Best type of Bedding/Flooring to lay throughout the cage

[PaulF]

I have C&C cage with 2 levels, i was thinking of making it with some blankets/towels as the flooring or if i should go with some type of bedding.. or natural material..?

my question is, whats the best thing to use to lay throughout the entire cage?

Is Blankets the best idea? if so, what type of material?

Is bedding/natural flooring better? What type of materials?



What do you guys use for the flooring/bedding?

[piggiesinpa]

Please look at the 'bedding' section of this forum:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/bedding/

You may be able to find plenty of answers there! Check out the Fleece project threads!

[GailtheGuineaPg]

I love using fleece bedding, and I highly suggest that you read the post piggiesinpa linked you to. The only downside is daily pickups around the cage, but it's very manageable with a hand vac. I wash about once a week, along with the towels that it is layered upon.

[PaulF]

Thanks both of you!

I was leaning more towards a fleece or some time of material that I could throw in the wash and re-use to put down costs of the natural flooring.

Plus PetSmart is kinda pricey and about 30 minutes away..

[PaulF]

I've been reading and definately think I'll go out and buy some FLEECE!! =D

[jilovecavies]

I highly highly highly recommend using fleece! My fiance and I tried Carefresh with the piggies and we soon realized with the size of their cage, it'd get very messy and expensive quickly. Buy fleece by the yard at Joann's or Hancock fabrics and then wash it and dry it (without a dryer sheet!). The more you wash and dry it, the better it works, I've found. We put a couple layers of old but relatively thick towels underneath and double layer the fleece. The pigs LOVE how soft it feels on their little footsies!

One thing that I would suggest is having separate hay areas that have just towels and not fleece because the hay doesn't stick to towels nearly as badly as it does to fleece...this saves us a lot of time trying to vacuum/shake/sweep small pieces of hay to no avail.

Your piggies will love their new condo!

[PaulF]

Originally Posted by jilovecavies

I highly highly highly recommend using fleece! My fiance and I tried Carefresh with the piggies and we soon realized with the size of their cage, it'd get very messy and expensive quickly. Buy fleece by the yard at Joann's or Hancock fabrics and then wash it and dry it (without a dryer sheet!). The more you wash and dry it, the better it works, I've found. We put a couple layers of old but relatively thick towels underneath and double layer the fleece. The pigs LOVE how soft it feels on their little footsies!

One thing that I would suggest is having separate hay areas that have just towels and not fleece because the hay doesn't stick to towels nearly as badly as it does to fleece...this saves us a lot of time trying to vacuum/shake/sweep small pieces of hay to no avail.

Your piggies will love their new condo!

GREAT!! Thanks so much!

I'm getting fleece! already have my mind set on it! I just thought of the costs and cleanliness of it being in my bedroom.

Also, currently i have bunch of towels because I have not gotten the chance to get lenoleum yet to lay down for the main flooring. once that is set then i'll get the fleece and yes, buy it by the yard and i'll buy plenty, not to mention i already have like 5 king size fleece blankets laying around.. so.. I'm looking forward to getting my new cage completed!

Just got my piggy week ago and already i know he is happy!! =D

[pigsforlife]

I used to use aspen and still recommend it too people. Aspen is great, it soaks up the urine, has no aromatic-oils and is generally easy to maintain. I did find that when it got wet it stuck to things and was harder to clean out. SO I changed to fleece, fleece is FANTASTIC!!! What fleece does is wicks the urine through to the bottom of the cage which is why you need some sort of underlay, I use newspaper and towels. The towels for example soak up the urine whilst the fleece stays dry, a good link was given to you.

[PaulF]

Originally Posted by pigsforlife

I used to use aspen and still recommend it too people. Aspen is great, it soaks up the urine, has no aromatic-oils and is generally easy to maintain. I did find that when it got wet it stuck to things and was harder to clean out. SO I changed to fleece, fleece is FANTASTIC!!! What fleece does is wicks the urine through to the bottom of the cage which is why you need some sort of underlay, I use newspaper and towels. The towels for example soak up the urine whilst the fleece stays dry, a good link was given to you.

Yes, I will be purchasing some fleece within a week or so, or atleast before the new piggy comes in cuz i really need to finish the cage before the fleece and get the fleece before the second piggy.

Thanks guys!! I'm learning that fleece is the way to go! =D

[jilovecavies]

Hehe, I remember when I went to Joann's to get a few yards of fleece the lady that cuts the fleece asked me what I was using it for...when I told her it was for guinea pig bedding, the look on her face was PRICELESS! Unconventional methods are quite often the best!

[PaulF]

Yes I agree!! hope to get a funny response too! =D

[camende]

Paul...

There's alot of good information about fleece in the fleece projects threads. I currently have a very large cage and I am spending $200 a month on Carefresh. When I get back from vacation in a couple weeks, I am converting the cage (and expanding it for 3 more piggies that I am adopting) to fleece.

I don't know where you live, but I was in a fabric store the other day checking out the patterns for the fleece. They had a bin of fleece blankets for $5 each. I am going to go back there on thursday and buy some. I figure I can always use them for the bottom layer of fleece and buy the more expensive fleece for the top. I think most people recommend 2 layers for fleece.

I also found some mattress pads at Walmart for $12...They also had some on sale for $9.99 but I liked the feel of the $12 mattress pads. The mattress pads are for under the fleece.

I've seem some people post that the fleece doesn't wick properly or it shrinks after they cut it. I suspect those people might not washed the fleece enough before they used it. I'm planning on following the procedures in the fleece project thread. They are very detailed and give alot of advice!

Good luck!!

[envisionary333]

Originally Posted by jilovecavies

Hehe, I remember when I went to Joann's to get a few yards of fleece the lady that cuts the fleece asked me what I was using it for...when I told her it was for guinea pig bedding, the look on her face was PRICELESS!

LOL!!! The same thing happened to me. I brought the fleece to the cutting table and told her I wanted to use it in my guinea pig cage. She thought that was very odd, so I explained to her how it is used. Then she said, "Oh, so you probably only need a small square of it then." I told her that I would actually need 5 yards since my guinea pig cage is 55 square feet! Now everyone at that store calls me the "guinea pig lady."

[jilovecavies]

Originally Posted by envisionary333

LOL!!! The same thing happened to me. I brought the fleece to the cutting table and told her I wanted to use it in my guinea pig cage. She thought that was very odd, so I explained to her how it is used. Then she said, "Oh, so you probably only need a small square of it then." I told her that I would actually need 5 yards since my guinea pig cage is 55 square feet! Now everyone at that store calls me the "guinea pig lady."

Isn't it amazing how many misconceptions there are about piggies? Tee hee hee. Man, I can't wait until we have a house and I can devote that much space to my piggies! Good for you!

[longboardskier]

If the fleece wicks the urine down to the bottom where there are towels, don't the towels get really smelly?? We used to just use cotton towels for their bedding, but switched to aspen because we had to clean their cage every other night.

Does the top layer of fleece keep the smell in so that the towels underneath don't stink?

Right now we use aspen because it keeps the smell down and we only have to clean maybe twice a week. Convince me to use fleece!

[jilovecavies]

Fleece is SO amazing, and so so so much cheaper than disposable bedding.

I actually switched from towels under the fleece to a folded mattress pad under the fleece and my pigs LOVE it! They're constantly romping around their cage because it's so fluffy.

The fleece pulls the urine down to the towel or mattress pad or whatever you have under the fleece and it's a lot less smelly than when I was using Carefresh. We clean the cage once a week and pick up the poops once or twice a day.

You can learn a little bit more about fleece here.

Also, browsing through the bedding forum here might be useful.

Feel free to ask any questions! I'm not a fleece expert but I'll help as much as I can. I highly recommend it!

[John4216]

I use Fleece but in combination with paper and aspen. The top layer is fleece and under it I put paper and than Aspen under it and lastly paper on the bottom of the cage. The wetness soaks through to the paper and it gets disposed of every night and the aspen helps to keep any smells down. Plus I change the fleece every night as well so there is usually not any problems with the smell. Plus the paper is free from the recycling center.

[jilovecavies]

Cleaning the cage every night sounds like a lot of unnecessary work...could you do it less frequently? That's nice of you though, to give your piggie(s) a fresh home every day.