Fleece Pigs Eating Fleece - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

**johnsonboys** · #1 07-08-09, 04:12 pm

My friend Pridecity and I both have rooms dedicated to pigs. My cage is a little bigger, roughly 4 feet by 8 feet. Pride's is about 4.5 feet by 5 feet. I currently have four guinea pigs, one that turned out to be a girl. Pride has six, all boys.

My question is, her pigs like to chew on fleece. They always have food, and the cage is large enough, I think. Is there a way to use fleece without the pigs chewing on it? We are both using a mixture of Carefresh, aspen bedding, and Eco-bedding right now because of the problem she has with her pigs and the fleece. The problem is that I know I use close to $150 of bedding every month. I wanted to increase the cage using a second level, but the thought of the money on bedding for two levels...

I don't know what Pridecity pays, but it must be near what I pay.

Is there an alternative that would be cheaper? Or is there a way to stop them from chewing? I have never used fleece but am afraid that I will have the same problem as Pride. Ideas?

**trump_cinnamon** · #2 07-08-09, 05:17 pm

How much of the fleece did they eat? They might have just been wondering what the new material was, and nibbled/ chewed it a little to figure it out.

**johnsonboys** · #3 07-08-09, 05:20 pm

I know she has a guinea pig that likes to eat just about anything. I told her she has five pigs and a goat in a guinea pig suit. He will sit there and eat just about anything like it is hay.

I don't know if it was just the edges or if he chose a spot and made holes though.

**trump_cinnamon** · #4 07-08-09, 05:24 pm

Ask her, because if they were just nibbling, then it would probably be not much of a problem. Something that she could do to make it hard for him to eat is make sure no edges are exposed of the fleece. Some people put bricks around the inside edges of the cage to hold the fleece down.

**johnsonboys** · #5 07-11-09, 02:17 pm

She is in the hospital this week, but I saw her today (and stole her laptop). She said it was mainly the edges and they would pull the fleece down and tunnel underneath. She only had a few hidey houses at the time. So, maybe if we use bricks and make sure there are enough houses for each pig, plus a few extra it will help? I know with fish (we both founded a fish rescue) that if you give each cichlid a hiding place plus a few extra, it helps with the aggression.

**rabbitsncavyluv** · #6 07-11-09, 02:19 pm

Does she have access to hay at all times?

**akstrohm** · #7 07-11-09, 02:30 pm

A bit of chewing is okay as long as the pig is not actually ingesting a lot of fleece (and I doubt that it is). I assume that you and your friend are providing a high quality grass hay at all times for them to chew on.

I would not let this discourage you from using fleece, especially since you have such a large cage. I think fleece would work out really well for you. There is a sticky in the bedding forum called the fleece project that explains how to use fleece. Basically you have to prepare it by washing it a few times. Then you place it over a few layers of towels or mattress pads. The fleece wicks liquid through, so it stays dry on top. Read over the sticky for more details.

As far as the burrowing, you can either clip the fleece to the sides of the cage so the pigs can't get under there, or you can place hideys, bricks, or other objects in the corners and along the sides to hold it down.

Anyway, I think fleece would save you a *ton* of money, so I would definitely look into it. The pigs love it too, and it would probably be much easier to clean. I'm sure your pigs absolutely love having such a large cage.

**johnsonboys** · #8 07-11-09, 10:06 pm

They do have hay. I will be going to this feed store near me to see about their hay. Petsmart is too expensive for so little hay. I am babysitting Pride's pigs too, so I have 10 guinea pigs in all right now to care for.

I was thinking that maybe if we can solve any nibbling problems with fleece, than I will change out her cage before she gets back. I think bricks will work. All I have to do is try to get a ton of them for both cages. Pride has been wanting to switch from coroplast to vinyl like I have, so if the brick work, I will suprise her with redoing her cage.

I've read the fleece project thread and am willing to do the work. I was just so worried about them eating it. I think with my pigs, I'm going to give them a few cups more veggies when I switch to fleece and hope that they are more interested in eating extra food than eating the fleece. I know when I used Yesterday's News, they thought it was food and ate it along with the pellets. I have two very young pigs, so maybe they were just testing it out?

**akstrohm** · #9 07-12-09, 12:38 pm

Yeah, they probably were just curious. As long as you provide unlimited high quality hay, I highly doubt you will have a problem with them chewing it. For the burrowing, do you have plenty of hideys (one for each pig plus an extra or two)?

Why do you prefer vinyl to coroplast?

**johnsonboys** · #10 08-14-09, 04:26 pm

I will need to get more hideys now because my group just increased by eleven. I'll need to get about a zillion more things including water bottles, food dishes, pigloos, and veggies.

I use the vinyl because it was cheaper. I had about six rolls of it at the warehouse where my fish rescue is. I figured free was better than $100 in coroplast. If I do second levels, I'll have to use coroplast, but for now the vinyl is better economically.

**lissie** · #11 08-16-09, 12:59 am

Have you shop around for coroplast? I got a 4'x8' sheet for $10 from this place. GE Polymershapes, Branch Locator
They have a location in Denver too.

I've used vinyl before. I think coroplast is a lot easier to clean.

If you don't want to buy coroplast, you can still add second level. Put some cardboard on the cage grid floor and top with vinyl.