Indoor Bedding?

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Abby&Piggies

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I just got my piggies Monday and they live in a large c&c cage, the only problem is, it uses so much wood shavings to keep topped up to a comfortable level, ive already used a biggish bag in just a few days!

I was thinking about fleece for them as i think this would be easier to keep clean? Also my piggies havent quite mastered turning corners when running around so flick the wood shavings everywhere!

Anyone got any recommendations? Or advice i youve used fleece e.g. does it smell worse than wood shavings, does it get too wet ect

Thanks :)
 
I tried fleece with my four indoor girls but it wasn't for me-they burrowed constantly and having a bad back it was hard work-shaking it out, washing and bull dog clipping 3 times a week.

They now live on thick layers of newspaper, small sprinkling of wood shavings-mainly around the edges and hay on top. They love it! They also have snuggle sacks and a couple of squares of loose fleece. It's so easy to roll it all up and I find it doesn't smell any worse than fleece did.

I'm not sure it's good for Piggys to burrow through wood shavings as thick as you describe.
 
I use fleece. I have one layer of towels and two layers of fleece. I think it is the best bedding I have used. I change it every three days and collect poops three times a day.
 
like piggyfan i use fleece and have been for 18months+. Ive got 5 cages that all use fleece and i do a full clean out every 4 days. Ive got a cylinder vacuum cleaner and i hoover the poops up once a day - normally before tea time veggies, so when i hoover the piggies know that yum yums is not far away.

With my set up i use washable bad pads in some cages and cotton mattress toppers in others underneath the fleece. Ive sewn my fleece to the pads underneath so when it comes to cleaning out time i just give the blankets a quick shake outside and pop them in to my wash bag and wash them in my washing machine.

This is the wash bag i use:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260920359147?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Putting all the bedding to be washed in the wash bag means that no hay or hair ends up in my washer drum, so my washer stays nice and clean.

When it comes to fleece and getting hay stuck to it, i use cheap cat litter trays and put hay in hay racks above the litter trays. Any falling hay lands in the litter trays. I line the litter trays with woodshavings and top it with hay - these get fully cleaned out when i do my main clean out every 4 days.

The things i hated with wood shavings was the smell and mess - it got kicked/dragged everywhere - plus my house smelt like a pet shop ewwwww :)>>>

If maintained correctly - fleece is a very cheap and easy bedding method, it's also a great way to brighten up the piggie cages ;) Any urine/liquid is absorbed through the fleece and so the top fleece layer is always dry to the touch.
 
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& my piggies wood shavings are only a couple of cm deep but as my cage is a 2x6 c&c it takes lots to fill even to this level.


I like the wash bag thats a good idea, So do you just put like newpaper or something underneath to absord the urine or is there something particular i need to put underneath? I think it seems easier to maintain as hoovering up poops is much easier than trying to poop scoop every day! Doyou find that it smells? Ive only had my piggies since Monday (first ones) and they dont smell at the moment

Thanks!
 
I think fleece can be high maintenance as you tend to want to get the poos off everyday to keep it looking good. Plus my washing machines on enough as it is without washing fleece every other day.

I'm lucky that I have quite a few people save all their newspapers for me. Thank god-we have an outdoor hutch that uses it too.

Are your Piggys babies?
I find they don't smell much but it changes when they get older.
 
Hiya, I have only had our piggies 2 months but already I am a big fan of fleece! Like you, I have a C&C cage which was single story initially. So I had fleece on to of Huggies bed mats (no correx) and just sitting on a tiled floor. I had 2 litter trays which the piggies used a lot but not all the time.

Brilliant - no smell at all - very easy to shake off the poop each day (I only did that once a day) and I changed the fleece every 4 or 5 days (about a 15 minute job) and the bed mats did me a good 10 days. the fleece was always bone dry and not smelly at all. I wash it on a 60 degree wash.


Then I decided to build a hayloft - thinking that the piggies would love this more natural environment. so I kept the fleece/bed mat arrangement downstairs and have Carefresh with hay on top upstairs.

It is really expensive - the piggies have largely stopped using the litter trays, finding it much better to pee and poop all over the hay so I am totally replacing the hay every 2 days to stop it getting smelly and so they have clean hay to eat and it seems wasteful and expensive.


They love springing about on the freshly replaced hay when I change it - but surprisingly they mainly use it for eating and toilets and prefer to sleep on the fleece. With the hay - you cannot just shake off/pick out the poops - the whole lot has to get chucked out, whereas with the fleece you can totally remove the poop and see exactly where it is.

I have tried the puppy pads (I got the poundstretchers ones) but I am not finding them nearly as good as the bed mats. Mine is a 5foot by 2 foot cage and 2 bedmats fit perfectly. 3 puppy pads cover the length but still don't cover the width. Plus the bed mats absorb far more. Luckily I stocked up when Tesco had them on offer at £2.39 a pack.



Anyway - yes fleece is a brilliant option for me and I hope you find it as good as I do!
 
Abby&Piggies said:
& my piggies wood shavings are only a couple of cm deep but as my cage is a 2x6 c&c it takes lots to fill even to this level.


I like the wash bag thats a good idea, So do you just put like newpaper or something underneath to absord the urine or is there something particular i need to put underneath? I think it seems easier to maintain as hoovering up poops is much easier than trying to poop scoop every day! Doyou find that it smells? Ive only had my piggies since Monday (first ones) and they dont smell at the moment

Thanks!
Click to expand...


I use washable bed pads underneath my fleece:

bed pads

Ive also used 100% cotton topped mattress toppers under my fleece.

cotton toppers

When i first switched to fleece, i just used a bunch of old towels under the fleece. i know some people use disposable puppy pads and dry nites pads used for young children under their fleece material also - so there are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to the underneath layer. I'm not sure about just newspaper underneath - i would imagine this would smell quite quickly :)>>>

I personally don't notice any smell from my fleece, but then again i do fully clean mine out every 4th day - any longer and I'm sure they would start to whiff a bit.

When you buy your fleece make sure you wash and dry it at least 3-4 times before first use. There is a protective barrier on the fleece that stops the urine/liquid from wicking through to the absorbent layer beneath - washing/drying it several times removes this layer.

initial outlay can be pricey - but in the long run, the savings are immense. ive got 10 pigs and 5 litter trays that i clean out every 4 days, a large bale of woodshavings lasts me a few months...
 
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Thanks all!

Yes they are still young, 8 weeks :-)

I think fleece is sounding like a good option, sounds much cheaper and easier! i will still give them a hay section for sleeping if they choose and they have a hay rack so they'll always still have access to this :-)

youve all helped lots, thank you x)
 
Thats good sodapops!

i dont have a sewing machine though :red :(

do you mind me asking where you got your fleece from? i can only dfind biggish ones but theyre really expensive

:)
 
I like vet bed for the winter with towels and puppy pads under and for the summer megazorb :D
 
i get my fleece from ebay, i normally buy per metre - but ive bought fleece blankets from poundstretcher and sainsburys in the past. I think the two pack of fleece blankets i bought from poundstretcher cost about £4.00 and the ones from sainsburys i bought when they had a sale on.

fleece

Ive heard that poundland do fleece blankets - also places like b&m and home bargains dunelm mill, ikea do fleece blankets :)
 
Bekki2308 said:
I like vet bed for the winter with towels and puppy pads under and for the summer megazorb :D
Click to expand...

I use vetbed for one of my cages - very good stuff, but it can be pricey...depends on where you go, my last lot cost £45 for three 150 x 70 pieces :{
 
Sodapops said:
I use vetbed for one of my cages - very good stuff, but it can be pricey...depends on where you go, my last lot cost £45 for three 150 x 70 pieces :{
Click to expand...

Mine are 140x70 and that cost me £30 for two but compared to a cage liner for example from somebody like pawsup its cheaper :D

Its fab stuff like especially for the winter :D
 
Abby&Piggies said:
do you mind me asking where you got your fleece from? i can only dfind biggish ones but theyre really expensive

:)
Click to expand...

There are quite a few places that sell fleeces for a bit cheaper; primark; Dunelm do some really nice sized ones on there value range; Ikea if you have one near- not 100% sure but I think they sell the same or at least very similar to the Dunelm fleeces; most the supermarkets sell value fleece- I bought some from Tesco yesterday for £3 (individually they don't fit my cage but I sew two together and they fully fit my cage); and I think pound stretcher do some. That's all the stores I can think of right now :(|) there are more but my mind has gone blank.

Some people prefer to go for dearer fleeces- personally I prefer sticking with the cheaper ones and then replacing them every six monthish- for me moving to fleece was largely because of money so it seemed slightly counter productive to be spending large amounts on cage liners or expensive fleece. But bear in mind you get what you pay for- the fleece I use works well but I'm in no doubt the more expensive fleeces would probably be better. Just largely up to what you want to do. Well I've gone very off topic now :D.
 
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Hi
I'm new and taking on board all the great tips on here :))
Would old baby blankets made of fleece do the trick? Do you just have say 3 or 4 different ones and wash them every couple of days. Must admit I wasn't looking forward to all that sawdust! would NEVER have thought of fleece
 
The2DsMum said:
Hi
I'm new and taking on board all the great tips on here :))
Would old baby blankets made of fleece do the trick? Do you just have say 3 or 4 different ones and wash them every couple of days. Must admit I wasn't looking forward to all that sawdust! would NEVER have thought of fleece
Click to expand...

I would have thought old baby blankets would be fine as long as they've been washed properly and not over used :). Personally I had two/ three sets (sets being enough fleece for the whole cage and the towels I used under them) and then I'd rotate every 5 - 7 days so whilst one set was being used the other would be washed and dried ready for day 5 to be swapped and used in the cage. Worked well but had to make sure it is clean and dry in time.
 
Thanks that fabric link is fab seen loads i love already! :))

Thanks for all the links and advce where to get my fleeces, very helpful :D

I think ill go for fleece and a matress topper or that other stuff forgot what its called now,

Can you use a matress topper without them being stitched together? and do you just use topper then fleece?

x)
 
Abby&Piggies said:
Thanks that fabric link is fab seen loads i love already! :))

Thanks for all the links and advce where to get my fleeces, very helpful :D

I think ill go for fleece and a matress topper or that other stuff forgot what its called now,

Can you use a matress topper without them being stitched together? and do you just use topper then fleece?

x)
Click to expand...

Ive used just mattress toppers underneath fleece without them being sewn together - make sure you get 100% cotton topped mattress toppers. Get some bulldog clips and clip the fleece to the mattress topper ;) Or depending on your cage type you could cut the topper to the exact size of the bottom of your cage them go for a bigger fleece and trap the edges of the fleece between your cage base and bars (i hope this makes sense)
 
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