Fleece: Dirty Cage - Parents Don't Like it!

[CavyLuver516]

I have a bit of a problem... Long story short, Shelia and Brownie's cage went 2 weeks without cleaning because I was gone and my mom had every intention not to clean it. I felt sooo bad for them, so when I got home I got to work.

I was scooping the last of their pine shavings out (switching to Aspen once Pine is gone), and I found about 10 tiny worms...my dad said they were maggots! We have been having a fly problem the past few weeks, so they blamed it on the cage.

I have an alternative cage that fits the C&C size minimums (it's "20 by "65), but I have a 3x4 with a 1x4 loft half-ways assembled.

Becase of the stupid flies, there are two problems: 1) My parents want me to have a tiny cage because they think it will be easier to maintain, and 2) My dad is sure the fleece bedding idea won't work (even though I know it will). Once I get my C&C cage up, I was planning to switch to fleece bedding.

So, I need everyone's word on why fleece bedding is best. I need you to prove to my parents that it's easier to clean, cleaner, and less dirty/smelly. Thanks sooo much in advance!

[fieryone]

More area (a C&C cage) doesn't mean it's harder to clean. The pigs poop just as much in a C&C as they do in a pet store cage, but in the C&C there is more space for it so it isn't concentrated in one or two small areas. I couldn't imagine maintaining a small cage. I think bedding would be more expensive in a smaller cage as well since more of it would be soiled than in a bigger cage. In a bigger cage you can scoop out the soiled litter from the corner. In a small cage, the entire thing would probably be soiled. If you go away and your parents neglect to clean the cage for you, imagine how much more foul a pet store cage would have been!

Fleece is great. As long as you have an absorbant under layer (2-3 layers of towels or a cotton rich mattress pad with or without towels) then it absolutely will and does work. The fleece stays dry while any wetness is absorbed by the under layer. I change my fleece every 6 days or so in a 2x5 with three female pigs. You have to keep up with sweeping the poops, but it only takes about 5 minutes at most if you do it each day.

[Milkingit]

Well for one thing, if your mother chose not to clean their cage for 2 weeks while you were away, the maggots where her issue not yours, or the piggies.

It be like blaming a cat for their litter box being dirty. Its not like the pigs have an option to clean it themselves.

As for fleece, as long as you do the daily maintenance of sweeping the poos once, or twice daily. There isn't and issue with smell. The fact that the liquids are pulled away from the fleece means that flies wouldn't be able to lay their eggs.

You can also keep a little tray under their hay/food area where I know my pigs spend most of their time peeing/pooping, and I use carefresh ultra there. I just clean it out every 3 days and I have no issues with smells.

I have 2 sows in a 2x4. Boys may originally stink more because they scent mark their fleece, so sometimes its handy to keep a stink rag of fleece for them so they recolonize their scents.

[Amiee]

Sooo - if you go with the smaller cage, the next time you go away and the cage doesn't get cleaned for 2 weeks, there will be the same mess in less space. That will be the exact opposite to what your parents want! If you must have mess, the more space it occupies, the better for smell, etc.

It works like this:

mess + small space = big smell = flies get attracted
mess + big space = less smell = flies don't care, there's not enough anything in one place for them to bother with

Flies want lots of organic material (like poo) for their young (maggots) in a small space! Maggots aren't the greatest crawlers, so the more compact, the more flies like it!

As for the fleece, try explaining it like this:

With wood shavings, the poo and the pee end up where? Mixed in the litter. Smell is largely urine, flies are mostly attracted to poo. So how to keep smell and flies away? Change the litter (a big job for a big cage) very often. Since we've already established you need a big cage so the mess is less concentrated, fleece makes perfect sense. Where does the pee go? Into the absorbent materials underneath the fleece, where they are quite spread out in the fibres of the material. Where does the poo go? On top, just as exposed as with wood shavings. Only difference is, now you can scoop them up easily, rather than the big job of changing litter. And even total cage cleanings are easier (and hence more likely to happen) with fleece - taking it out in several large pieces and replacing is much easier than millions of tiny shavings.

Sorry this turned out so long - hope it helps!

[CavyMama]

Boy if you thought the dirty cage was bad to come home to, can you imagine what it must have been like to be those pigs and having to live in it? Yuck!!

[Seonta]

There are tons of threads like this. I would do a search.
For instance I typed in "convince fleece" and on the first page of threads there is this one:
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...34-fleece.html

You'll have to weed through a lot of other "convince" threads but you could learn a lot by reading them.

[Cocoa'sClover]

I originally started with carefresh for my piggy and after joining this site and learning about fleece, I switched over to it.

Not only is my piggy happier because of less dust particles to make her sneeze/itch, she has a comfy place to nap.

Scooping poo is much, much easier and you can see them all, where as with other materials you have to dig around and change more frequently.

The smell has been reduced to nothing more than the scent of hay and veggies instead of the urine odors I had with carefresh. This is wonderful because my cavy lives in my bedroom with me.

Plus, the cost of maintaining fleece bedding is much less than if I were still buying carefresh. Fleece you can wash out and reuse, where as other materials just get thrown away after only a few days.

[gooberific]

Regarding flies...

I had seen a fly come in through our back door, where our screen door is falling apart (my landlord is another story). I didn't think anything of it. Long story short, the flies originated in the kitchen (in the space between my stand-alone cabinet and the wall where it's nearly impossible to clean), but found it best to buzz around my poor little piggies.

The FIRST thing I did when I saw more than two flies around, was change the fleece and do a full cleaning with vinegar/water. I was constantly scooping poops, changing litter in the boxes, and changing bedding every 3-4 days, and not once did those blasted flies get to lay eggs in my precious piggies' cages. Because I cleaned them.

I'm sorry, but if your mom wouldn't clean their cage while you were away, I really, truly, honestly believe that the maggots being in there is entirely her fault for being neglectful. It's in her house, regardless whether or not they are your pets... If I were you, I would be extremely upset with her.

My mom watched my pigs for a week while hubby and our son went on vacation in October. She is absolutely terrified of rodents. But she didn't want the place to stink for her grandson when we came back. So she agreed to vacuum poops -- something that makes fleece another plus over shavings -- along with their twice daily feedings.

I hope that your parents can realize that a smaller cage means the pigs will have to be out way more often for floor time and create more mess in other areas of the house (depending on what you do for floor time), take more time to clean them more often which will take away from school/study time or whatever it is that you SHOULD be doing more often than worrying about pig poop, and you will end up with less happy pigs, which will likely have an effect on you, which in turn rolls over to them.

That's how I see it anyway. As a kid, student, and a mom.

[CavyLuver516]

Thanks so much, everyone!! I am definatly showing this to my parents - hopefully they will be convinced!