Has anyone changed from fleece to shavings?

[Treacle]

HI all,

I changed to fleece after reading here that it was easier to clean, etc. But it gives me more work. I vacuum the poops everyday, so I have to remove all the toys, hideys etc, then I have to clean the hand-vacuum as some of the poops are a bit soft (not nice). Then back. Plus my girls don't stop nibbling on the fleece and the towels underneath. Also my washing mashine gets full of hair every time I was the bedding and as much as I try to remove the hair I always find some in the next wash.

So I am thinking in switching back to woodshavings, as spot cleaning with some gloves proves ieasier to me, and no hairs around!

Has anyone experience similar problems?

 

[newpiggiemommy]

Sorry no I love my fleece! I just pick up the fleece and shake it in the garden once a day, or use a hand vac sometimes. I haven't noticed hair in my washer, but I think I probably shake it all off when shake out the poop!

I hope you have better luck with another type of bedding!

Have you tried to use fleece, but also have an eating area with a different type of bedding.

I have a loft with carefresh bedding in it and that is where I feed all food and hay. Most of the poop stays up there! I only have a small amount on the lower level! To be honest I have gone 3 days with out shaking out my fleece before because it doesn't get that messy now that I have the kitchen!

Good Luck!

 

[Liann]

Treacle - I switched to fleece and loved it for 2 days. Then it went downhill from there. The poops were everywhere and even with a bin for the hay, they managed to spread it all over the place too. My dirt devil could handle the poops, but not the hay. I ended up cleaning the poops about 3 times a day and using a comb to gather up the hay to throw away. The piggies would also step in their poops, so I had little muddy piggy feet to deal with. I ended up being a slave to the cage. I'm back to aspen now and am much happier with it. I do a complete cage change once a week and really do not have to mess with it any other time. I still LOVE the look of fleece (when it is clean), but I just didn't have the time to deal with it.

 

[Arielle72]

Me too. I've had the fleece in since Saturday and at first I liked it. First it was very pretty and made it seem more like a part of the room. But, I have noticed more odor coming from it than I did with the carefresh. I have had a devil of a time cleaning the poops up and the hay sticks like crazy to the fleece.

I'm planning to switch back as soon as I have time to do so.

 

[Rattie Mom]

We started off with fleece. So I can't really compare it to shavings. We buy the cheap rugs at IKEA and cover those with fleece. We have more absorbency that way, and the fleece stays down well too. We are very lucky, our girls don't pull up the fleece or chew on it. We have the girls almost fully litter trained too. We use wood pellets in their litter boxes. So I just have to pick up a few stray poo's and replace their nest box blankets every couple of days.

It is a bit of a pain when hay gets stuck in the fleece. But we try and put an extra loose piece of fleece, next to the hay racks, so I can shake it out frequently.

 

[MommyOfTwo]

Ohh, I like the idea of extra loose fleece under the hay!

it only takes me about 15 minutes everyday to "maintain" the cage, and about 45 minutes on Sundays to thoroughly clean it. I love it, and my piggies popcorn every day when I spruce it up, so I know they love it too.

 

[i-love-nev]

It is a bit of a pain when hay gets stuck in the fleece. But we try and put an extra loose piece of fleece, next to the hay racks, so I can shake it out frequently.

I did that for a while but then the piggies started taking the hay from the hayracks and puting it the other end of the cage on the fleece and sitting and eating it there. :crazy: So now I put peice of rug (easier to clean!!) each side of the cage and a hay rack each end or a small kitten litter tray works, and upturned pigloo!

 

[cavyinhawaii]

I went from fleece to shavings. I couldn't keep up with the fleece. I have less smell with shavings. I know many people have the opposite.You have to find what works best for you.

 

[Treacle]

Thanks a lot for the replies! I started thinking I was a clumsy mummy. I have to say the worse thing is the hair in the washing mashine, it is impossible to shake or brush it, the machine is new and I don't want to break it again!

I still have lots of shavings at home, it will be nice just to throw the fleece away without having to clean it! I will keep one set just in case but the other one is going with the poos and the lot to the bin! lol

 

[zephyr350]

I am also considering doing this. My husband doesn't want me washing the fleece in the washing machine so I bought one of those hand crank Wonder Washers. It washes the fleece pretty well but I still have to ring it out by hand and then dry it on my drying rack. I have to do this outside and the last couple of times I have gone outside to find the drying rack laying on the concrete. It's just all very time consuming and frankly a pain!

I found a great deal on towels and some fleece blankets at my Goodwill last week. I brought them home, washed them and cut them up to fit my cage. I threw away the old fleece and towels this last time I changed the cage. I figured that the cost of the blankets and towels after they were cut was $2.00 to fit the cage for that week.

I am trying to figure out if I will keep doing this as I'm sure I can continue to find old towels and fleece at the Goodwill or garage sales this summer or switch to shavings. I currently use Carefresh in the litter box under the hay and know that I could not afford to use that every week in the whole cage. My girls like the fleece and hardly poo on it at all. I got lucky that they use the litter box most of the time.

Those of you that use shavings. Do you know about how much I would need for a 2X4 cage so I can figure what would be the most cost effective option?

 

[Honey_Bunny]

your lucky, i still have to use regular pet bedding. I use the "Carefresh" pet bedding but keep a trash bag under the bedding at the bottom of the cage so when i go to clean her cage i just pick up the bag and throw it out. I wish i could use blankets/fleece. it would be less work for me and cheaper.

 

[cavyinhawaii]

I am also considering doing this. My husband doesn't want me washing the fleece in the washing machine so I bought one of those hand crank Wonder Washers. It washes the fleece pretty well but I still have to ring it out by hand and then dry it on my drying rack. I have to do this outside and the last couple of times I have gone outside to find the drying rack laying on the concrete. It's just all very time consuming and frankly a pain!

I found a great deal on towels and some fleece blankets at my Goodwill last week. I brought them home, washed them and cut them up to fit my cage. I threw away the old fleece and towels this last time I changed the cage. I figured that the cost of the blankets and towels after they were cut was $2.00 to fit the cage for that week.

I am trying to figure out if I will keep doing this as I'm sure I can continue to find old towels and fleece at the Goodwill or garage sales this summer or switch to shavings. I currently use Carefresh in the litter box under the hay and know that I could not afford to use that every week in the whole cage. My girls like the fleece and hardly poo on it at all. I got lucky that they use the litter box most of the time.

Those of you that use shavings. Do you know about how much I would need for a 2X4 cage so I can figure what would be the most cost effective option?

I buy my shavings/bedding from a horse stable. I put about 3 or 4 inches in and my bag lasts about 4 changes. The bags are 10.00. I know in NC they have a store called southern states. I used to buy my rabbit food there when I had rabbits. I could get it in 50lb bags. They might have the bedding.
When I am in a pinch I get my bedding from Walmart. It costs me around 8.00 and its enough for 2 changes if I am lucky enough to get the giant economy bag. If all they have are little bags its even more expensive.

 

[zephyr350]

Thanks. I'm sure we have a Southern States around here because I have heard the commercials on the radio. I'll look it up. Now that I think of it there is a store like that close to here. It's not Southern States but I think I will go this week and see what they have.

I like the fleece but not being able to wash in a washing machine is just too much trouble to mess with it.

Do you put anything under the shavings to make cleanup easier? I thought I saw somewhere that someone puts newspapers down and then the shavings. Then when they clean up they just pick up the newspapers with the shavings.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[clotho]

I put a thick layer of newspapers down first. Then I tape the edges of the newspapers together. Then I add my shavings. Theoretically, during cage cleaning, I can just remove pigs & hideys, and just roll everything up and toss it in a garbage bag.

However, my female pigs (and I have 6) have decided it's a game to dig down and rip apart the newspaper as much as possible as quickly as possible!! LOL Silly piggies!!! So when I do their cage, it comes apart in smaller sections, but I can still roll the small sections and put them into a bag and it works well for cleaning day.

For those of you who have piggies who don't dig down like mine - you're lucky!!

I buy huge bags of shavings when they are on sale at the TSC (Tractor Supply Company) store here. I usually pay about $5 per bag and I use just over a bag per cage cleaning day. However, I have the equivalent of a little over FOUR 2x4 cages to fill. So I would say my bag of shavings would last 3, almost 4 cage cleanings in a 2x4 cage.

 

[Newpiggiemom]

I've lately been thinking about switching from fleece too. It seemed like a great option for the cage but now that my boys are in a divided cage and it's really two cages now, I don't have enough mattress pads to put under the fleece to change it. This means that I have to have them out for floor time while I wash and dry the fleece and mattress pads. This is a true pain. It would be so much easier to be able to clean it quickly and be done. I'll have to think about it though. I don't know if it's better to try to buy more mattress pads or just switch to shavings.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Please post your questions in the appropriate forum section. This thread will be moved.

 

[mbator]

Yes I am experiencing the same problem. Although I like the fleece, I too am thinking of going back to the shavings and putting some fleece in for like a place to lay. The shavings to me is so much cleaner and more sanitary looking. I can't stand the mess the fleece makes in my washer even with shaking it out before hand, you don't always get it all. In fact I was just thinking of going back to shavings today, the problem I had with the shavings is my poor vaccum, I tend to plug it up if I am not careful.

 

[Maisiepaisie]

Has anyone ever found that washing fleece damages the washer? I'm pretty lazy when it comes to getting every bit of hair and hay off and quite a bit of hair does get washed with the fleece. I figured it would just get rinsed away and it doesn't seem to be causing any problems.

 

[naturegal592]

I hand vac my fleece in the cage and give it a really good shake before I put it in the wash and have no problems with the washer. In the summer or when the temp is over 40 I have a broom on the porch and it does a great job at sweeping hair off. I don't think I could ever go back to shavings. I do have litter boxes in the eating areas filled with carefresh but I can go even 1 1/2 weeks without washing the fleece before I can smell anything. I'm sorry it doesn't work for some of you.

 

[cavyinhawaii]

I use 3mm drop cloth plastic. I line it and fold it over the top of the coroplast. I clip it down with binder clips. My pigs have never chewed on it. I can pick up a roll at Lowes for less than 20.00 and it will go for more than 10 changes for a 2x6 cage. I can bundle the whole thing up at once and dump it in the trash.