# Cage liner alternatives



## dguizzy (Jun 9, 2014)

Hey guys, I'm curious if you have any ideas for cage liner alternatives besides fleece? I find myself buying a lot of fleece cause my girls absolutely love to chew it. They're litter trained so I don't want to use bedding as their cage liner, plus it would get messy. I'm not sure honestly if there would be another alternative, but I'd like to save some money! (I do get the fleece that's on sale but it would save me about 30$ every month)


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

I know some people use bath towels from Walmart. You can get a really large one for under $10 (I think) and then just cut it up. A lot of people also go into their local Goodwill and other store and get bath robes/towels/clothes for really cheap, then cut them to size. I personally use fleece because I am picky about the decor but instead of having double fleece, I use one layer of fleece on one layer of U-Haul furniture pad. This saves me 50% of the costs because the same amount of fleece makes 2 sets and an $8 furniture pad is enough to make at least one set of liners for a DCN (more if you are a careful cutter or you do pillow case liners rather/ ones that sit on top of the pans and trays). The urine is wicked away to the pad below which absorbs the liquid really well. I change out liners about every week and spot clean daily. I only start smelling my boys around the 5th day mark and I have 4 smelly boys in the cage.


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## CleverRat (Mar 9, 2014)

Towels can be dangerous because they have tiny little loops that rat claws can get stuck in and be yanked out. I would only choose towels that don't have these loops or avoid them all together. The other problem with towels is they fray, unlike fleece. Limbs can get stuck in the frayed towel or get tangled around intestines if swallowed.  If your rats chew on fabric, then i would stick with non-fraying fabric like fleece. I found some old fleece throws last week at a thrift store for around $1.00 or Walmart has cheap throws.


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## dguizzy (Jun 9, 2014)

PawsandClaws said:


> I know some people use bath towels from Walmart. You can get a really large one for under $10 (I think) and then just cut it up. A lot of people also go into their local Goodwill and other store and get bath robes/towels/clothes for really cheap, then cut them to size. I personally use fleece because I am picky about the decor but instead of having double fleece, I use one layer of fleece on one layer of U-Haul furniture pad. This saves me 50% of the costs because the same amount of fleece makes 2 sets and an $8 furniture pad is enough to make at least one set of liners for a DCN (more if you are a careful cutter or you do pillow case liners rather/ ones that sit on top of the pans and trays). The urine is wicked away to the pad below which absorbs the liquid really well. I change out liners about every week and spot clean daily. I only start smelling my boys around the 5th day mark and I have 4 smelly boys in the cage.


A furniture pad? As in like a seat cushion? Would you put that below the fleece or on top? My mom was telling me I should try piddle pads and that would be good but there's a bit of plastic that outlines the pad so I don't know if I want to put that in there cause I'm sure my girls will just chew that up as well. 


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

It is what you put on delicate furniture when you move to stop it from getting damaged, the blue looking stuff. I believe it is made out of recycled denim but it doesn't fray at all and it is safe for ratties. People use it a lot for guinea pig liners and then I saw it elsewhere for rats so I thought I would give it a go. So far, it has worked out pretty well for me. I sew the Fleece on top and the pad on the bottom so when they pee on the fleece, it is absorbed under into the u-haul pad instead of the shelves. It is really thick fabric so very good for this sort of thing and you get a huge 68" x 85" piece. I do not use towels because of the fraying danger but I know a lot of people say it is fine as long as you check them frequently and are cautious about it.

http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Protective-stuff/Furniture-Pad is what I am talking about.


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## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

I recycle a lot of cardboard and use that to line my girls cages. They can chew it up and I just replace it when it gets smelly. We eat a lot of boxed things so it works.

I was using puppy pads under fleece until 2 of my girls decided they liked nesting in the puppy pad and would tear it up as soon as I put it in.


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## rubysrats (Jul 28, 2014)

I use bath towels with bed sheets over on my single critter nation. I also have scraps of fleece loose in the cage for blankets and things for them to rearrange and chew. I am going to by incontinence pads to use under the sheets instead of towels. The ones for humans are cheaper than the ones for dogs and they do not have the scent attractant. I can get them for 10 cents apiece with amazon mom on subscribe and save. I will need three to cover my single critter nation. My boys have not chewed the bedsheets. They don't seem to mess with them as much as fleece. It would be worth a try, besides bed sheets cost next to nothing at thrift stores, especially mismatched ones, so even if they chew them no big deal. It would be much less expensive than buying fleece. I also get fleece for the scraps and making hammocks from the thrift stores, just cut up blankets.


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