Guinea pigs ... fleece ... idiots guide?

[Scienceforthewin]

Hi, could anyone help me out with an idiots guide / hand hold on moving my guinea pigs to fleece?

Do I: put in one towel, folded in half, plus a (kids) fleece blanket on top. De-poop daily by sweeping or hand held vacuum, chuck it all in the washing machine in a mesh bag weekly. Plus a litter tray (simples, they already have and use one) with newspaper and hay cleared daily.

How does the fleece layer stay in place when I'm sweeping/vacuuming? Also what stops the pigs from doing cage remodeling and pulling the fleece off? My 2 girls can be a little destructive.

Am I better to spend ££s on a ready done pad where the towel and fleece are all sewn into a big pad?

Thanks in advance I can't take another "instructional" you tube video 😁

We use puppy pads under the fleece and throw it away daily and sweep with a dustpan and brush.

I'm after a minimum waste solution as we are now pay as you throw (cost per bin bag) 😢

I used fleece over this winter when I married our middle aged pair and made them a huge C&C cage.
They had cardboard over the grids, puppy pads, newspaper and fleeces (I got loads from Ikea. About £2 each, rough so they wick the moisture. )

They tolerated the fleece but really much prefer hay to sleep in.
I gave them a box full of hay to try and stop it all migrating . They slept in the hay mainly .

I got some of the PetPags (they're quite occlusive , nearly waterproof) I put the detergent in the bag , then wash , then hang them out , the stray hay comes off outside.

Guinea-pigs are really messy little animals. I tried all kinds of bedding , and mine did seem to prefer hay .

We ave one old girl now who will stay inside (apart from garden grazing) so I'll keep with the fleece when its too warm for deep hay (she can eat hay cookies)

She amuses herself making little tunnels under the newspaper

*They tolerated the fleece but really much prefer hay to sleep in.
I gave them a box full of hay to try and stop it all migrating . They slept in the hay mainly *

Do you use a cardboard box or a natural wicker type one?
I'd love our piggies to sleep in hay but they flatten it out and then refuse point blank to eat any of it as they must have new hay to eat. If I fluff it up then they will reluctantly eat it - I don't mean old hay, hay that has maybe been in there for an hour. They have sawdust underneath but you can't see it as they just spread their hay out all over the place.

Usually just a cardboard box if I can get one big enough (Costco are good , I like the breadboxes or fruit boxes) or if the whole cage is being done , I put it straight on the fleece.
GP1 had a hedgehog house (wicker with a tunnel) when he lived with GP3 and needed his own space .
When the sows inherited it , GP5 wrecked it !

We gave our GP1/GP2 a trug of hay to scoff (rubber trug with a door cut out and a cardboard lid) , they had soft bedding in the sleeping area.
Of course they ignored the soft bedding and squeezed their lardy arses into the trug (these were boars who liked their own space) but they chose the trug.
Their little faces "Poor guineas, shoved into a rubber trug" .

They do stamp the hay flat , then you think "Oh I'll fluff it up" and get a handful of pooh'n'wee

I get wine boxes for our 3, they love it with the little dividers in for the 6 bottles - once we had all four pigs in the same one with a divider each!

They are very spoilt, they consider that their birthright I think.

I got fleece from Ziggies Piggies and it doesn't need anything as it has magic wicking stuff in the middle. They are really good. I stopped using ish for a bit but I don't have space in the bin for their bedding and the cat's litter tray debris!

They throw their hay about on the fleece, but I have a rubber brush that sweeps it up nicely. I put the fleece in a horse bag to wash. It seems to be working ok. If you live somewhere that collects garden waste check if you can put hay & droppings in. Some councils are fine with it, makes good compost!

Mine like a sturdy paper bag full of hay to hide in. This is a pre-fleece pic though.

I think I'm obsessive as I wash the fleece every day!

I've dumped the fleece and just use a puppy pad and vet bed. Change the puppy pad every other day. I have lots of pieces of vet bed so do a wash in a horse bag about once a week.

Ours eat puppy pads which I'm guessing it's not good!

I was going to add that mine is not a chewer. If he chewed the pads I would still use the fleece.

Mine aren't puppy pad chewers thankfully (cardboard gets chewed within an inch of its life though)

You can just put it on newspaper , the fleece will 'wick' the moisture through . Don't use any fabric conditioner , it stops the wicking.
Don't use anything fragranced , pigs are respiratory sensitive and have to breath any fumes . Also they might try to outdo any smells by peeing more.

I know mine see a nice clean cage as an opportunity for carnage and a Challenge. "HaHa , she's given me A Task. I will do my upmost"

Only now can we make a cage go 2 days (because we have one pig)

I use fleece. We put incontinence pads under it (washable ones, designed to go on beds for incontinent adults). We peg it to the plastic bit of the C&C cage so it stays in place, and stops them chewing the plastic too.

I use boxes from photocopier paper to put the hay in mostly, and change it every couple of days. I compost the hay and the boxes too (need to rip up the boxes quite small, but if they've been properly peed on they compost down ok)

I only really change the fleece once a week, but do sweep up the poo daily.

Scienceforthewin horrified you are charged per bin bag, which council do you come under if you dont mind disclosing.

Where I am we only get general waste collected once a fortnight, i struggle to cope bin is overflowing every time.

DD asks very nicely in Build a Bear for one of their boxes. They are perfect for pigs when stuffed with hay!

The cardboard boxes in ours have to be falling apart before I am allowed to change them. Our tame pigs run the boxes, one each, when they see me approaching with a bin bag. Every other time they share boxes but a bin bag means one box each where they stay until the evil bin bag gives up and goes away.

Sorry @fortifiedwithtea - just saw your q. Not in England - I'm in Guernsey. £2.50 per black bag now.

I now have my piggies on makeshift towels/fleece combo and have placed an order with ziggys piggies 😁