Fleece guards?

[Ciceroux]

Once again considering the epic battle of my floor vs. shavings and poop, I'm struck with curiosity. I'm not sure I'm ready to handle the ritual of changing out soiled fleece liners, so I'll stick with my shavings for now, but when I was quite young and researching cage options for my first rat, I remember quite a few people on some rat forums solving their "mess" problems by essentially wrapping the lower portion of the sides and backs of their cages in fleece. Basically, they'd stretch a long strip of 6" wide fleece around three of the sides to act as a guard for anything being launched out from between the bars. Surely someone around here has tried that, right? And yet, I don't remember seeing it in any photos (and I've spent sort of a ridiculous amount of time looking at photos on here! :laughitup

My boys are not fleece chewers (in fact, they're so uninterested in it that all the money I spend on various fleece items is more or less just for my viewing pleasure), but the logistics of how and where to attach such a guard seem tricky. So, if someone has indeed been there and done that, how did it work out.. or not work out? Tips? Thanks for any input!

 

[Ash]

I don't recall this being done with fleece, but maybe you could purchase a larger pan that would, in effect, have the same purpose? Bass Pans makes custom sized cage pans in various heights.

As far as attaching fleece to the cage, you could try tying it or using lanyard clips or key rings like for the hammocks.

 

[fanofdmb84]

I have fleece guards on my FN142. They are 5-6 inches wide. I also have a solid piece of fleece on the back. I use metal binder clips to hold them on and they do seem to be working. I only have poo flung out the front for the most part. Of course, I only have the fleece on the bottom levels, so if they decided to fling it from a shelf, it goes right over. I mainly did it for containing pee, as both of my chins seem to enjoy peeing through the bars...but no more!

 

[QnMidnight]

I have a solid piece of fleece covering one of the sides of my FN 142 because my chin likes to throw his poops onto my bookshelves (which are about a foot from his cage). I just use safety pins to hold it up (3 on the top of the cage and on the side), though they're all placed where he can't get to them.

 

[Sierra]

both of my chins seem to enjoy peeing through the bars

I have the same problem with my girls. I was just sitting on the bed folding laundry then I watch Sedona back her butt up against the bars and pee and there it goes down the bars onto the gallon of water under her cage. I was so suprised I couldn't even yell at her. :hilarious:

 

[Cola89]

Ok this might be a stupid question but i myself am sick of poop on floor does anyone on here make liners for the bass pans and has anyone seen CHINACESSORIES on here lately

 

[Cola89]

i ment forchinate chins

 

[Essentia]

I haven't seen Carise on here for awhile, though I do see her periodically on facebook.

As for the fleece, I did something along those lines a long time ago when I was using an aviary cage.

Very easy to make and it did a good job. I still got some poop on the floor from the shelves, but the shavings stayed in the cage a lot better. Since then I have switched to all FN cages (so I no longer use the fleece around) and have started using fleece liners so other than the poop and some hay I don't have much on my floor anymore. Luckily I now have hardwood floors so I have really easy clean up.

With that one I just made the fleece tight enough to where I slipped it over the top of the cage and it stayed. You can always use binder clips or lanyard hooks/clips.

 

[Ciceroux]

That's EXACTLY the sort of thing I had in mind! Thanks! I can't wait to try it out. Poops on the floor don't bother me quite as much as the shavings do, because the shavings mix with some hair and create this tumbleweed-effect that sticks to my broom! I love it when my mother stops by and sees a few poops on the floor. She calls them "seeds." "You have seeds on your floor!" I tell her it's their poop, and she says, "Yeah, well, I'd prefer to think of them as seeds."