw edge (hand sewing as no machine).
My pigs tend to wee across the back half of the cage so I change these pads every 3 days with the fleece and a full change every 6 days. I do a poop scoop twice a day. The inco pads wash well and I put some white vinegar in the rinse cycle which seems to help get rid of smells. I dry them overnight on an indoor airer (this is a huge benefit as far as I'm concerned because the towels could take 3 days to took up lots or airer space). I do find that they attract wayward hairs in the wash so need a run over with a sticky roller.
I also really like that the fleece lies very flat on the pads in the cage which makes it much easier to lay the fleece down and to sweep up poops and hay. As long as I keep to my 3/ 6 day routine for fleece changes I don't notice any smell of wee.

:)
 
What are they made of? Is it possible to make something exactly the size you want out of the same materials?
 
caviaporcellus said:
What are they made of? Is it possible to make something exactly the size you want out of the same materials?
Click to expand...

Hmmm I'm not quite sure. The top is soft and is quilted and the underneath is like a more plastic-y (but not actually plastic!) type material (to stop the wee soaking through). It must have a really absorbant wadding in the middle, but they aren't really thick. There were some threads made a while ago about a product called Zorb (I think?) which is really absorbant which people were talking about making their own, however it had to be shipped from the States and cost a lot.
 
I cut my inco pads up as I found the waterproof layer was heavy and made them really slow to dry... so I removed it and now use the fabric only.

It looks different from the zorb, the zorb looks like white felt whereas whatever is in the pads is coarser, but they both absorb unbelieavable amounts.

I had to pay more postage than you for the inco pads so I'm going for zorb next time :)
 
Newspaper too?

Thanks so much for all the helpful comments :)) Just one final question, as I've decided it's worth the investment. Would I still need a layer of newspaper between the fleece and the inco pads? It makes a crunchy sound when they walk on it at the mo! I think I'd rather have an overlap on the pad sizes, two smaller ones leave a gap and two large ones leave an overlap, is this cool? May do some more sums and fetch out my needle......Thanks again chaps!:a19:
 
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