# I'm done with Fleece!!!



## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

Firstly, I have nothing against fleece. It's amazing, keeps odor down, is fairly easy to take out during cage cleaning, and just gives the cage a nice clean feeling, more like a house than a cage.

However, what I have to do with the fleece AFTER taking it out of the cage was driving me CRAZY! (crazi_er_, I should say...)

I had to take all my dirty fleece outside, hang it up on something, and powerwash it really early in the day to get poop, urine, and any cardboard on it, out. I'd then have to let it hang out and dry, hopefully before the sun set so I wouldn't be outside in the dark. Then, once it was dripping less, I'd gather it all up in something water wouldn't leak from, take it all the way through the house (smelling like wet rat) to the laundry room and _pray _no poop was left on it. If I was really lucky, it'd come out smelling nice and fresh with no yuckiness left. If I was unlucky, there would be an icky piece of poop staring me in the face in the washing machine I then have to use for my clothes and my family's clothes!

So I'm done. No more breaking my back dragging smelly fleece outside. No more dirty fleece piling up because I was loathe to take it outside and then put it in the washer (instead, I'd just keep buying new fleece so I wouldn't have to clean the old, lol).

Two weeks ago, I switched back to Kaytee Clean and Cozy, but with a twist. I mix Yesterday's News into it for odor control. All the rats still have litter boxes with the cat litter in it, and they are using them, but now they have a lot of fun bedding. This bedding gets everywhere, so I've been tracking it through the house, but other than that, I'm glad to be using it again. I have a new handheld vacuum, so cleanup is a LOT easier now (for both the house and for cleaning small bits of bedding out of the cage). I just now cleaned out the cage and it barely took me an hour, about the same amount of time it took to clean the cage with fleece. BUT I don't have any fleece sitting in my room stinking, waiting to be cleaned!

The only other issue is money... I'll have to buy a bag of cat litter and Kaytee Clean and Cozy probably every month to twice a month, and I'm already buying food a lot more often than I expected (I have eight little piggie rats). I'd like to find a cheaper option than Kaytee, but my family is allergic to everything so I doubt something like Aspen would work.

So, this is a partial rant and partial question.

Do you know of any good odor controlling bedding besides Aspen? I really like Kaytee Clean and Cozy, but I'm willing to look at other options... even if it's just something else to mix into the bedding to help with smell, and to be able to use less Kaytee.

Thanks for any help.


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

I take my fleece to the laundry mat! i put it all out back after i clean the cage and roughly once a month i take it and shake it out then to the laundry mat. 

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## ThreeMagicBeans (Dec 16, 2012)

I love Eco bedding, the soft krinkled brown sort. It even comes in pretty colors in the bird section. I've had bad experiences with Carefresh and Kaytee Clean N Cozy. My rats got mites from Carefresh and my hamsters got mites from the Kaytee. I love Yesterday's News or Fresh News also. I think they're the best, along with Eco bedding. 

Edit:
I also wanted to add that rats love burrowing in Eco bedding. It's so much fun for them. It expands a lot too, if you rub and pull at the paper strands it stretches them, expanding it!


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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

Is this what you mean? http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12818369&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No

I freeze all my bedding (and litter) for at least 24 hours before using it to avoid mites. I've heard lots of bad things about Carefresh and mites, but hadn't heard about Kaytee clean and cozy...

I wish I could take my fleece to a laundromat! I don't have a car, though, so I wouldn't be able to take it very often, if at all. Plus, I doubt anyone would be willing to let me borrow their car and bring a load of dirty fleece with me...


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

If your fleece gets so bad that you need to hang it up outside and powerwash it to get stuff off, it sounds like you are letting it go way too long between changing.

I keep a trash bag in the laundry room and change liners every other day or so and just store them up until the bag is full. I sprinkle baking soda between every layer to keep smell down until laundry day. On laundry day, I take the bag out to the deck and each liner only needs one good shake to get any bits of poo off.

Then, obviously it gets dumped into the wash on a heavy-duty cycle with plain detergent and a scoop of baking soda with vinegar in the fabric softener well.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

you can try switching to Aspen. Kaytee has Aspen shavings that for 8 cubic feet is around $22. It's a bulk thing so it comes in a brown paper bag but I know someone on here buys it and says its really good quality (I forgot who it was). Should save you some money.

For the Eco bedding, I was lucky enough to find it on sale (they had ordered too much of it) for $2 instead of $7 (got 2 bags). This is what we got (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3553919&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No).

So other then bulk ordering you can just try searching your local pet stores to see if they have any sells going on since sometimes they need to get rid of stuff before their next shipment.

Edit: just saw at the end you said other then Aspen. Sadly Aspen is the only thing I know you can order in bulk.


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## JLSaufl (Jan 20, 2013)

That does seem like a lot of work. I have three boys (in an 8.5 cubit foot cage) and change their fleece every week or 10ish days. I just shake it out over the deck and then wash it with homemade laundry soap. It never comes out stinky or gross. 

Some brands of laundry soap have chemicals that can inhibit order. Try looking online for homemade laundry soap, its chaper and better for you, the rats and the environment. 

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## EndlessDream (Jul 9, 2012)

I use newspaper for lining and then newspaper based bedding for litter pans. I tried that newspaper litter with baking soda recipe and noticed a big difference in odor control compared to aspen and carefresh-type stuff. The problem was it took days and days to dry, so I saw this at petco and it's basically the same thing, and I'm now using it: http://www.petco.com/product/114718/Planet-Petco-Crumbled-Paper-Small-Animal-Bedding.aspx

The advantage of newspaper lining is that it's super easy. I use binder clips to hold it on, and just toss the newspaper and replace every couple of days depending on how much they pee on it.


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## zurfaces (Jan 16, 2013)

I could never just shake mine out. They shred everything into a fine dust that burrows into the fibers of the fleece. Sometimes at the laundry mat Ive had to wash the bedding twice. Its not about not getting the odor out its leaving junk in my washer. Cardboard shreds and lab block crumbs. If you stock pile enough fleece you should be able to do it every two months. The good thing about fleece is its pretty much dry when you take it out of the wash. You can take it home and hang it off the shower curtain. Then you're only at the laundry mat for 30 minutes. I throw in the fleece go to the grocery come back pick it up and go home. 

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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

Caged, I was changing it extremely often. I never said my fleece was "bad," but I wasn't allowed to use the washing machine until I powerwashed it. Also, my rats are messmakers and the girls ALWAYS had bits of cardboard spread throughout the cage within a few hours that then sticks to fleece and the only way to get it off without picking each piece off by hand is to powerwash it. Poop was mainly a problem for the boys since they rarely use the litter box. In fact, it seems like they're using the litter box more now that I've switched. XD

I'm probably going to give the Eco stuff a try. I'm already using newspaper based cat litter to control odor, so that's not my main concern. I've enjoyed mixing Yesterday's news into the bedding. It'd just be nice to have an extra something.

I saw someone mention hemp bedding somewhere. Is that useable? What brand would I get?


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## FallDeere (Sep 29, 2011)

zurfaces said:


> I could never just shake mine out. They shred everything into a fine dust that burrows into the fibers of the fleece. Sometimes at the laundry mat Ive had to wash the bedding twice. Its not about not getting the odor out its leaving junk in my washer. Cardboard shreds and lab block crumbs.


Exactly! That was my main problem.  Plus, I wasn't allowed to use the washer unless it was thoroughly rinsed first (living with anti-rat people ain't easy lol).


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

you can use Hemp. It's suppose to be the same as Aspen but less dusty, thought a bit more expensive. This is the only brand I can find (http://www.amazon.com/Lifemate-Hemp-Small-Animal-Bedding/dp/B00020BL38)

Don't worry, my fleece is the same way, Plus being allergic to rat urine Fleece is Not your best friend. We always shake it out just to prevent the washing machine from getting clogged and causing a possible fire hazard.


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