Fleeces for guinea pig cages and other small animals

Outkast_IRE

As an alternative to wood shavings i imported some fleece and proceded to cut it to custom fit my cage , i use it with a towel underneath and the guinea pigs seem much healthier for it and my pocket seems a lot better off not buying wood shavings constantly and it helps keep the place cleaner the shavings can get everywhere .
I was just wondering would there be much demand for this , fleeces cut to custom sizes for people as an alternative to shavings?
I was thinking of offering it as a service to people where they provide measurements and i import and cut the fleece in whatever colour and sizes they want ? what do you guys think is it viable as a small earner?
I also use a large sized fleece for their play area as its easier to keep clean after them

serenacat

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

As an alternative to wood shavings i imported some fleece and proceded to cut it to custom fit my cage , i use it with a towel underneath and the guinea pigs seem much healthier for it and my pocket seems a lot better off not buying wood shavings constantly and it helps keep the place cleaner the shavings can get everywhere .
I was just wondering would there be much demand for this , fleeces cut to custom sizes for people as an alternative to shavings?
I was thinking of offering it as a service to people where they provide measurements and i import and cut the fleece in whatever colour and sizes they want ? what do you guys think is it viable as a small earner?
I also use a large sized fleece for their play area as its easier to keep clean after them

I would consider this, do you put carefresh over the fleece?

Outkast_IRE

No need as long as you dont use softner when you wash the fleece any urine passes right through it , to the towel layer , under the towel layer i use a sheet of news paper. so no need to purchase any additional materials.

I have to guinea pigs in the cage and i get two full days out of a fleece and towel before i swap them for fresh ones .

I just change the news paper and shake the fleece into a bag twice a day when they get their run in a play area.
the guinea pigs love it, its not dusty like the wood shaving so its rare to hear a cough out of them , when i first changed over the guinea pigs would get very excited when i changed the colour fleeces etc and would start doing little jumps .

Its like this Fleece layer______________
towel layer________________
newspaper _________________

the news paper and towel wick away any wetness and the fleece stays very dry.
It saves a forutne on bedding , i made mine up 18 months ago and the fleeces are still in very good condition, I have 5 fleeces cut to size with 5 towels and i wash a few together . So i dont even want to know what 18 months of bedding would of cost.

serenacat

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

No need as long as you dont use softner when you wash the fleece any urine passes right through it , to the towel layer , under the towel layer i use a sheet of news paper. so no need to purchase any additional materials.

I have to guinea pigs in the cage and i get two full days out of a fleece and towel before i swap them for fresh ones .

I just change the news paper and shake the fleece into a bag twice a day when they get their run in a play area.
the guinea pigs love it, its not dusty like the wood shaving so its rare to hear a cough out of them , when i first changed over the guinea pigs would get very excited when i changed the colour fleeces etc and would start doing little jumps .

Its like this Fleece layer______________
towel layer________________
newspaper _________________

the news paper and towel wick away any wetness and the fleece stays very dry.
It saves a forutne on bedding , i made mine up 18 months ago and the fleeces are still in very good condition, I have 5 fleeces cut to size with 5 towels and i wash a few together . So i dont even want to know what 18 months of bedding would of cost.

Sounds interesting, this would only be used for indoor cages I presume?
the hay is really dusty in general I find and gets everywhere!

Outkast_IRE

well they still need hay , i keep mine in their hay rack and give them a bundle on the cage floor to munch on at night , some brands of hay are much less dusty than others i get the burgess one its about the best i find.

Well i have only used it indoors so i cant comment on how good or bad it would perfrom outdoors , the advantage of wood shaving outdoors is it might help them stay warm in winter.

Sigma Force

I would sometimes use vet bed for guineas they do love the comfort, it's more practical to just use thick layers of newspaper and plenty of hay they love nothing more than hay and a cardboard box to hide in but I find as guineas get older they need a bit of fleece or towel or vet bed just for that extra bit of comfort for their old bones.

Vet bed is great for outdoors as well, woodchips is said to dry out the natural oils from guinea pigs skin and to cause respiratory problems, I just found woodchips mad messy and a pain to clean out. Easier to roll up and load of newspaper and hay, chuck it out and replace after a quick wipe down with kitchen roll and vinegar. Woodchips are a waste of money a good quality hay low dust hay smells nicer and guineas need cleaning out daily or every other day anyway.

Outkast_IRE

vet bed is realatively expensive versus the cost of the fleece and cutting it to suit though , even when you factor in the towels the fleece/towels would work out cheaper and allow for changes more often .
They love the big ol bundle of hay though usually they munch for a while and then stretch out on it for a sleep.

taram

I had fleece for mine, but my housemate hates seeing the poo, even though I spot cleaned it every morning and afternoon. My other problem was the hair and hay, how do you wash yours without destroying your washing machine? I'd take a chance except I'm in rented accomodation.

EGAR

I use vetbed in one corner of the cage for the wabbits, they love it and sleep on it.

Sigma Force

Vet bed is cheaper than fleeces in the long run, I've had vet bed for at least 6 years now and it's still going strong where as fleeces I have had to replace because they have fraid and threads come off them etc.

Discodog

Is there not a risk of the animal ingesting bits of fleece ?.

Sigma Force

Good point, guineas will eat anything so it's worth keeping an eye on them to see if they are chewing it same with rabbits. I found the guineas never chewed the vet bed not sure why because although it's difficult to chew it's not chew proof but they maybe thought it was too cosy to ruin.

Discodog

I would be a bit nervous of anything that could be swallowed & then expand & get trapped in the stomach. Or anything with fibres that could get entangled within the gut.

But I am no expert on small furries

EGAR

My wabbits do not chew on it. They have plenty of chewables in their run which is much tastier than the vetbed .

Outkast_IRE

think a lot of it would be down to quality of fleece you buy , i bought in good quality fleece , and 18 months on the same ones are in use and i would expect them to last another 18 months at least as theres no real signs of wear ,no sign of them attempting to eat it god knows they will try anything given the chance, the way the fleece is made it cant really unravel , proper 100% fleece shouldnt unravel really.