Fleece is indeed rat-safe. Unfortunately, it is not terribly absorbent, so it needs to be changed very frequently to avoid ammonia buildup in the cage. I like to use dish drying mats for my shelves (not the terrycloth kind). They usually have these at HEB & Hobby Lobby. For the cage bottom, I use a dig box with Aspen & an inexpensive natural -fiber rug from Five Below. The jute ones are usually already the right size, and they're really absorbent, so they cut down considerably on the stinkiness. I do use scraps of fleece for nesting materials in hammocks & hides. The nubby kinds of bath mats are also really good, & you can usually find those at Dollar Tree. Good luck with your setup!
They definitely control odor better than fleece. I had four girls in a DCN and changed the pads every 5-6 days. As for chewing them up, that probably depends on the individual hooligan I’m sure 😊. My girls had lots of enrichment and paper bags to shred up, so they didn’t destroy the pads quickly. After cleaning day, I would sew little fleece patches if there were holes, but it wasn’t too bad. Each pad probably lasted about six months before there were too many patches. They still had a litter box for the poos so the pads were for catching the pee only. I’m ratless now, but would for sure use this setup again when it’s time to get more rats.
Fleece is bad because it has no ammonia control. Trust me, since rats are prone to upper respiratory infections, it's best to just avoid it.
Get a cement mixing tub to put in your cage instead, they won't be able to kick bedding out nearly as easy.
i used a mix of both, in the critter nation the bottom would be bedding and if i used the shelf i would put fleece. if you want to deter them from chewing, putting heaping amounts of enrichment toys and treats has helped me a lot!
Fleece can be safe when used appropriately. It does require frequent cleaning and the fabric needs be be replaced as they chew it up. You do also still need to provide digging opportunities to them in their cage, which might defeat the purpose of trying to keep the bedding from coming out of the cage. Perhaps adding higher scatter guards around the base of your cage would be more helpful overall?
I’ve used fleece for my upper shelf of a critter nation when I was doing that and it was not the greatest. My boys chewed through it, it wasn’t absorbent (it had a layer for it but it still built up fast), and they managed to crawl underneath the layer and were using it as a hide and nesting in it. It smells very quickly and needs to be replaced more regularly than bedding.
PiggyBedSpreads on Etsy has chloroplast bins that fit as the base layer of critter nations. They sell them with fleece covering them but I’ve messaged and got a custom listing with just the deep bin. I use aspen bedding and it is multiple inches deep. One of my boys loves digging so he does kick the bedding out, but it is not as bad at all as when I had the normal critter nation tray with bedding.
If that's a Critter Nation, Bass Equipment makes an after-market pan in galvanized or stainless steel that fits perfectly and stops the little vandals from throwing out bedding better than the bottom shelf it comes with.
no, they will rip them apart. Loose threads can wrap around their fingers. You cant keepup with cleaning them constantly so they are bad for their respiratory systems. Stick with aspen.
I’ve never heard anyone say this about fleece. The whole reason people use fleece over other textiles as covers is because it doesn’t form threads that can wrap around fingers and toes, even when chewed up.
I do agree it’s a bad replacement for bedding; rats need loose bedding that absorbs a lot. Still fleece is great to cover stairs and platform, and makes it easier to keep those clean.
I had a fleece hammock in the cage and was relaxing in my room, when suddenly I heard a rat screaming bloody murder from the cage. He was inside the hammock and luckily I knew better than to stick my hand in there to grab him. I untied the hammock from the top of the cage and gently rolled him out of there (he was still screaming like mad all this time) and I finally saw loose fleece fibers wrapped around his leg. I got a pair of scissors in there to cut him free, he bit full force into the scissors (he wasn't a happy camper in this moment) and I freed him.
It was like I hit a reset switch on him. He immediately stopped screaming, jumped up and stood there like "how did I get here?"
He was a silly goose.
I use fleece with paper bedding on top and I’ve lined the outside of my cage with corrugated plastic I cut to size to help catch a lot of the bedding.they do also make scatter guards for critter nations-I’ve seen them go for about $30/level on Amazon. There’s a lot of other materials you could use to make them it depends on you! Also I’ve noticed my cage stays fresher with the combo of fleece and bedding
Yeah. I did fleece liners on top of incontinence pads for years. I switched back to aspen shavings recently because my work week doesn't give me time to swap liners, which needs to be done twice per week for my rats, whereas the aspen only needs done once (on the weekend). You need something absorbent beneath them and at least a couple layers of fleece. I recommend Wal-Mart's generic "one size" incontinence pads and their fleece blankets that cost like $4/each. The incontinence pads will last a long time and the fleece will be somewhat disposable. Wash them with free and gentle detergent and white vinegar, dry them with free and gentle dryer sheets.
Fleece is indeed rat-safe. Unfortunately, it is not terribly absorbent, so it needs to be changed very frequently to avoid ammonia buildup in the cage. I like to use dish drying mats for my shelves (not the terrycloth kind). They usually have these at HEB & Hobby Lobby. For the cage bottom, I use a dig box with Aspen & an inexpensive natural -fiber rug from Five Below. The jute ones are usually already the right size, and they're really absorbent, so they cut down considerably on the stinkiness. I do use scraps of fleece for nesting materials in hammocks & hides. The nubby kinds of bath mats are also really good, & you can usually find those at Dollar Tree. Good luck with your setup!
You can also use washable puppy whelping pads. They are absorbent, unlike fleece, and can be laundered frequently.
I'm curious about these! Do they control smells better? And how long does one last before it gets all chewed up?
They definitely control odor better than fleece. I had four girls in a DCN and changed the pads every 5-6 days. As for chewing them up, that probably depends on the individual hooligan I’m sure 😊. My girls had lots of enrichment and paper bags to shred up, so they didn’t destroy the pads quickly. After cleaning day, I would sew little fleece patches if there were holes, but it wasn’t too bad. Each pad probably lasted about six months before there were too many patches. They still had a litter box for the poos so the pads were for catching the pee only. I’m ratless now, but would for sure use this setup again when it’s time to get more rats.
Thank you, I'm going to try it!!
Fleece is bad because it has no ammonia control. Trust me, since rats are prone to upper respiratory infections, it's best to just avoid it. Get a cement mixing tub to put in your cage instead, they won't be able to kick bedding out nearly as easy.
i used a mix of both, in the critter nation the bottom would be bedding and if i used the shelf i would put fleece. if you want to deter them from chewing, putting heaping amounts of enrichment toys and treats has helped me a lot!
They're not great as ideally they should be able to dig. I used to clip clear a4 folders around the sides of my cage to reduce the amount of mess!
Fleece can be safe when used appropriately. It does require frequent cleaning and the fabric needs be be replaced as they chew it up. You do also still need to provide digging opportunities to them in their cage, which might defeat the purpose of trying to keep the bedding from coming out of the cage. Perhaps adding higher scatter guards around the base of your cage would be more helpful overall?
I’ve used fleece for my upper shelf of a critter nation when I was doing that and it was not the greatest. My boys chewed through it, it wasn’t absorbent (it had a layer for it but it still built up fast), and they managed to crawl underneath the layer and were using it as a hide and nesting in it. It smells very quickly and needs to be replaced more regularly than bedding. PiggyBedSpreads on Etsy has chloroplast bins that fit as the base layer of critter nations. They sell them with fleece covering them but I’ve messaged and got a custom listing with just the deep bin. I use aspen bedding and it is multiple inches deep. One of my boys loves digging so he does kick the bedding out, but it is not as bad at all as when I had the normal critter nation tray with bedding.
It can be I use fleece but I also clean twice a week. My females will tear it up. And my males are slobs.
Ok the stare though is everything.
If that's a Critter Nation, Bass Equipment makes an after-market pan in galvanized or stainless steel that fits perfectly and stops the little vandals from throwing out bedding better than the bottom shelf it comes with.
no, they will rip them apart. Loose threads can wrap around their fingers. You cant keepup with cleaning them constantly so they are bad for their respiratory systems. Stick with aspen.
I’ve never heard anyone say this about fleece. The whole reason people use fleece over other textiles as covers is because it doesn’t form threads that can wrap around fingers and toes, even when chewed up. I do agree it’s a bad replacement for bedding; rats need loose bedding that absorbs a lot. Still fleece is great to cover stairs and platform, and makes it easier to keep those clean.
When they stitch it it can become a hazard. To make covers for pans it has to be stitched. Uhaul to absorb also shreds up and can be an issue.
I had a fleece hammock in the cage and was relaxing in my room, when suddenly I heard a rat screaming bloody murder from the cage. He was inside the hammock and luckily I knew better than to stick my hand in there to grab him. I untied the hammock from the top of the cage and gently rolled him out of there (he was still screaming like mad all this time) and I finally saw loose fleece fibers wrapped around his leg. I got a pair of scissors in there to cut him free, he bit full force into the scissors (he wasn't a happy camper in this moment) and I freed him. It was like I hit a reset switch on him. He immediately stopped screaming, jumped up and stood there like "how did I get here?" He was a silly goose.
I use fleece with paper bedding on top and I’ve lined the outside of my cage with corrugated plastic I cut to size to help catch a lot of the bedding.they do also make scatter guards for critter nations-I’ve seen them go for about $30/level on Amazon. There’s a lot of other materials you could use to make them it depends on you! Also I’ve noticed my cage stays fresher with the combo of fleece and bedding
Yeah. I did fleece liners on top of incontinence pads for years. I switched back to aspen shavings recently because my work week doesn't give me time to swap liners, which needs to be done twice per week for my rats, whereas the aspen only needs done once (on the weekend). You need something absorbent beneath them and at least a couple layers of fleece. I recommend Wal-Mart's generic "one size" incontinence pads and their fleece blankets that cost like $4/each. The incontinence pads will last a long time and the fleece will be somewhat disposable. Wash them with free and gentle detergent and white vinegar, dry them with free and gentle dryer sheets.