The Fleece Project: The Study

[SoCalCavies]

I'll say it again - BUY TERRY FLEECE! I have none of these problems!

[TX_2_Pigs]

Originally Posted by SoCalCavies

I'll say it again - BUY TERRY FLEECE! I have none of these problems!

Where? When I ask, noone seems to know what I am talking about. They barely even know what fleece is.

[webjetter]

"How do you tuck in? I have nothing it would tuck into. I have a 3'x4' cage with the coroplast on the inside of the bars and the coroplast goes up 6" all the way around."

Hi ... I tuck my fleece over the coroplast so it's between that and the wire grid. It works perfect.

[SoCalCavies]

Originally Posted by TX_2_Pigs

Where? When I ask, noone seems to know what I am talking about. They barely even know what fleece is.

Don't worry! No one knew what I was talking about either. In fact, I didn't even know it existed! I happened across it by complete accident when I bought what I thought was normal polar fleece from a nearby fabric store. It wasn't until the owner of the store happened to be in there when I was, that she was able to tell me what the stuff actually was. One side is terrycloth, the other side is fleece. I have polar fleece, as well, but it doesn't work anything CLOSE to how well the terry-fleece works.

I would suggest talking to someone who actually owns a fabric store near you, or can tell you who orders their fleece. It's out there! And believe me, it's worth finding. (It's cheaper too! Mine cost around $3/sq ft, if I remember correctly, as opposed to $7 for polar fleece.)

Good luck!

[michellegaskin]

I have a question. I am having a time keeping the fleece in place. Do you have any sugestions? Thank you so very much.

[gpigluver14]

I am temporarily using clothespins to hold the fleece in place. I will use some large binder clips once I get some. You can clip them to the chloroplast or the grids.

[CavyDiva]

Originally Posted by Naomi

how do you stop them from burrowing under it?

How about adding extra fleece in so they burrow under that instead? I think I might even make some cuddle cups out of the fleece as well. And they love paper bags (lunch size and bigger)! I just toss them when they get soiled.

***Gonna hafta face it, I'm addicted to wheeks!***

[Naomi]

Thanks, I have been using fleece for sometime now and don't have burrowing problems, I just fold the fleece under the bottom layer (I use matress protectors) and they seem fine

[Pennyspiggies]

Excellent post!

[lyssapollock]

I have a few questions:

Is terry fleece the same as micro-terry fleece?

When sewing layers of batting between fleece is this cotton or polyester batting? AND When using one of these fleece-batting-fleece blankets is it necessary to layer towels, puppy pads, human pads, etc underneath?

[tyamar]

This is such a great post! I've been using aspen and carefresh and it gets kicked out of the cage all the time. I have a 1 year old son who I have to watch to make sure he doesn't eat any of it. That means constant sweeping on my part. The fleece idea will answer all of my issues. Also, I have a large amount of cloth diapers that I am not using for anything (never used them for diapers, just burp cloths and such) and they may be perfect as underbedding. I'll have to give it all a try and let everyone know how it works out. This whole site has been so great for me so far. A thousand kudos to you all!

[tyamar]

I just remembered! I have some bassinet-sized mattress pads as well. Those will be even better!

[webjetter]

I just LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEE the photo of the piggie that started this thread!! The way he/she is peeking out from under the fleece with that adorably funny look on its face makes me laugh out loud. cavy-cool-crazy, is that your gorgeous pigaroo?

[Jenni_Feathers]

i actually hate fleece even though i use it , it takes too much time to clean and gets dirty very quickly i think bedding is just easier and it dont cost much where i live i get 3.5 cubic feet which expands to 7.5 cubic feet for $5 at Orschlen Farm and Home, a local feed store and it lasts me a long time (2-3 weeks for guinea pigs and hamsters)

[cavy-cool-crazy]

Originally Posted by webjetter

I just LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEE the photo of the piggie that started this thread!! The way he/she is peeking out from under the fleece with that adorably funny look on its face makes me laugh out loud. cavy-cool-crazy, is that your gorgeous pigaroo?

Yep, that's my Tuppy! She's quite a popular girl.
I'm glad people are finding this thread useful. I need to get down to the Experiment part soon!

[Wichita&Abilene]

A very nice guide. I'll be following it to the letter tomorrow upgrading from carefresh to fleece and I'll post details of how it turns out!

[MissCin]

This is very helpful. Thank you very much

[^dawn^]

Yes it is! I thought I knew what I was doing until I read this. I used to come here as a guest a lot and decided to make sure I wasn't missing anything when I switched to fleece. It was a huge help. Thank you!

[kristinlove]

Would it be ok to use a cage with plywood on the bottom, then put down towels, and then put down fleece? Because I am going to start using fleece soon, and I plan on washing the towels and fleece once weekly. I only have one pigger and it's a 4'x3' cage.

And I hope once I start using fleece I can get pictures and stuff up here. It was veryyyy helpful, and yes, Tuppy is very cute.

[TX_2_Pigs]

Originally Posted by babysmurf305

Would it be ok to use a cage with plywood on the bottom, then put down towels, and then put down fleece?

If you are going to use the plywood, you will need to cover it with a shower curtain or plastic (like the stuff painters use for drop cloths) before you lay your towels and fleece down. Urine will make it all the way to the base layer.