from a distributor. Its cheap, but my pig area is so dusty. I am tempted to switch to fleece, but I have foster cages and isn't it just too much work if you have like 7 cages?in-store use
Show your cage... again!
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JudiL-MetroGPRescue
- Poop Obsessed
I am sick and tired of the Carefresh being so dusty. We get
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WEAVER
- one pig at a time.
Judi, I have five cages and they are all on fleece. My larger herd does have a kitchen area with disposable bedding, and two of my other cages have pans under their hayracks just to help keep the cages cleaner a bit longer. It is a little bit of work, but I would never go back to traditional bedding.
Are your seven cages really large cages?
Are your seven cages really large cages?
How much "work" the fleece is really is a matter of perception. Now granted I only have one average size cage but to me scooping out 2 trash cans full of shavings was more work than washing and folding fleece. Oddly it takes more time and effort to wash and fold fleece but I perceive it as being easier. You could try even 1 cage and see how you like it. It's a pretty small financial investment, especially if you already have a bunch of rag towels.
Something I learned from Weaver is to put layers of fleece down over the main fleece. I have a 2x6 right now and I have 3 sets of main fleece. Each set is 2 pieces that could cover a 2x4 so they overlap in the middle.
Then, I have rectangles of fleece that are 2x5 or 2x2 or 2x3 (I wasn't being very precise when I cut 'em) I put the big one down in the middle and the little ones down on the ends so they overlap. Every day, I come by and roll up the extra fleece, shake out the poops, and put them back if they're not too dirty. If they are dirty, then I replace them.
I have burrowers so I have bricks around the cage and lots of Weaver sacks. It's pretty much stopped them.
The other thing that REALLY extends the life of the fleece and towels, though, is cage pads. I put those down over the fleece layers wherever pigs sleep and on the ramps. I bought one from Weaver but I could see that I needed so many I'd go broke! So I sewed a bunch of cheap versions and swap those out daily. They absorb most of the pee. Really useful! I love the skinny ones I just made for the ramps too. They stay put and have good footing and my gross boys can pee and sleep and poop on them all they want.
I dont' really have a good picture of the cage fleeces, but here's the best I have at the moment. The red fleece is the main fleece and I put down a layer of road fleece. The blue fish is the cage pad. We are super coordinated!
Then, I have rectangles of fleece that are 2x5 or 2x2 or 2x3 (I wasn't being very precise when I cut 'em) I put the big one down in the middle and the little ones down on the ends so they overlap. Every day, I come by and roll up the extra fleece, shake out the poops, and put them back if they're not too dirty. If they are dirty, then I replace them.
I have burrowers so I have bricks around the cage and lots of Weaver sacks. It's pretty much stopped them.
The other thing that REALLY extends the life of the fleece and towels, though, is cage pads. I put those down over the fleece layers wherever pigs sleep and on the ramps. I bought one from Weaver but I could see that I needed so many I'd go broke! So I sewed a bunch of cheap versions and swap those out daily. They absorb most of the pee. Really useful! I love the skinny ones I just made for the ramps too. They stay put and have good footing and my gross boys can pee and sleep and poop on them all they want.
I dont' really have a good picture of the cage fleeces, but here's the best I have at the moment. The red fleece is the main fleece and I put down a layer of road fleece. The blue fish is the cage pad. We are super coordinated!
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WEAVER
- one pig at a time.
Judi, you are right in thinking it is a lot of work, especially if you are lucky enough now to just be able to carry your pans outside and dump them into a compost pile. Honestly, I do MUCH prefer the fleece over the bedding. To me the cages look a lot cleaner, and with the pigs being in my bedrroom I don't like the smell or the dust of traditional bedding.
I vacuum all my cages once a day and change out their beds every day. If you just use igloos, that right there will save you a lot of laundry. Each of my cages is rotated cleaning days where I totally change out everything so the laundry and the work involved does not seem so overwhelming. It is a WHOLE lot of laundry if you have to do them all in one day (my cages are seven loads if I do them all at one time).
You just have to find a routine and stick to it. If you slack off and think I will do that part tomorrow it seems like the whole system gets out of whack.
The hardest part for me about using fleece is not buying MY own pigs new fleece everytime I go to the store. I keep thinking about all of the money I save not buying bedding and try to rationalize how much fleece I can buy with that money :P
I vacuum all my cages once a day and change out their beds every day. If you just use igloos, that right there will save you a lot of laundry. Each of my cages is rotated cleaning days where I totally change out everything so the laundry and the work involved does not seem so overwhelming. It is a WHOLE lot of laundry if you have to do them all in one day (my cages are seven loads if I do them all at one time).
You just have to find a routine and stick to it. If you slack off and think I will do that part tomorrow it seems like the whole system gets out of whack.
The hardest part for me about using fleece is not buying MY own pigs new fleece everytime I go to the store. I keep thinking about all of the money I save not buying bedding and try to rationalize how much fleece I can buy with that money :P
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JensCritterDen
- Guinea Pig Market
I do the same thing with several layers. I also recently redid all of my cages (5) and put a kitchen area in each one. I used the bottoms of the small petstore cages. I line those with towels, fleece, and dollar store rugs. That's where most of them do their business, so I just swap those out daily and sweep up the poop in the rest of the cage.
The pad under the bed's is a great idea, i'm going to do that today!
By the way, love the hut, hehe;)
The pad under the bed's is a great idea, i'm going to do that today!
By the way, love the hut, hehe;)
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JensCritterDen
- Guinea Pig Market
Here are a few pics of the new cages, they rock!
Our helper got way tired out!
All 4 cages are 5x3's, the two cages on the left each have 3 boars and the two cages on the right each have 2 boars. After some qt's are over the two on the right will each house 4 boars.
Our helper got way tired out!
All 4 cages are 5x3's, the two cages on the left each have 3 boars and the two cages on the right each have 2 boars. After some qt's are over the two on the right will each house 4 boars.
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JensCritterDen
- Guinea Pig Market
Thanks! I keep admiring them. I'm so happy with husband for doing that. He likes doing the cages, he says it's like having a huge erector set, lol.
The piggies sure seem to be loving all the room. They were in 2x6's before, but these 3x5's just seem like so much more room, the extra grid width really makes a difference.
The piggies sure seem to be loving all the room. They were in 2x6's before, but these 3x5's just seem like so much more room, the extra grid width really makes a difference.
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