Carpet and/or Fleece Bedding?

[TheQueen]

I have a quick question about bedding. I use plain old pine shavings for my guinea pig's cage, but lately I've seen many people using carpet or fleece in theirs. It looks a lot cleaner and nicer, and the pigs look quite comfy as well. I want to try fleece, but won't the pigs chew on it? Plus, doesn't it get soiled easily because of the pigs' urine and feces? Or, is it easier to clean because you just pop it in the washer? Any information and/or tips on the matter would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[cutemomome]

personally, I have experiemented with carefresh, pine and fleece+cotton batting combos myself, and the happiest I am with is the fleece+cotton combo.
If you would to look in my gallery, I use a layer of ducky fleece with 2 layers of cotton batting underdeath it. Of course, I had my doubts, will they chew? will they dig?
When I first started, they love to dig into the fleece, and go underneath the fleece, so I came up with the idea of of using clothespins..... the result - my cage looked like a PIGGY WASH & DRY.
Second option, I purchased some "velcro" from Joannes, then I sticked one side of the velcro to the SIDES of the cage, then the other side is SEWN into the fleece. It will stay in place.
If your pigs are still young, you will still have a rather successful rate to potty train them. I found a shortcut way - seeming that I've kept dogs all me life - I know a thing or 2 about potty training. I put a litter pan in EACH corner of the cage, they won't miss it. In each litter pan, use a layer of carefresh to line the pan, then top it with some hay. WHen they are just awake and finished eating, they will very likely to go SIT in the pans and eat the hay... then, thwy pee and poo. Each day, you change the carefresh in the litter pans. After each week, take away 1 litter pan, until 3 weeks later, you are only left with 1 pan. Worked like magic for me, and I used the same method on my friend's 2 boy pigs last month.
They will learn FAST, and you will only need to wash your fleece once a week, but change the litter pan daily.
you will have a CLEAN, AFFORDABLE and COMFY cage!

 

[TheQueen]

Wow, thanks cutemomome! I will definitely try your suggestions out. I've been meaning to potty train my pig, but I didn't really know how to go about it. She about a year and a half, so I think I still have a shot. I'll try the velcro idea, too. One thing though, I can't seem to find anywhere that sells carefresh around my area, in fact, I'd never even heard of it before a few weeks ago. Do you think some pine bedding will work just as well? Thanks again for the help. ^_^

 

[widallas]

We did something similar to cutemomome, and built two "end" boxes that we fill with pine shavings and carefresh; the middle section is fleece. On each end is a hidey house, hay, water bottle and food dish, so they have some "me" space where they can eat (and pee/poop!) to their hearts content -- they don't pee on the fleece anymore. Changing the shavings is fast and easy every four days or so, and I only change the fleece every other time. The only downside is that the fleece does not easily give up hair, shavings, etc. so you have to shake it like crazy before it goes into the wash. (I also throw the fleece over our picnic table and use a stiff brush to get off what I can.) We have used pine without any problems, and it was CHEAP for a large bag. I might try aspen just to see what the difference is, but pine is o.k. Make sure it isn't too fine -- horse stall quality versus pig or cow quality is what the feed store told me --and that it has been kiln-dried.

 

[cindy]

I love the idea of the fleece and cotton, but where can I obtain these items and how exactly do you set it up? Any pictures available?

Also, I have two new piggies(5 mos) and where do I find a littler pan that small for the cage? Do I only put Carefresh and hay in there?

Thanks!

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Fleece is great to use, at least in my opinion and I have been using it for 8+ months. Fleece wicks moisture through it to whatever is underneath it. If you don't put anything under it, the moisture sits in the fleece and causes it to remain wet. I use old sheets or mattress pads under the fleece with a layer of newspapers under that next to the coroplast. The pee goes right through the fleece and down to the sheet thus keeping the pigs nice and dry. Also most pigs won't chew on it.

Yes, fleece does get soiled if you don't spot clean. If you spot clean it every day, picking up the poos, the fleece stays much cleaner. I have 5 sows in a 3x4 cage and 2 boars in a 2x3 and I only have to change the fleece every 4-5 days. I have a litter pan in the girls cage. It's a small cat litter pan that I purchased at Walmart. I put crittercare in it and most of the girls use it. The girls also have a huge coroplast hay box that sits in one corner of the cage. It's the size of a 1x2 and it helps to keep the hay off the coroplast.

Cindy, try looking in the photo galleries. There are many cage pictures in there that have fleece as bedding. Also, cotton is not a good bedding. Fleece can be purchased anywhere that sells fabrics.

 

[mrsgrooge]

Thanks Cutemomome for the advice on litter box training the pigs! My boars don't seem to have a care in the world about where they "go". I am going to give your suggestion a try!

 

[Slap Maxwell]

The reason I don't use fleece, and many others members don't is that is can smell very badly. If your pigs do pee on the fleece it can have a very bad odor. Some people don't have this problem.

 

[TheQueen]

Okay thanks for the advice anyone! I am definitely going to get some fleece bedding, with some cotton underneath it I think. I'm also going to give potty training a try. One more thing...I want my cavy to still get hay as some bedding, because she has a lot of fun with it. If I use fleece, I know it's okay to put hay on it, but will it make it messier, or defeat the purpose of using fleece? Should I just put a big mountain of hay in one part of the cage instead? Thanks again!

 

[RyanR]

Fleece has been working great for me the last couple of months. Even with Nugget as part of the group now.

 

[cutemomome]

I agrees with Slap, since fleece WON'T absorb moisture, the pee will just... SIT there, so it will smell. However, if there is cotton underneath it, it will absorb it very quickly, and the fleece top will block the smell.
However, if you could potty train the pigs, they won't pee outside anymore, and best of all, they won't pee on the couches and little furnitures they have. It is all a habit thing.
Fleece and cotton batting are available at fabric stores. Last weekend, Joanns had solid fleece going for $2.99 a yard, and ALL battings 50% off. And I have to admit I am getting lazy, because by the time I started sawing their 3rd blankie (fleece+bating), I drove to Walmart and bought a sewing machine for $29.99!

 

[TheQueen]

Okay, for the fleece and cotton, can I buy any fleece? I have a JoAnn's nearby, and was planning to go there. Or would even a fleece blanket work? Also, instead of buying batting, I was just going to use towels, since people use them for the cotton part of bedding. Will that work fine as well?

About potty training...my mom's getting pretty fed up with all this new pig stuff I'm getting, and when I told her about potty training, she told me that you can't possibly train a year and a half old pig. Although I told her otherwise, and I told her that the people I got this info from are smart and know about pigs, she still thinks it can't be done. I was going to buy the 4 litter trays like you suggested, cutemomome, but my mom would just think it was a foolish waste of money, and she's already mad that I'm building a new, bigger cage for my pig. So, my question is, if I just buy one litter tray, can I still train my pig? How long do you think it will take, and will it be harder? Sorry for the long post, and any tips are appreciated!

 

[TheQueen]

Oh, one more thing...do you have to sew the cotton and fleece together, cutemomome? I'm a horrid sewer (spelling?), and I don't have a sewing machine. If the pig digs underneath the fleece, I will use your velcro idea. Will this be okay?

 

[Plummie]

I would sew them together because you wouldn't want the pigs chewing on the cotton batting. Fleece has a nice stretchy quality that resists chewing. When I tried switching to fleece, I made a fleece sleeve and sewed the cotton batting into it so the girls couldn't get to it.

Unfortunately fleece didn't work out for me, because of the smell and mess. I am much happier with the kiln-dried pine shavings.

 

[TheQueen]

Okay thanks Plummie. I will try the sleeve idea.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Also, cotton is not a good bedding.

When I said this last night (it was very late) I was thinking of cotton material not cotton batting. I just wanted to clarify that.

 

[John4216]

I have a 4X5 cage and use fleece with newspaper underneath the fleece to absorb the urine. I dont really have a smell problem with the fleece because I wash it every day and change the newspaper every 2 or 3 days. I use newspaper because the recycling center near us gives it to me free so the only cost I now have is washing the fleece. I personally love fleece and you can buy fleece blankets/throws at most Department stores for a decent price. With me having 6 piggies I have to change the fleece every day because they only go on the fleece and nowhere else in the room the have access to all the time. Before the fleece I was spending alot of $$ on carefresh or aspen and it was a lot more time consuming then it is with the fleece and my piggies seem to enjoy the texture and feel of the fleece compared to having to lay on wood chips.

 

[dagwellismypigy]

I agrees with Slap, since fleece WON'T absorb moisture, the pee will just... SIT there, so it will smell. However, if there is cotton underneath it, it will absorb it very quickly, and the fleece top will block the smell.
However, if you could potty train the pigs, they won't pee outside anymore, and best of all, they won't pee on the couches and little furnitures they have. It is all a habit thing.
Fleece and cotton batting are available at fabric stores. Last weekend, Joanns had solid fleece going for $2.99 a yard, and ALL battings 50% off. And I have to admit I am getting lazy, because by the time I started sawing their 3rd blankie (fleece+bating), I drove to Walmart and bought a sewing machine for $29.99!

Do you have anything underneath the cotton batting? When you wash it doesn't it get ripped up? I have towels underneath the batting if the batting doesn't get ripped up I could save some money on my future blankets!

 

[RubyPiggie2]

Is there anything else besides cotton batting that a person could put under the fleece besides newspaper? I heard towels smelt really bad.. Is this true? I'm trying to find something in my house already to put under my fleece so I don't have to spend any money.

 

[Cherryrosed]

I use puppy training pads under the fleece in my cage. It works great and doesn't smell either.