Bedding Fleece Bedding for seven piggies?

[Jennylein]

Hi everyone!

I'm from Germany and because using fleece bedding is quite unusual in my country I thought I'd ask you.

I've got seven guinea pigs on quite a big "cage" (about 3 square metres). At the moment I'm still using the normal wood bedding. Do you think that fleece would be a good alternative for us? How often do I have to change the fleece/towel bedding?

Thanks for your answer.
Jenny

 

[Raine59]

That's really a big cage. I'd love to see pictures. Fleece should work no matter what the size of your cage but with a cage that big, I would suggest using several smaller pieces of fleece instead of one big one and that way, if certain parts of it get dirtier quickly, you could just change out the ones that need it. I change mine once a week as weekends are the only time I get a chance but it could stand to be done about every 5 days. But with fleece, you have to sweep up the poops a couple times a day (I use a vacuum) so make sure you can reach all parts of the cage. It will be a big investment to buy that much fleece at once but I think in the end it's a money saver unless you just happen to have a free source of wood bedding.

 

[guineapigs2468]

I personally no longer use fleece with my 6 piggies. This is because of how much waste they produce. I find that using bedding is simpler. That is only my opinion, its your choice just not something that would work with my piggies.

 

[Jennylein]

Thanks for your answers!

Today I bought some fleece and some spare towels. I also bought extra towels for the houses that I can change more often. After washing I'm happy to test it.

Do you think that two layers of towels are enough under two layers of fleece?

[MENTION=22342]Raine59[/MENTION]: I will introduce myself soon and then I'll post some pictures.
[MENTION=20498]guineapigs2468[/MENTION]: The problem is that I'm very allergic to the bedding (in Germany we have lots of different types of bedding and we also use those for horses) so that it would be better to find a dustfree alternative. Let's hope that my babies won't mess it up too much. How big is your cage for six piggies?

 

[Raine59]

[MENTION=24088]Jennylein[/MENTION] I would think 2 layers of towels would be adequate but would recommend only one layer of fleece. The point of the fleece is that the liquid passes through the fleece to the towels (or whatever) below and it would have a harder time passing through two layers of fleece.

 

[guineapigs2468]

Thanks for your answers!

Today I bought some fleece and some spare towels. I also bought extra towels for the houses that I can change more often. After washing I'm happy to test it.

Do you think that two layers of towels are enough under two layers of fleece?

[MENTION=22342]Raine59[/MENTION]: I will introduce myself soon and then I'll post some pictures.
[MENTION=20498]guineapigs2468[/MENTION]: The problem is that I'm very allergic to the bedding (in Germany we have lots of different types of bedding and we also use those for horses) so that it would be better to find a dustfree alternative. Let's hope that my babies won't mess it up too much. How big is your cage for six piggies?

Oh ok I did not realise you were allergic, I do have an allergy to hay which makes me sneeze a lot and itchy eyes, but I will be changing the hay and trying a different one shortly to see if it will help. But I think fleece would be a good alternative for your piggies as you are allergic to their normal bedding. As I think someone else said daily spot checks help keep your cage a lot cleaner for your piggies(and less hassle on clean out day). I have my piggies in a 6ft by 4ft cage.

 

[Jennylein]

Thanks Raine. So I'll try with one layer of fleece.

Guineapigs2468, your cage is quite big as well then

I've tried at least six or seven different types of bedding, but I really hope that the fleece version might work. Maybe I'll have to clean the cage twice a week then. At least I think it's really relaxing to sweep up the poops every day And with smaller additional towels in their houses which I change more often it might probably work. I'll tell you after changing from my current bedding to fleece.

I'm really sorry for your hay fever. Keep my fingers crossed that another type might work for you.

 

[Jennylein]

Hi everyone!

After prewashing the fleece three times I could finally exchange the old bedding to fleece yesterday. The whole procedure took me about 1.5 hours. One big problem was that the double layer of towels always got out of place when I wanted to fix the fleece over it. So I finally ordered incontinence blankets which I might probably sew up the fleece so that I will only have to put one big layer into the big cage. This might save a lot of time and also my nerves

The piggies seem to be quite happy with the new bedding - maybe also because now they can have lots of little cuddly beds and a tube I sewed. I also bought a really cute elephant and a lion at Primark which are normally babies' toys. My piggies seem to love them and enjoy relaxing on them. Here are some pictures.

I think it really looks a lot of nicer now.






Emil:


Pauline:


Marlene:




Rosalie and Emil:


Rosalie:


Today I swept up the poops in the morning and in the evening and it took me about 10-15 minutes. I think I need a little hoover so that it won't take too long to keep the fleece nice and neat. But I really enjoyed doing it because I could spend some time with my piggies. In the evening I saw that some of the poop pads I made for the houses are already quite dirty and a little wet. Maybe I'll have to change these tomorrow already.

What do you use for the areas where the piggies pee a lot (as in the houses)? I'm not sure if my poop pads are enough... For the hay boxes I use litter and I really like it a lot.

 

[rottiemominde]

For those of you using several pieces of fleece in the cage, how do you keep the piggies from burrowing underneath?? I'd like to be able to do this, but I know they're going to find a way under where one piece ends and the other begins.

 

[Jennylein]

I also had to use two pieces of fleece. I let them overlap and put a hay box on one side so that it's at least a little bit fixed. Maybe it might work for you as well?

 

[madelineelaine]

I had a problem with my pig burrowing, my solution was to go to fabricland and buy a really really long piece, that way it's just one piece and there is no burrowing.

 

[Raine59]

[MENTION=24088]Jennylein[/MENTION] Your fleece looks great and it looks like your pigs are happy. I have LOTS of poop/pee pads and change them often as they get dirty very quickly. My pads are just a square of fleece sewed to a layer of U-haul padding. If you think sweeping poops is relaxing, you are welcome to come to my house any time and relax with my pigs' poops....LOL.

 

[Jennylein]

Today I cleaned the cage for the first time. It was day six by the way. The fleece was still dry, but the towels were "full" and it started to smell... This time I'm using incontinence blankets together with the fleece. Let's see how long this will work out.
I'm really still very astonished that it REALLY WORKS. I couldn't believe it before. The best for me was on the one hand that I could breathe and there were no allergic reactions which I always had when cleaning the bedding, on the other hand my piggies started "popcorning" (this is what we call their jumping around in German )
I really want to say thank you again for your great support!

By the way, I also posted my experiences in my German forum and now lots of piggy owners are trying the fleece bedding at the moment. I'm really happy not to be the only one here at home.

Can anyone maybe tell me more about uhaul? I don't have the slightest idea what could be the German equicalent for it and maybe it might be even better than incontinence blankets?


[MENTION=14468]Raine[/MENTION]: Maybe I'd offer sweeping piggies' poops and therefore get a cheap accommodation in the US This could be a great deal...

 

[Raine59]

@Jennylein U-Haul is a company here that rents trucks for people moving their furniture to a new home and so they sell and rent all sorts of things people would need to move. The uhaul pads/blankets you hear people talk about here are sold or rented for people to wrap around their furniture as they are moving it. They are about 68 x 85 inches (170 x 215 cm) and are made (they say) from recycled blue jeans. They aren't very pretty but then you don't see them once they are under the fleece. In the UK they call them removal blankets. Of course I don't know what they would call them in Germany but you might check with companies who do furniture moving and see what they have that would be used to protect furniture.

 

[Jennylein]

Ah, thanks. I thought u-haul was a kind of material. We have removal blankets here, too. But you cannot wash them. They are made of little pieces of cloth and if you wash it it'll fall into pieces in the washing machine. I think your u-hauls are washable, right?
I think I'll check in my German forum if anyone knows a washable equivalent.

 

[Raine59]

Yes, u-haul pads are definitely washable, though they do shrink the first few times they are washed. Certainly if yours aren't washable you would have to find something else.