Fleece Liners vs Bedding

[SLChinnies13]

I've noticed a lot of cages that have fleece liners. What are the pros and cons of them? Why do you like fleece better than bedding? Also if anyone has bedding, why do you like it better than fleece?

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I use both, fleece liners on the bottom trays and I also offer a corner litter pan with shavings. Some of my girls like to use the potty with the shavings, and some like to pee on the fleece.
Of course, in my pairs, it would be one of each per cage, lol...

It's all going to depend on which is more convenient for you. Would you rather be doing chin laundry every three days, or vacuuming shavings off the floor constantly? It's personal preference. For me, it was chin-preference. I had a chronic shelf-pee-er and switching to fleece finally cured her. She still thinks she is being bad by peeing on the fleece, so who am I to tell her she's supposed to?

 

[ChinnieMommy87]

I love the fleece. It helps with my allergies. But not just that, it is really convenient. We vacuum it every day and wash it a couple times a week. It also seems to look neater in the cage, with less mess.

 

[LoveBug]

i use fleece and a glass dish of bedding. my chin is potty trained.
it's much easier to clean.
doesn't leave a mess all over my floor.
i bet it feels better on their feet.
i never smell any pee smells.
i vacuum the poo up in the mornings when i wake up.
plus it looks better
and then at the end of the week i take those out and put a new one in.
and throw the used ones in the washer and dryer

 

[jess32247]

I've been using fleece for a couple months, and have turned into a complete fleece addict LOL. I wouldn't go back to wood shavings!

Imo it's a lot easier to clean and less messy. I take the fleece outside every day to shake off the poop/hay and change it out every three days, then wash at the end of the week. I don't ever have to worry about spilling bedding all over the place like before. I've also noticed that my chin is a lot happier with her fleece, she's much more content sitting on the fleece to eat, ect. With bedding, she would kick and throw it around.

If your thinking of chaning, you won't be disappointed!

 

[smhluvsmh]

I personally do not like the fleece liners. I found that they smelled after the 2nd day. I have 2 FN142's and I use bedding on the very bottom only. The rest of my shelves are either wood or tiled half shelves. Very easy to clean, wipe and vacuum. I have a wooden surround around the entire bottom so their bedding stays in the cage. No problem! They don't play or hang out at the bottom I find, they only go down there the potty.

 

[~Alex~]

I agree with smhluvsmh. I have fleece lying in my chins cage and I dont like it..at all.

It stinks and everything gets super stuck to it. I do wash it too and it smells nice and is great right after I take it out but gets smelly from chin pee...

I dont really have a mess problem with wood chips though because his cage is a slide out pan with a wire bottom and he is potty trained so his bedding doesnt smell either. I like the smell of the pine wood much better too...The only reason I keep it in there is because he sometimes likes to sleep on it. But other than that he is super comfy where ever he is...he loves laying on the wire too.

 

[SLChinnies13]

Thanks everyone for your opinions! I just ordered a fleece liner to try it out. I hope I like it. If I do, I will be buying more

 

[mistywaterwoman]

Be sure sure sure to wipe down the PAN underneath it with a chin-safe disinfectant every time you change the liner. That is where the odor comes from.

 

[becky12883]

I just changed over to a fleece liner and it took my boys about 2 weeks to get the hang of peeing only in the glass dish with a bit of bedding in it. We change the glass dish every day, and the fleece is shaken out every other day and then changed at least once a week, but sometimes twice if they have an accident. They never smell like pee, and I put newspaper down in the pan under the wires and it's never gotten wet at all. I also cut out a square of fleece a bit bigger than the glass dish and put that under it to catch any missed tinkles, and that I can change as often as necessary. I love the fleece and will probably never go back to bedding. Plus it cost me bout $10 to make everything, which is about what I would have spent on bedding for a month or so.

 

[Daina91880]

I've yet to have smell issues with fleece and it's been almost two months now that I've had my girls. As long as you stay on top of cleaning the cage, it shouldn't smell. I just make sure I vacuum the cage daily. The brush attachment gets the stuck hay and such off easily. Then every third day or so I wash the liners and replace them with fresh ones. I use vinegar in the wash along with an unscented detergent and they smell as fresh as any other laundry I do. I would never consider bedding. It's more difficult to clean, looks terrible in the cage and is more messy.

 

[Kara315]

I just switched over to fleece about a week ago, I could smell pee after about three days, but thats because my boys weren't potty trained and aren't use to it yet, they don't seem to care about peeing in their dish that I put in with bedding. I've liked both the fleece and bedding, I think fleece looks a bit better and it's nice and soft for them.
Only problem is Tigger has a habit of trying to pull it up as if he doesn't want it there lol....I've sawn ribbon on each side and tie it to the cage, so he's able to lift it up a little but not able to completely so it probably bugs him knowing he can't lol.
I was thinking about switching back to bedding since they just haven't gotten use to or even really tried peeing in the dish. I just changed the fleece probably three days ago, and even though they don't use the dish, I can't really smell anything, but since they don't use the dish, I like to swtich the bedding more often, every couple days instead of every week.

 

[BethanyShondark]

I just switched over a few weeks ago. They are better on Thaddeus' feet, my allergies and it takes me a few minutes to clean up verses an hour. The bedding used to get all over the floor and now it's so much neater.

I flip the fleece over after about two days and clean it after four or five. I was it with a tablespoon of vinegar (to eliminate the urine smell) and wash it alone - it doesn't need a dry cycle. I was able to litter train him, so there's really only poop on the fleece, I vacuum that every morning and evening. So much better - I'm a big fan.

 

[SamiJami]

I never used shavings with my chinchillas. With the way they kick things out of their cage, the mess would be atrocious - I'd feel the need to clean the floor almost hourly. I know some people say their fleece smells after 2-3 days. We've never had a problem letting it go for 4-5 days before switching. There's never a smell. We haven't litter trained our guys either. They thought it was more fun to move the litter up the top and sprinkle the shelves with it >_<

I also spend about $15 per liner (I have them made for me) and they last more than a year, which is way less than shavings.