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Fleece A lot of questions about fleece

Happy Cavy

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Has Hunters C&C cage is nearing completion. It's now time to pick fleece. I hope someone can help me.

I'm looking to buy my fabric from fabric.com. Does anyone have a recommended fleece to purchase?

Is anti-pill the best for longevity?

Most importantly.. Can urine be seen more on darker fabrics or lighter colored fabrics?

Thank you for your help!
 

elewis618

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Anti pill is what you need. I do notice calcium spots worse on darks, but I've found the lighter fabrics stain worse with urine. I'd definitely go darker. It's also less noticeable with a pattern instead of solid colors.

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Happy Cavy

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I never thought of patterns. Thank you!
 

elewis618

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I never thought of patterns. Thank you!
You're welcome! It's a little more expensive with patterned fleece, but definitely worth it, imo.

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spy9doc

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Is anti-pill the best for longevity?

In my experience, anti-pill is inferior to blizzard insofar as durability is concerned. The blizzard is a tighter weave with less nap and far outlasts the anti-pill. There are fewer pattern choices with blizzard, but I have found a couple that are consistently in stock with JoAnn Fabrics and am satisfied with them for the present. My opinion is based on a 5-6 year history with using my liners and they have withstood the test of time.

Another difference is that because of the softer weave of the anti-pill, my boys seem to mistake it for towels and think it's o.k. to pee and poop on it......much as they do with towels at lap time. The cage remains MUCH cleaner when the blizzard liners are in the cage. And, I agree with using patterns. Use a dark background pattern which hides both poop and urine stains.
 

Happy Cavy

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I think I'm going to buy both and see which one is best. Thank you so much for your help!
 

Happy Cavy

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I have a few more questions about bedding. I'm still waiting on the fleece to come in. I've been using carefresh bedding and I think that bedding is making her sneeze (she shows no other signs of illness).

Can someone make suggestions of an alternative bedding?


I've heard of different shavings of wood. What's a popular brand? pros and con.
 

BeckieL

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ooh, we should have a coke vs. pepsi and a starbucks vs. Tim Hortons discussion next! lol. I'm going to write a novel because I am only a few months ahead of you on this same thing and I wish I new many other things in advance! you can take or leave any of my advice/suggestions :)

I used paper bedding in one area of the cage for a while and have officially stopped. I found it to be dusty and it started smelling earlier than wood pellets (even the carefresh that claims 10 days odor control). I mistakenly purchased food quality hardwood pellets at Wal Mart because I didn't know of any other kind at the time, which cost me $19 for a 40lb bag. I learned later that what I should have purchased was some other type of horse bedding pellets that are often made of pine. I've now used them both - pine for a month, hardwood for 2 months.

If I lived someplace cold where i could get hardwood pellets made for heating, I would try those in a heartbeat. I LOVE the hardwood pellets, but there is no lower cost option I've been able to find close to me in hardwood pellets. I find that the hardwood pellets last longer and clump better for me to spot-clean the high pee areas when I do a cage cleaning. The pine completely disintegrate and I find that I replace pine pellets at a much higher rate than the hardwood. The other major consideration for pine pellets is the odor. I bought 40lb pine pellets from Tractor Supply for $5.99 but the odors from them where so strong that I had to dump them into a huge bin in the garage and let them air out for close to a month before I could use them for my GPs.
[MENTION=13820]bpatters[/MENTION] and I both live in Texas and she kindly shared that she uses TerrAmigo horse stall bedding, which is only available at specialty places. I googled several other places locally and the types of pellet bedding they have available and I plan to try several others to see if I can find the best option available to me locally. I will not be purchasing the pine from tractor supply ever again though because of the odor and the replacement rate I've experienced.

Last thing to point out...I watched several videos online of how people managed their pellet cages. Most of them changed the fleece about once/week and then just mixed up all the pellets underneath as part of the cleaning. Then about every 8 weeks they would dump out and replace 100% of the pellets and start fresh. Since I only have two piggies who seem to pee in concentrated areas, I just scoop out pellets that were in those high-pee areas and occasionally dump in new pellets to maintain the right amount on the cage floor. This is why I prefer the hardwood - SO EASY to remove the heavy-pee areas and the odor control is awesome. The pine just seems to disintegrate everywhere.

So in summary:

Check for the pellets available near you and try a few different types. open pine bags first to check for odor and do not purchase those. Then live with your pellet/fleece cage for a few months and figure out what maintenance method works best for you (100% replace or spot clean).

I would love to hear what you discover too, as I'm always open to learning new things!
 

spy9doc

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Beckie........

Thank you for this comprehensive post!

I know that those of you love the pellets are enthusiastic about them. I tried pellets once, and both my piggies and I hated them! They hated the feel of the pellets and I hated the noise. But at that time, I didn't know that one was suppposed to put fleece over the pellets. So, to me one layer of fleece wouldn't be thick enough for the boys' tender feet? And how do you attach the fleece........binder clip it to the walls of the coroplast? (pics would really help here).

I'm in desperate need of new liners and just don't have time to sew at the moment, so the timing is right for me to consider it again. Neither my partner nor I can lift much right now as he is recovering from back surgery and my back has flared up recently. I had no problem finding the pellets here in CT on the one occasion that I bought them. Any suggestions for the mechanics of getting the pellets into/out of the cage? How many pounds of pellets do you think I'll need for a 2x5 with a 2x2 loft? How thickly do you spread the pellets?

Thanks everyone for your input!
 

Happy Cavy

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Thank you [MENTION=39415]BeckieL[/MENTION] for a lot of useful information! and responding to both of my posts (didn't think anyone would read this one since it's for fleece). In regards to the hardwood pellets, is this what you mean? (broken link removed)
 

BeckieL

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Thank you @BeckieL for a lot of useful information! and responding to both of my posts (didn't think anyone would read this one since it's for fleece). In regards to the hardwood pellets, is this what you mean? (broken link removed)


Holy cow, that's $27 for 20 lbs! more expensive than the food grade wood pellets I bought at Wal Mart ($19 for 40 lbs).

I'm late to the fleece part of the discussion, but I have nice thick fleece I bought as fabric and I also have super cheap and thin fleece I got as blankets for $2.98 each (coincidentally also at wal mart!). The thin stuff wicks really well and it was cheap enough that I have three full sets of fleece for my cage so I can wash two sets at a time. Can't speak to how it will hold up but so far no complaints on the cheap think fleece at all.
 

Happy Cavy

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I thought that was to much. My fleece came in an hour ago. I read somewhere that there has to be 2 inches of bedding (or fleece) for guinea pigs. Any thoughts.
 

BeckieL

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I hadn't seen that before, but I think that's about what I have (or maybe just 1.5"? ) I just make sure the bottom is thoroughly covered, haven't had any issues at all with pee collecting at the bottom of the cage. Never makes it that far!
 

Happy Cavy

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So I decided to try the hardwood bedding from amazon. (Couldn't find anything cheaper here in the countryside). I had to return to Hunters medical thread.. I don't know if it was the bedding or coincidence.. all I know is that Hunter might have a possible ear infection.

Needless to say.. I'm going to fleece. Now I'm lost looking at liners.. Uhaul, mattress top..crap I don't know which to pick.

Any advice?
 

Happy Cavy

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Is uhaul quilted pads better than uhaul liners?
 

lissie

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Is uhaul quilted pads better than uhaul liners?
No. Different material. The non-quilted ones are better because they are made of denim.
 

Happy Cavy

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Thank you [MENTION=11509]lissie[/MENTION].

How do you work with fleece?

I've read that using vinegar in the wash will help break down the fleece to make it absorbent. Is this true? or does someone have better advice?

Do you have to wash the liners?
 
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