Keeping fleece covers in place?

[yukichilla]

I did some browsing in this section of the forum and didn't see an answer, so apologies if there's an old thread I missed somewhere that answers this.

I am about to give fleece liners a try (I use shavings now with my FN142) and sew some myself, but it seems like some of the designs would move and shift around a lot. What do you do to prevent this?

I was thinking about sewing those flat/round magnets into the corners/edges so it sticks to the pan more, has anyone else thought to do this? It seemed like a good idea at first until I started thinking about it practically.

If anyone's done it before, let me know, because I'm kind of wondering if they'd just end up being chewed out. I would use magnets large enough to not be swallowed so I'm not worrying too much about that. The biggest issue I've foreseen is washing/drying them though, I think it would end up sticking to the inside of the machines and not getting thoroughly clean.

So, how do you keep your liners in place? Does anyone have any creative solutions? Or don't you really worry about it too much?

 

[GorillaJTA]

Magnets are a chewing risk (curious little beasties that the chins are, they will chew them out) and don't work that well. I put a tile or house at each corner to hold it down. I bought a bunch of tile from a hardware store and use it until I can actually tile my cage.

 

[ABBY W.]

I sew sew-on velcro to the bottom of the liners and add industrial adhesive velcro to the pans. This works very well, but only if you sew a waterproof lining into the liners, otherwise the urine soaks through and dissolves the adhesive on the velcro. This way costs more at first but saves money in the long run on chewed up liners and rusted out pans.

 

[CJR]

Yeah, little ceramic tiles (from any hardware store) works well. I have one Martin's cage, which is a cage top that sits in a plastic bottom, so I just put the liners under the cage edges. My other chin doesn't really disturb hers much, so it's not an issue.

 

[fanofdmb84]

I've tried it all to keep my one girl Tala from digging up her fleece (she's very determined). First I tried the velcro, she pulled it up and shredded the velcro. Next I tried putting houses, tiles, and litter pans over the corners; nope, she just pushed the stuff to the center of the cage and pulled up the corners to pee under them (of course). Then I went out and got some smooth chinchilla sized rocks and cleaned them and put those in the corners. They weight 2-3lbs each but she still moves those. What I do now is just cut small slits on the corners of my liners and use fleece ties to tie each corner to the cage bars. She tries, but she can't move them now! She's such a brat!

 

[QTKirls]

Wow! Great idea Diana! I've tried it all too I thought! My black velvet LOVES wadding his fleece up into a pile...it doesn't matter what is on it. Tiles, rocks, houses....it just gets added to the pile.

 

[rumor]

I recently made my chinnies some fleece liners for their FN, and like Abby sewed velcro onto the bottom side of my liners, and used adhesive on the pans. Its worked out really well for me,but I do also use heavier houses/granite slabs to hold down the corners as an extra precaution. it was definately worth the effort, imo. Sooo much nicer that vaccuming up wood chips every day.

 

[InkedupTara]

There are people who use magnets in their liners. Barbi from PPBN puts them in her liners. I dont have too much of an issue with shifting. Fuzzy and Mickey both go under theirs no matter what I try.

If they are made with a nice batting material in the middle, they wont shift as much anyway, like a flat piece of fleece will. But you can as suggested put things in the corners. But, as I said, 2 of mine still move that.

 

[missjess10475]

I looked at Chin Chillers to help hold corners down. $8.99 each!! So I went to Menards annd bought granite tiles for less than $2.00. I went to Lowe's and got them cut with their wet saw for free. I put 2 halves in opposite corners to hold those corners down. Their litter pan in 1 corner, and hidey house in the last corner. Mine stay in place great.

 

[Pleiades]

I have a FN, and I made fleece "pillow cases" for the plastic trays. Then, my regular fleece liners go on top, tucked into the back and front. Since there is absolutely no access to the plastic, the chins have never tried to dig or burrow. And the friction of fleece-on-top-of-fleece really helps it stay in place. Really works for me.

Good luck!

 

[Kelley]

I also make my liners like pillow cases and have no problems.

 

[yukichilla]

Well I just went ahead and made a liner this morning without any fancy magnets or velcro. Instead I just opted to put his hut, food bowl, and a chin-chiller on the corners...hopefully it'll all be in place when I get home from work, haha.

I also made a matching hammock, his cage has never been cuter...when I get home I'm going to sew up another matching liner/hammock set.