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Bedding Got rid of fleece.

1frankie7

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I have gotten rid of my fleece, mainly because cleaning it takes too long. I am very busy most days and I would rather spend that time giving floortime, and cuddles than cleaning.

I never noticed before, but now my bedroom doesn't smell so, poopy, it doesn't smell like anything now!

I was probably doing something wrong, because my fleece was smelling, but I can't figure out what, I used 2-3 layers of towels, and one layer of 100 percent polyester fleece, it wicked, etc.

I am now using kiln dried pine, but I would like to look into other options. CF is too expensive, I might use boxo, as long as it doesn't get too pricey.

Any other beddings you would recommend? I have recently gone down to a 2x5, but I might go up to a 3x5, whenever I have time to re-do my coro.
 

cuckooforcavies

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I think another good bedding option would be aspen. It is cheaper than CF, and it is not harmful to guinea pigs!!!
 

skinnypigs

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You actually thought fleece took longer to clean than a cage full of bedding?
 

brindyzoeycandy

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Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing - fleece is so easy and quicker to clean compared to shavings/bedding.

When I first used fleece I noticed it would smell - so then, instead of using towels and puppy pads, I just used puppy pads, and it works so much better.
 

CavySpirit

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I can clean a 2x5 grid C&C cage with any kind of bedding in about 10 minutes when I put my mind to it and avoid distractions, like cute guinea pigs, nail trimmings and cage rearranging.

To me, laundry is a drawn out process and not much more fun in general than cleaning cages.

But, it usually takes me around 1/2 an hour to clean a cage because of all the other fussing around that I'm sure goes with fleece cleaning, too.
 

skinnypigs

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I suppose it depends on the person then! I clean my fleece cage in about 10-15 minutes and it is a 4 by 5 with a 2 by 2 loft. I quickly roll up all the fleece, change and dump the litter boxes, scrub any spots that need it and roll the new fleece down. Mind you I use piggy bedspreads now so all the layers are attached.
I like to do laundry so maybe that is another reason I enjoy fleece, plus I hate the cost of soft beddings for the skinny pigs.
 

fresian.m

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Ugh it takes me FOREVER to clean my fleece! My pigs burrow and poop on the towels. So after I sweep up the poops on the fleece I have to get up all the engraved poops from the towels. Then I go outside and shake it all out, then while it's in the wash I scrub coro and clean the food dish. Then when it's done I have to lay it all back out in the cage and try to find an arrangement where they can't burrow (never works). Plus it always stinks for no reason... sigh. Hopefully my piggie bedspread (whenever it gets here) will help!
 

Shurrim

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I was using towels under fleece and it was smelly a little.. I decided to make a cage liner, without towels but with mattress pad.. no more smelling! And very quick to change. I'm missing one so now the cage is towel with fleece.. and after 2 days it was smelly again. I think towels aren't the best. I dont like doing laundry either.. but the machine doing the most of work, I dont mind it.
 

1frankie7

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Also, where I live it is very cold at the moment, and I have to bring the fleece out and shake it. Shich by itself takes a good 10 minutes, plus I have to do the laundry, take it out of the cage, etc.

Whereas with shavings it takes me 5-10 minutes to do a full cage cleaning.

Also, I use kiln dried pine, which is not harmful.
 

MaryGreen

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I run a rescue and cleaning the fleece cages has become such a pain. We have two layers of fleece and two layers of towels. We vacuum every couple of days, but they burrow and we find engraved poo when we go to change the fleece. It's on the edges of the fleece and towels and the only way I have found to get it clean is to take it out with the hose and jet spray it. Needless to say with a ton of cages this is time consuming and I need a better option.

I love the fleece because it is so nice for them, but it's a pain to clean. The rescue aspect of my life is a bit short on money- per usual right? with 25 piggies and babies on the way?

That being said we have an HE washer and dryer so it uses very little water- nothing smells bad or anything when it comes out but I'm worried that it might be too much on the washer so I try to get everything off first. The hair is impossible though- so the lint catcher gets most of it. I'm just not sure what to do with all these cages and the fleece. Any suggestions? I've never found many other piggie rescues to ask, so.. tips would be welcome.

Oh, and the cage sizes all vary, along with how many pigs are in each of them. We don't over crowd by any means, but sometimes we have 3 pigs in a 6x2 c&c cage.
 

guineapig67

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It only takes me 10-15 mintues to clean a 2x4. I roll up fleece, dump poo and hay on the street, Run inside and wash it. Then I take my second set of towels and fleece and put it in!

I don't like any other bedding than fleece, because my friend had to remove aspen from her pig Cheddars private area. Although, I do like the smell of aspen!
 

Shurrim

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1frankie7, I know how winter can be cold. A little trick.. try to match the cage changing with the tub cleaning time. I'm shaking the cage liner over the bath tub, then i just have to sweep it off and clean the tub. I did that when it was raining hard other day. Works just perfect! I try to pick up as much as possible before removing it from cage, Doby playing with my hand at same time, thus it takes longer cause I also take the time to play with him. It's a 2 for 1 !
 

Evangela

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I have four Guinea Pigs in a C&C 3x6 cage with a 2x2 tip out (check out my pictures.) I use two layers of towels, a layer of fleece and have two kitchen area's (large plastic bins.) I have tried everything for the bedding in the kitchen area's. The last I tried was Aspen. I found out that it doesn't really absorb and it has a certain smell I didn't really like. It was less expensive than using Kaytee Soft Granule Blend, I use the unsented. What I have found is that using Kaytee is really less expensive because it keeps down the odor, is very absorbent and with four pigs I could leave it for 5 days if I had to. I had to change the Aspen every three days. Fleece and towels never smell. I wash them in hot water with a little bleach. I clip the fleece to the sides of the cloroplast with clothes pins. I vacuum in the am and broom in the pm. I hope this will be helpful.
 

LightningPig1

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I used to use Aspen and it didn't take long at all to clean! It took maybe 15 minutes max. The only reason I stopped using it is because Lightning was sneezing a lot. And The little dust that it had was irritating him. But since I switched to fleece. Theres absolutely no sneezing!
 

Shurrim

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I use boxo or something similar in kitchen area. not smelling either. Only place I have some smell is in the loft since the cage liner is not done yet and i'm still using towels. I also clip it on the coro (the liner goes all up to the coro's edge) so Doby cant go under
 

Duffinvt

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Everyone has their own likes and dislikes as far as bedding. It is cold here too, but I use my fleece shaking as a form of exercise. Down to the garden, shake, shake, shake in the compost pile. Trot back to the house. I use a giant pet hair roller on the fleece and it gets all the hair and hay off. They are like a giant lint roller, but longer and stickier. Then a wash and dry on the clothesline if the weather is nice. Super ! My kitchen is a top from a rubbermaid bin with an old bath mat on it (not the rubber backed kind, the all cotton kind, well-worn so it has little nap left). Then on top of the mat I put a plastic bin type of thing with aspen on the bottom and the hay on top of the aspen. The hay that escapes from the bin ends up on the mat and for the most part the hay shakes off the bath mat very easily.
 

1frankie7

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I might buy some boxo when this runs out, I might mix it with kiln dried pine, too keep costs down, otherwise I would be using a 50L bag weekly!

I bought these shavings from a locally owned pet shop(they don't sell animals, but they do work with the spca to adopt out birds and small animals, they also occasionall, the people there are really nice too!), but I might start buying them from the feed store. From the pet shop its $17 for 3 cubic ft, and from the feed store its $4 for 4 cubic ft.

I might try fleece again in a few months, but for now its shavings.
 

YayPiggies

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It takes me well over an hour to clean my 3x6 fleece. Most of the time is pinning every inch of the fleece to the sides. It's on a stand, so by the end I'm popping pills for back pain.

The next day, you know where my pigs are.

Under that fleece.
 

KDonohue

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I use shavings in my kitchen. I use aspen which I find to be less dusty than pine and have less of a scent! I used boxo once and HATED IT! It's very fine and has a powdery dust to it..
 

pinky

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I use two fleece pads side by side that are easy to pull up and shake out in the trash in between washings. I do it a few times day. The guinea pigs know to go into the kitchen while I shake it out. I launder it every second day now, though, because I don't want any odor. I can change the bedding in a few minutes. I pull it up, put it in the laundry basket, put in the new fleece and shake out the bedding outside. I found that pine or Carefresh took a lot longer because of how bulky they both are. I lined with newpapers to try and lift by the newspaper, with it holding the bedding. I made a mess every time I've tried it. I've even stood right in the cage with a Hefty bag but it was still messy and dusty. I've resigned myself to the fact that no matter what you use, you just need to know when to change it before it has any odor.
 
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