Fleece experience...

sglancy · Dec 1, 2004

I have used about every type of bedding available and here's my 2 cents along with a question for everyone. By the way, I have 4 pigs in a 3X4 C&C cage with an upper level that is 4X1X2:

Carefresh - expensive and not much better than aspen
Pine - OK, fairly inexpensive but messy
Aspen - A bit more expensive than pine...also messy
Woody Pet- Very heavy bags (30lbs) not very easy to use b/c of weight and can be expensive for large cages like mine since I would need at least 2 bags.
Towels - Smelly! You really need to change at least 1-2 times a day. A lot of laundry.
Fleece - this was my most recent attempt at bedding. I used the waterproof crib pad with 2 layers of fleece. It seemed to work fine at first but then after the first week it really began to smell. I changed every 1-2 days. Like towels, a lot of laundry too.

I am now back to using a combination of a newspaper then pine then aspen. The smell issue has been taken care of for now. I usually do spot cleaning occasionally then do a complete change once a week. With such a large cage this still adds up $ wise. My question is for those of you who use a similar combo, how often do you do a complete change out before the cage begins to smell? It would be great if I could stretch the change outs longer. Maybe there is something minor I could do occasionally that would extend the life of the bedding. Money and time are both factors for me as they are for most of us. Thanks for any advice you have!

loves2travel · Dec 1, 2004

really? I use fleece, just one layer of fleece and then one layer of crib padding. nothing else. and i really think its absolutely wonderful! no smell, looks nice. i think your problem may be the double layers of fleece. I dont know why, but everyone who has tried double fleece plus pad says it really stinks, and once they do away with one fleece layer, its great! you may want to try that.

*LovesGinny* · Dec 1, 2004

being a first time pig owner, i tried a newspaper/aspen combo and my room got covered with shavings when i was changing it. A huge mess! so after that i switched to towels on lower level, shavings on upper level and it has worked great! i do tonnes of laundry anyways and we have a bunch of old towels we never use. I found that it doesn't stink at all, and i change the towels every second day and the bedding every weekend.

AngelsCavies · Dec 1, 2004

sglancy, You use alot of bedding for that size cage. I use one full bag of bedding for both of my cages. the girls are in a 4x7 and the boys are in a 4x4. I will be exspanding their cages this weekend. The boys will be the same as the girls.

sglancy · Dec 2, 2004

When I use the newspaper,pine,aspen combo I am only using a portion of the large bags. The bedding is probably only about 1" thick. Is this too much bedding? If anything I thought it was probably not enough.

Thanks for the advice on the single fleece layer. I'll try that too. Any more suggestions?

Thanks!

sglancy

NoCableIsSafe · Dec 3, 2004

sglancy said:
I have used about every type of bedding available and here's my 2 cents along with a question for everyone. By the way, I have 4 pigs in a 3X4 C&C cage with an upper level that is 4X1X2:

Carefresh - expensive and not much better than aspen

Pine - OK, fairly inexpensive but messy

Aspen - A bit more expensive than pine...also messy

Woody Pet- Very heavy bags (30lbs) not very easy to use b/c of weight and can be expensive for large cages like mine since I would need at least 2 bags.

Towels - Smelly! You really need to change at least 1-2 times a day. A lot of laundry.

Fleece - this was my most recent attempt at bedding. I used the waterproof crib pad with 2 layers of fleece. It seemed to work fine at first but then after the first week it really began to smell. I changed every 1-2 days. Like towels, a lot of laundry too.

I am now back to using a combination of a newspaper then pine then aspen. The smell issue has been taken care of for now. I usually do spot cleaning occasionally then do a complete change once a week. With such a large cage this still adds up $ wise. My question is for those of you who use a similar combo, how often do you do a complete change out before the cage begins to smell? It would be great if I could stretch the change outs longer. Maybe there is something minor I could do occasionally that would extend the life of the bedding. Money and time are both factors for me as they are for most of us. Thanks for any advice you have!

What about hay?

RustBottum · Dec 5, 2004

loves2travel- how often do you change your cage with the fleece?

Right now i am going to try newspaper with aspen and see how that works.

Does anyone else use fleece? How does it work?

mncavylover · Dec 5, 2004

Pine is a no-no. Please do not use it. Aspen is much safer, and is almost as cheap.

Patch · Dec 5, 2004

yes I am curious about fleece also were do you get it?

mncavylover · Dec 5, 2004

You can get it at just about any fabric store.

Piglet · Dec 5, 2004

I find that towels work well. Rust, I think she changed her fleece every 3-4 days

loves2travel · Dec 5, 2004

yes, i clean every 3-4 days, and it sooo easy. just roll up my lining, throw it in the machine, sparay teh cage with water vinegar solution, and lay down fresh lining. ta da! i also have velcro in the corbners to hold the pads in place.

RustBottum · Dec 5, 2004

i usually change my cage every week but if i use fleece i will change it every 3-4 days. It doesn't smell? A lot of people say you have to change it every day? Doesn't your guinea pig step in it's poop since it jsut sits on the fleece? Also what is crib padding and were do you get it? Do you put it on top of the fleece or underneath?

mncavylover · Dec 5, 2004

You do have to change it every day/every other day or else it'll get icky. As for the poop, it's the same with bedding--just spot clean daily. Crib padding is just an absorbent blanket type thing that can be found in the baby section of stores.

sglancy · Dec 6, 2004

I changed my fleece every other day. The smell was still bad. Things are better as far as smell since I switched back to aspen/pine. I loved the idea of fleece and was hoping it would work out. I'm still waiting for the "ultimate" bedding!
sglancy

susku · Dec 6, 2004

I tried old towels last Christmas and it really stinks very soon. Now I am back to shavings (we have brands like Chipsi and Pesäpuru). In Germany, many people also use hamp bedding, it is a bit heaver (almost like cut small branches) and makes no dust.

RustBottum · Dec 6, 2004

i bought some aspen bedding and even before i got it out of the bag it smells funny!!!!!!

loves2travel · Dec 6, 2004

no, my piggies dont ever step on their poop. i thought that might be problem, but so far, it doesnt happen. I spot clean pretty often though. Once in the morning before school, once as soon as i get back from school, once right after they finish veggies, and once right before bed. My parents also do it once or twice during the day while im away.

loves2travel · Dec 6, 2004

oh ya - forgot to say this in my last post - it doesnt smell one bit

RustBottum · Dec 7, 2004

ok thank you

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