Issues with fleece/bedding and smell

jewels1273 · Oct 12, 2008

I have been using the fleece method for a while and while it is cheaper, the smell with my two boars is getting to be quite bad even after cleaning. I have a two "story" C&C cage for them (built to size specifications as needed for two pigs plus some). I use newspaper (at least almost 1 inch thick), then towels (1 layer) then fleece on the bottom "floor". On the top which is where the food and water and hay is kept (which I guess would be considered the kitchen) is the same - newspaper, towel, fleece. I have been looking at redoing the top to a type of removable "litter box" so that I can clean it more frequently as it seems they like to make a mess with their water bottle (I think they like to play with the water more than drink it) and it seems that it is more wet - from both water and urine - faster than the bottom floor. Any ideas on how to do this?

Also, it seems that they like to poop in the corner of their houses and there are certain areas of the bottom floor that are more wet from pee than other spots. Does anyone put something in these areas to control the wetness more?

Lastly, the smell is becoming very bad after the 3rd day I clean the cage. The fleece does do its job so that isn't the issue. IT is the amonia smell while changing the cage that is very strong sometimes. I do a full clean at least every 5 days and vaccum at least once day. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

starshine123102 · Oct 12, 2008

From what i've read about boars, if you don't put something back in the cage that smells like them they tend to mark their sent all over the place again which might explain the smell.

Also you said that they tend to do thier business in one area of the cage. If that's the case you can make a litter box for them. Or you can get small corner litter box. You can fill that with a bit of carefresh or aspen or kiln dried pine, which you could easily throw away once it gets all yucky and your fleece will stay fresher, longer.

jewels1273 · Oct 12, 2008

Thanks for the response. I'll try to leave a piece of fleece in the cage when I go to clean it.

They do tend to go in one area, however, it is mainly in the corner of their houses and right in front of the ramp to go up to the second level (mainly pee, not poop).

dra&pigs · Oct 12, 2008

For the removable litter box, the bottom of an old pet store cage works well. Thats what I use, and it's perfect. As for the water bottle, if you put a paver stone or brick underneath the water bottle, the drips will be absorbed on there instead of the fleece.

sammy_kaye · Oct 12, 2008

I find that newspaper tends to smell more than just towels A couple of layers of towels (2-3) is good or I use 1 towel and then a mattress protector. In the areas that they pee more often try adding an extra layer of towels (hand towels are good) and just remove and replace the small towels more frequently.

Also when washing make sure that all the soap residue is rinsed out. A 1/2 c of vinegar ensures that the soap is removed and helps with odour. Soap residue can make the fleece smell bad quickly.

Hope this helps.

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Issues with fleece/bedding and smell

jewels1273

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starshine123102

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jewels1273

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dra&pigs

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sammy_kaye

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