Cleaning: How are you suppossed to do this?

[louie_joey]

I recently switched to fleece and I love it. But I just realized that I will have to shake out all of the hair, shavings and hay in the winter as well. How do you guys cope when it is -30 and snowing like there is no tomorrow?
Thanks!

[trump_cinnamon]

I go out and shake it .

I usually take a shower after cleaning the cage, so I just take a nice warm one. I like to think of it as building character... True, it's not fun, but it's good for you!

If you didn't want to shake it out while it was snowing, then you could have a few extra sets and shake it out on a "nicer" winter day.

I like the snow, so it doesn't bother me so much. I just hate shaking it out when everything outside is slushy and gross, at the beginning of Spring.

[Kipsie]

You could always get one of those sticky lint rollers.
It doesn't get that cold here in South Florida. Just hurricanes, which is tons worse.

[Ash-Ro060708]

I hang my dirty fleece on the clothes line for the day! They get aired out and when I bring them in to wash, there is barely any hair, bedding, or poo on it at all.

[Onetwo]

Awesome idea Ash. Hmm wait I dont have a closeline I live in a "junky" apartment. I like this idea so much that I might have to figure out a way to set one up on my deck. Yes I shaked out fleece in the freezing cold last year. I live in minnesota so yeah 30 below not including wind chill. I have started shaking off my deck instead of in the dumpster(the manager of the apartment building said I was making too much of a mess by the dumpster). I sweep most the the stuff off and shake remaining out on warmer windy days. I have enough fleece and towels for 8 cage changes. My cage is a 2x12 so I use 5 yards of fleece and 3 towles per changing. I would use more towels but my guinea pigs are about 80% litter trained!!! But if I were using JUST bedding I would be taking out the trash way more, and be scooping way more. Plus all the dust from the bedding was nuts! Fleece is a great way to go!!! Good luck.

[twiztedlilfae]

I use a big box that my hay and food came in, that's by the door. I shake my fleece out in that as I live in an apartment and they have rules of cleaning up after your pets so I don't think I'd much like cleaning up little turds out of the grass. So far it isn't bad. I've had a few droppings fall on the carpet but my handheld picks those up. Wish I lived in an area where I could shake my fleece out. so I'd suggest using a big box to put poo in. Might not sound too appealing but it doesn't work and there isn't a smell. I'm sure my roommate would've said something if there was.

[princesspoppy]

Scoop up as much poop,hay and so on as much as possible. Put on extra swathers and go out side and shake like mad.(that will warm you up) Come in and have a hot coco.

[Duffinvt]

I have a redworm bin in my basement. I shake the droppings, hay and left-over vegetables into the worm bin. Also, I shred the newpaper I use for various things and put that in with the worms. The worms eat it all and I have wonderful compost from the worm castings. I then shake the fleece outside, but there is little on it except a bit of hair !

[akstrohm]

Having a hay loft will significantly decrease the amount of hay you need to shake off. Basically all that is left is hair. I can get away with shaking the hair off into the cage and then washing the fleece. It won't be quite as clean as shaking it off vigorously outside though.

[Wodentoad]

To be honest, I hate going out side in yucky weather, too.

I sweep up as much as I can before I pull the fleece, and then pull it out and take it to my laundry room and shake it there. Then all I have to do is sweep up and dump it in my trash can. Any small room with hard floors works.

[louie_joey]

Okay thanks everyone!

[YayPiggies]

You know what really works? Those Pledge Pet hair sweepers for fabric. It removes all the stuff on the fleece so you don't have to go outside, and plus they're only $5 at any superstore!

[ChristyG]

Winter is one thing I am not looking forwards too. I too, when it comes to changing time, sweep up as much as I possibly can, then put the fleece, towels in a basket an dhead out side and shake. But winter is on its way, and I dont think my Boyfriend will love to see hay everywhere on the snow--it shouldnt matter, but for some reason, it buygs him, so I think I am going to try the hair sweepers, cause also I still notice hair in the washer, dryer

[ferndalezoo]

I tend to shake my fleece out inside the cage. Mine is a 3x5, though. Would probably not work for smaller cages. I shake everything off in the cage, toss the dirty stuff down the laundry chute, and then sweep up what's in the coroplast (whatever I shook off). It works.

[IluvePiggies]

Right now(Its actually pretty cold here. We're probably going to have a terribly winter), I shake the poo(that's on the fleece) onto the shammies then shake the poo(That's on the shammies) onto the coroplast where I use a mini sweeper to sweep up all the poo.

[Annab7]

I was gonna say, but someone got to it before me get a pet hair sweeper or a pet brush of some kind (not the spaced metal kind but a boar bristly type of brush) and use a trash bin of some kind for the poo which you scoop up with a hand broom or vac of some kind (whichever you prefer) and keep the hay and the fleece far away from eachother or at least in small proportion. I have a top 1x1 square that I call their "kitchen" where they hay is. I have fleece up there but it greatly reduces the amount of fleece I have to comb and pick hay out of. Good luck

[poopysmom]

I have just survived the winter and its yucky rainy windy spring right now. True, my winter is not snowy cold like -30 degrees but its cold enough for me!

I do the same as what Wodentoad does. Firstly, invest in a dustbuster or a good handheld vacuum or a dustpan. I have a haybox, but as I feed my girls a chaff grain mix rather than pellets (its Australia, its IMPOSSIBLY hard to get pellet.... so i buy specially mixed grain + chaff mix from my local guinea pigs rescue). Anyway, the mix will get everywhere as my girls believe in diving into the food bowl quite literally.
I use a dustpan and sweep up the stray poos and chaff sticking to my fleece. Roll up the whole lot, dump it into a laundry basket and bring it into the laundry room and give it a crazy shake. Then just sweep the "crumbs" up.

Putting in a static cloth when tumble dry or drying it in the dryer is a great trick as well. The static cloth attracts most of the furs. save me a lot of time!

[rahunter]

I'm in the south so I don't have to worry much about the temperature and am also new to fleece. I have started using the vacuum attachment w/ bristles to sweep the sweeping the fleece. Most of the hay stays in the litterbox and I am amazed at how much hair is on the vacuum brush each time. The last fleece change there was nothing to shake off.

[Fudgenrolo]

I sweep as much poo etc off the fleece as possible before removing it from the cage but then I just use a normal dustpan and brush and sweep the rest off with the fleece resting on my knee working along it. It works fine.

I do have laminate floor in my pet room though so I can just sweep up whatever comes off which you may not be able to do if you have carpet.

I wash the fleece inside a pet hair filter bag though to keep my washing machine hair free though you could stick it inside a pillowcase and wash it in that which works in the same way.

[punkygizzylover]

Fudgenrolo I am interested in the pet hair filter bag where would I find one of those? That sounds liek an excellent idea.

When I clean my fleeces I sweep the hay, poos, and everything else into a dustpan, then I take the fleece, towels, padding outside and shake it vigorously a few times each until most of the hair and hay has blown off, then I get my heavy duty lint brush and brush that thing until the hair is mostly gone. Once I do the 2 washes on the bedding I take it and shake it out again.. I know this is alot of shaking but if i dont I will find piggy furs in my dryer and stuck to loads of clothes. Hope it helped a little. I find the lint brush works pretty good.