# Alternative to Fleece for Cage Lining?



## this_wallflower (Apr 19, 2009)

I'd like to try cloth cage lining for cost effective and allergy effective reasons (my allergies, not Odie's ).

But I can't handle fleece since the texture bothers me so much--I literally cannot even pull on a fleece jacket or touch a blanket. 

Are there other fabrics I can use that will be as absorbent? 

Or are there places where they would put fleece between cotton so I can handle it but it was an absorbent cage pad?

And how do you keep rats from rearranging their cages and moving the cloth lining around?

Thanks!


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## Corrie (Feb 4, 2009)

Hey, I know what you mean about not liking the feel- I can just about cope with fleece but velvet completely freaks me out! I hate even seeing other people wearing it out, just the thought of the texture... eugh.

I don't use liners but I've heard of other people using toweling instead of fleece. I'm not sure how well it works in terms of absorbanc but I'm guessing it might be the best alternative.

I'm afraid I have no advice in terms of keeping rats from rearranging... I think it's just their nature. My rats like to add windows to everything I give them and I've given up trying to stop it!


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## this_wallflower (Apr 19, 2009)

Thanks! Velvet and velour do the same thing for me. Even seeing them on other people *shudder* I have a texture thing all around: yogurt, bananas, pudding, potatoes, cooked veggies--no go's for me. It's strange.

I heard that towels can catch their nails? Hm, I bet I can get a closely woven towel at Walmart...

Haha, it's funny, I didn't really think of rats as avid chewers, not like my gerbils or anything, but everything I'm reading suggests they might be just as ardent about chewing! 

(clarification: I'm getting the rat in the next day or two...it's a rehoming situation, so I have no idea what his rearranging preferences are!)


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

There are a bunch of alternatives. I made liners out of cotton flannel for my guys (you have to sew the raw edges though or they will fray, this is not necessary with fleece). There's three layers. Cotton flannel at the top, cotton knit on the inside and fleece at the bottom because fleece is not an absorbent material, it is 100% polyester. I use it for cloth diaper covers because it repels moisture from a diaper, but a puddle of pee will soak through I noticed when I made them for my rats. I didn't like how the bottom of my cage was moist when I used only fleece. The cotton flannel, cotton knit and fleece on the bottom seem to be a really good change to just fleece. I live in Florida so it's pretty warm and I don't want they having a a stroke. The bottom of the cage is barely moist because the two cotton layers absorbed it. I'm going to start making them with 3 or 4 cotton layers for absorbency and a material called PUL at the bottom which would prevent soaking through all together. I need to see if my ratties chew it up first.


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## this_wallflower (Apr 19, 2009)

Thanks!


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## elizabethrae. (Dec 24, 2008)

I use baby changing pads... absorbent and holds urine well.. and they are easy to wash.
You can also get different sizes so you can customize them to fit your cage.

I just pull them in between the level and the cage bars and that's all they really need to stay in place.
My rats have other bedding so they leave them alone


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## Ky_Zack (Feb 14, 2009)

I understand the food things... but people that 'freak' at the touch of fabrics? That's so odd... never heard of that.


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## begoodtoanimals (Dec 6, 2007)

elizabethrae. said:


> I use baby changing pads... absorbent and holds urine well.. and they are easy to wash.


Where can you buy these in the US?


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

Towels.

You have to watch on oldies and getting toenails caught (I tend to avoid the really fluffy ones) but they work really well


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## Gats1788 (Mar 14, 2009)

yeah towels are fine, some are very absorbent. and i have had no probs with nails getting caught. My rats love em. Here is one tip if your rats like to chew a lot, get an old hand towel cut it into thick strips and attach one end to something so they have to work to get it. And they will usually go for that rather than the liners.


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## Ky_Zack (Feb 14, 2009)

Interesting.


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## begoodtoanimals (Dec 6, 2007)

That's right. Mine chewed on the towels where they had been clamped onto the trays. Now I just tuck them under the trays and they leave them alone. They evidently enjoy the resistance when chewing.
Another strange thing is that one type of fleece doesn't get chewed. They leave the thinner fleece alone. But the thicker fleece looks like Swiss cheese


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## Corrie (Feb 4, 2009)

> They leave the thinner fleece alone. But the thicker fleece looks like Swiss cheese


I'd love to know what goes on inside their little brains to make them choose to chew one thing and not the other. I don't use liners but I do have LOTS of hammocks- I find fleece ones get chewed immediately with lots of additioinal windows added to cube hammocks but anything made out of flannel is always left alone (although they do seem to get used just as much, if not more!).


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## this_wallflower (Apr 19, 2009)

Ky_Zack said:


> I understand the food things... but people that 'freak' at the touch of fabrics? That's so odd... never heard of that.


Sorry didn't see this for a few days. Yeah, I was a pain as a baby apparently. Corduroy is another fabric. It's very frustrating though: a lot of warm winter clothes or fancy dress clothes I can't touch or wear because of this. Very frustrating. Though, I'm hypersensitive to a lot of things (light and sound as well) so maybe my brain's just wired differently lol.


Thanks, guys! I gave him a fleece hat that I can't/won't wear and he gnawed lots of holes in it and loved it for a few days until I cut up an old cotton/waffle weave shirt for him and he's madly in love with that. Took the strips and stuffed them in his new tissue box as a bed.


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## Ky_Zack (Feb 14, 2009)

hmmm...

You have my sympathy. Nothing is better than curling up in a fleece blanket on a cold winter's day...


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## Corrie (Feb 4, 2009)

> Nothing is better than curling up in a fleece blanket on a cold winter's day...


I can't imagine anything worse! lol (except maybe if they started making velvet blankets!)

I equally have lots of texture issues- can't eat certain foods, will only eat with certain cutlery and cannot let my bottom set of teeth touch the top set, that really gets me, and I hate seeing other people clench their teeth too- I think I'm essentially a pain in the backside! Glad I'm not they only one though, this_wallflower!

I'm glad your rat enjoyed the hat and that you've found another fabric he's equally pleased with!


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## Ky_Zack (Feb 14, 2009)

How do you chew?!?!


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## Corrie (Feb 4, 2009)

LOL. I chew quite easily- when you chew there's food between the teeth so you never get the sensation of tooth clashing with tooth.


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