Bedding: Goodbye FLEECE!

[3luckyducks]

I've had enough laundry! I gave fleece the boot and they are on a pine bedding/aspen mixture right now. I sprinkled hay around their whole cage and covered the kitchen floor with hay. They are in Piggie HEAVEN!
The fleece was nice but I just can't keep up with my own laundry let alone theirs. Now that summer is coming it's too hot to go outside and spend 30 minutes shaking hay off their bedding. It was just become too much of a chore. At least with the shavings I can change it whenever I want and don't have to wait for laundry.

So yeah, I am very happy right now! And thankfully, so are my baby boys.

[gooberific]

Last summer, I would put on the sprinkler for my son while I did the piggy laundry outside (since our washer/dryer is in our shed on the back patio, it worked out really well for us). I completely understand not wanting to do that in our summer heat.

Of course, sometimes my piggy laundry sits on the patio for a few days before I can get to it. I'm sooo thankful that I have a few sets for each cage now!

I'm glad your boys like the new bedding. Have they been knocking it out much?

[shamrockmommy]

Yay

I go between fleece with a litter box and shavings or carefresh as bedding. Sometimes when I've had enough of laundry or sweeping up poo-beans twice daily, I get out the shavings.

They sure do love a giant pile of hay when we do the shavings too

But then the bad side to shavings (for me, as I have 2 very large cages) is the 2 30 gallon trash bags I have to lug out once a week (and for trash we're only allowed 2 30 gal. bags per week).

[AB71651]

I switched from fleece to carefresh as well. I still have the two litter buckets that get the majority of the poops for easy cleaning. I did not mind spot sweeping with the fleece but my main problem was a burrower. One of my piggies, Lola, managed to find a way under the fleece no matter what I tried. She would be under the fleece wheeking while my other gp would sit on her. For her safety, and my sainity, I switched to carefresh.

[ferndalezoo]

An alternative to the "waiting for the laundry" thing is to have a few sets of the fleece bedding. I can change the bedding whenever, and not have to do the laundry right away if I don't have time at the moment.

[shamrockmommy]

Originally Posted by ferndalezoo

An alternative to the "waiting for the laundry" thing is to have a few sets of the fleece bedding. I can change the bedding whenever, and not have to do the laundry right away if I don't have time at the moment.

I do this too, and after finding way too adorable just have to have the print fleece, I am up to 4 changes! LOL

[Jasper_Hale]

I have at leaset 6 sets of fleece I use for beeding. When ever it's time to change the cage, I just get a piece of fleece out and now I never run out.

[Furry's Friend]

I have a couple of sets of fleece, too, which has been very handy. I keep a small trash can with a lid on the back porch to hold the dirty fleece bedding and extra pads. That way I don't have to wash bedding as soon as I take it out of the cage, and there's no smell in the house from the dirty bedding.

[AnimalFarm2006]

I have three cages. The girls has bedding, and when I run out of bedding, i use fleece. Fleece is a pain in the Butt compaired to bedding. I am going to look into getting a haft of sheet of chloro for my boys cages just so I can put them on shavings as well.

[greybear36]

I too struggle with the fleece. I love how it looks but it's the towels that take all the washing. Does everyone who uses towels underneath wash their towels at every change, as I do a full clean twice a week including all the towels for 2 cages? It's a lot of work for a working Mum

[Deenanicole08]

I love the cost effectiveness of the fleece, but I absolutely hate it. Lately I've just been throwing it away and getting new, which isnt cost effective at all. But its such a struggle cleaning it before I can put it in the washer.

[xxlizzybordenxx]

I really love the fleece and have been usuing it for a few months. To me its so much easier to just pick up some towels and fleece and throw them in the washer then scooping a ton of shavings that smell and fall all over my floor.

Also i changed to fleece and carefresh because my guinea had mites and the vet said i should get away from the woodshavings because bugs grow more easily in the shavings and they can also cause respiratory and skin problems in the guinea pig.

So yeah i can understand the not wanting to wash the fleece all the time but i would steer clear from the wood shaving/pine/cedar chips. and go for carefresh or something of that nature

[akstrohm]

Having a loft with shavings and all the hay keeps the fleece *much* cleaner. It's far easier than trying to get all the hay off of the fleece.

[snistopher]

I can understand how some people would despise fleece (besides the washing, fleece + hay = what nightmares are made of). But I think it's the best way to go, simply because of cost. I was spending about 100-150 a month for carefresh/aspen bedding, and now I hardly need to buy any (I only buy for the litter box below the hay rack). I must admit though, doing the changing of fleece is quite the pain.

[Ly&Pigs]

Fleece just isn't for everyone. Some people love it and some don't. I think the biggest problem for many is coming up with what fleece method works best for them. For me, it's mattress pads and fleece.

[auburnmare5]

I have heard that fleece needs to be cleaned often? Does this mean actually wash and dry, or just shaking it off daily?
How often should fleece be washed?

[snistopher]

Originally Posted by auburnmare5

I have heard that fleece needs to be cleaned often? Does this mean actually wash and dry, or just shaking it off daily?
How often should fleece be washed?

I change (meaning, remove, wash, and replace with freshly washed fleece) their bedding every week or so (7-9 days). Otherwise, I clean it (with a hand vacuum) about 3-4 times a day, just to keep it clean and odor free

[EvanInEyePatch]

Yeah, I recently disposed of my fleece as well. My Pigs developed a case of mites from the soap not washing from the fleece well enough. Now my pigs cage is all shavings, and they seem happier! How they keep warm is a build-a-bear workshop dog bed.

[ferndalezoo]

Your pigs can't "catch" mites from fleece. They can catch it from bedding such as aspen, if it's infested to begin with. They can't "catch" mites from soap. There aren't mites IN soap. The only way for pigs to catch mites is from infected piggies or infested bedding.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

That doesn't make sense. If there were mite eggs on the fleece, they originated from your guinea pigs so they had to have mites anyway. Mite eggs do not survive off the host either way.