Saw Dust or fleece

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piggieboys

piggieboys

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Right I have always used saw dust for bedding and I know you can also use hay but its working out very expensive and Ive noticed a lot of you are using fleeces. Never known this before I joined the forum.

Questions are

1. is it a special type of fleece
2. Do you need anything underneath like news paper or anything
3. does it stain quickly with the weeing and that
4. how often would it have to be changed. two piggies at the most in one cage.
5. Also can I use it for a rabbit as well so i dont have to buy sawdust anymore.
6. if there not use to it will they try to bite it

Would be very grateful of your answers, its probably been covered before in other threads but I'm hopeless at searching for stuff.
 
1. Just normal 100% polyester fleece. But you do have to make sure that you don't use fabric softener on it otherwise the wee won't wick down through the fleece and will sit on the surface and stay wet. Primark and supermarkets sell cheap fleece blankets/throws which are perfect.
2. Yes you need an absorbent layer to soak up the wee - some use newspaper but I think something like towels/mattress topper/incontinence pads is much better)
3 & 4. I change my fleeces once a week and they don't really stain. I do put some hay in a litter tray lined with newspaper and they do a lot of their wees in there so it spares the fleece. Also as long as the cage is big enough and the bedding is changed often enough I doubt the fleece would stain (although some of the old towels which I use underneath have got quite stained as they take most of the wee.) It's a good idea to spot clean every day, picking up poos, but I'd say a full clean can be left until 5-7 days.
5. Never had a rabbit...not sure!
6. My pigs have never tried to eat the fleece.

I love using fleece and would definitely recommend that you try it.
 
Thanks so much for your advice I'm gonna try it, they have never used a litter tray, didnt know they used them haha though they just poop and wee when they want in the cage, my rabbit is litter trained but anyway I will give it a go and must remember not to use fabric softner thank you :)
 
i tried fleece - my piggies ate it! especially one piggy who eat towels ect.

so I'm still using dust free wood shavings - i wish i didnt hav to cs I'm sure on fleece theyd b happier & cleaner but i know it will harm them if i leave it in with them.

Give it a go - no harm in trying ! Especially as theres so many on here using it !

Good luck & just keep an eye on them!

- oh and ive only ever seen vet bedding used on rabbits but i cant see why * cudnt use fleece
 
piggieboys said:
Thanks so much for your advice I'm gonna try it, they have never used a litter tray, didnt know they used them haha though they just poop and wee when they want in the cage, my rabbit is litter trained but anyway I will give it a go and must remember not to use fabric softner thank you :)
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Well I think I may have misled you a bit about the litter tray, so I should explain!....

...As you've found, guinea pigs usually just wee and poo all over their cage, wherever they like. That's completely normal! It's almost impossible to litter train guinea pigs but they do often have their favourite spots where they like to pee/poo most.

I put a smallish shallow-sided plastic cat litter tray (with newspaper and hay) in one corner of their cages and that's where they poo/wee most (along with under they hidey houses). Every day I scoop up the odd poos dotted around the rest of the cage and clean out the tray. Above the tray they always have fresh hay for eating which is either hanging in one those metal food cage ball thingys or in a hayrack, so they like to graze at the fresh hay above whilst pooing in the tray below! They do often nibble at the hay in the tray (and like to lie in it sometimes!) but it's changed daily so never gets too yucky.
 
1. is it a special type of fleece
no thinner fleece works just as well
2. Do you need anything underneath like news paper or anything
I put towels under to soak pee up (darker ones are better as you cant see the color of pee
3. does it stain quickly with the weeing and that
I ve used light green and light blue they didnt stain. Right now i used dark green fleece. Towels should be a dark color if you dont want to see pee etc
4. how often would it have to be changed. two piggies at the most in one cage.
I change every 2 3 days
5. Also can I use it for a rabbit as well so i dont have to buy sawdust anymore.
I cant think of a reason you shouldn't be able to
6. if there not use to it will they try to bite it
Dont think so
 
piggieboys said:
Thanks I will keep an eye on them and see how it goes
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Hey piggieboys, i noticed your from warrington. So am I! :D I work in Beech House vets in warrington and have recently started running free Guinea Pig Clinics, I love to have lots of piggies in to see me so feel free to bring them in :D
 
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