Fleece Many questions about fleece

[tleray]

Hi there, these might seem like silly questions but I am brand new to guinea pigs. Getting my kids two for xmas (rehoming). My question is I ordered fleece from guinea pig market for the midwest terrace w/ ramps. The fleece is HUGE for the ramps and terrace. Can I cut the fleece and uhaul pads to fit the ramps? Is it not recommended to sew the uhaul pads into the fleece? How do you keep the uhaul pads from coming out of the fleece? Velcro?

Kitchen area - do I put a liner then litter then carefresh in the kitchen area I bought? What is recommended? Do I need another liner between cloroplast bottom of cage and the kitchen piece?

Do the food bowls go in the kitchen area or elsewhere in the cage? Should I put food in the terrace?

If I have fleece and uhaul liners do I still need to put a dog pad or something of sorts between cloroplast bottom and uhaul pad?


There are so many components to a cage and I'm trying to research from this site and other places but this is very confusing. Any help would be appreciated

 

[bpatters]

Welcome!

I'll leave it to someone else to answer your cage questions, but since you're new to GPs, here's some recommended reading:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/113176-Information-for-new-guinea-pig-owners
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/107827-What-NOT-to-do-for-your-guinea-pigs!

 

[equinox96]

Hi tleray, welcome to the wonderful world of Guinea Pigs

I've been making and selling liners for a very long time so I'll try to help you out. Now when you say the Midwest terrace with ramps, what exactly do you mean? Did you make or buy a mezzanine or you mean you have the midwest with the divider and ramp?

We make everything oversize to allow for some shrinkage and to also provide more protection by having the sides curl up and prevent poos from rolling under. After a few washes it should shrink to a reasonable size with about an extra inch all around. The ramp cover, if it's for the mezzanine then you can leave the extra length at the bottom or you can fold it under the ramp. You shouldn't cut the liners. If you do, your piggies will to into them, then pee and poop and it will be a mess to clean up, unless you can sew. The uhaul pads should be sewn into the liners so you shouldn't need velcro, it's all in one piece.

Kitchen area - you can put a liner if you want or paper or wood litter, it's up to you but I wouldn't put litter on top of a liner, it will become a mess. If you have a coroplast kitchen, it should fit right on top to the bottom of your cage. Nothing in between, there's no use for it.

If the kitchen area is big enough for bowls then you can put them there. The main reason for the kitchen is to keep hay, pee and poop pretty much all in one area and keep liner cleaner and easier to keep clean.

The liners (with uhaul sewn inside) go down directly on top of coroplast bottom. You do not need anything else. I have found that putting anything be it puppy pads or mattress protectors, keeps the bottom layer of fleece from completely drying so it makes it smell quicker.

You will find a lot of information off of youtube. That's pretty much where I learned most of how to make, maintain and clean my cage and how to set it up. At first you will try a lot of different ways, adjust as you go along and you'll learn from your piggies but eventually you will get it just right.

 

[tleray]

Hi tleray, welcome to the wonderful world of Guinea Pigs

I've been making and selling liners for a very long time so I'll try to help you out. Now when you say the Midwest terrace with ramps, what exactly do you mean? Did you make or buy a mezzanine or you mean you have the midwest with the divider and ramp?

We make everything oversize to allow for some shrinkage and to also provide more protection by having the sides curl up and prevent poos from rolling under. After a few washes it should shrink to a reasonable size with about an extra inch all around. The ramp cover, if it's for the mezzanine then you can leave the extra length at the bottom or you can fold it under the ramp. You shouldn't cut the liners. If you do, your piggies will to into them, then pee and poop and it will be a mess to clean up, unless you can sew. The uhaul pads should be sewn into the liners so you shouldn't need velcro, it's all in one piece.

Kitchen area - you can put a liner if you want or paper or wood litter, it's up to you but I wouldn't put litter on top of a liner, it will become a mess. If you have a coroplast kitchen, it should fit right on top to the bottom of your cage. Nothing in between, there's no use for it.

If the kitchen area is big enough for bowls then you can put them there. The main reason for the kitchen is to keep hay, pee and poop pretty much all in one area and keep liner cleaner and easier to keep clean.

The liners (with uhaul sewn inside) go down directly on top of coroplast bottom. You do not need anything else. I have found that putting anything be it puppy pads or mattress protectors, keeps the bottom layer of fleece from completely drying so it makes it smell quicker.

You will find a lot of information off of youtube. That's pretty much where I learned most of how to make, maintain and clean my cage and how to set it up. At first you will try a lot of different ways, adjust as you go along and you'll learn from your piggies but eventually you will get it just right.

 

[tleray]

I bought the coloroplast, mezzanne and kitchen for the MidWest cage. I also bought the fleece fliper liner and uhaul pads for mezzanne and ramps. Curious when you say sew uhaul in liner do i double over uhaul pad put inside and sew? The liner is huge and will have to be folded in half or sew smaller for the mezzanne. Worried it will not fold w the uhaul padding? I watched the video and they show a piece of cloroplast in middle, do i need that?

For litter you recommend a linner and then carefresh no litter?

thanks for info

 

[equinox96]

I bought the coloroplast, mezzanne and kitchen for the MidWest cage. I also bought the fleece fliper liner and uhaul pads for mezzanne and ramps. Curious when you say sew uhaul in liner do i double over uhaul pad put inside and sew? The liner is huge and will have to be folded in half or sew smaller for the mezzanne. Worried it will not fold w the uhaul padding? I watched the video and they show a piece of cloroplast in middle, do i need that?

For litter you recommend a linner and then carefresh no litter?

thanks for info

Ok I'm not familiar with the flippers. I've never tried them but I know what they are and how they work. They are like pillow cases. To make them rigid you need to insert a piece of coroplast which would be the size of the area you want of cover then flip the excess fabric underneath. You don't sew anything. When you need to wash it, you remove the coro and throw the "flipper liner" in the wash.

You say that it is really big. Is is possible that you are supposed to insert the whole mezzanine with ramps into the liner? Would that make sense? Have you washed it yet, because it will shrink.

As for the litter/kitchen area. It's a matter of personal choice. I've tried liners but if find that if you have more than one piggy... and you should, it gets stinky and wet real quicky. I use wood pellets, used for horse stalls, in their kitchen area and I love it. I can easily remove corners that are wet and give it a shake and make it last for a few days without having it smell. I assume carefresh, would work the same way. You want to be able to remove urine soaked areas as soon as you can.