Lottie and Bonnie live indoors on fleece and just lately they are constantly burrowing and living under their fleece-its driving me mad.
They went through a phase of it a couple of months ago and stopped but now its everyday and I'm sick of the mess in their cage.Their food bowl gets tipped up and I cant poop pick because its just all 'rucked' up and a right old jumble.
I keep thick layers of newspaper underneath so they in they end up burrowing through their wee corners-naughty girls!
Whenever we go in to them instead of seeing them looking cute in their sacks there is two lumps under the fleece and if its feed time they end up squabbling as they 'bump' into each other to get out to the food.
What should I do? Will they get bored of it again or should I try something other than fleece?
Mine do the same. They'll go through phases where nothing will stop them going under the fleece and they start chewing their plastic cage base :{ Had a particuarly bad morning today where two were hiding under the fleece and my third girl, who is in heat kept trying to hump them through the fleece :x it was chaos
whenever they start doing it i bulldog clip every inch of fleece to the base and when they realise they cant get in they eventually give up.
I had this problem not long after I'd switched to fleece (as soon as they realised how to get underneath rolleyes )
I bulldog clip the sides of the fleece that will reach to the correx and where it's too short to reach I've placed big flat stones (they're actually old roofing tiles so too heavy for them to move but big and flat so they can't hurt themselves) to hold the edge down and it's done the trick
I need to 'Matilda proof' her house as well, there's currently a lump in the bedding which Hector is using as a pillow! I added extra fleece to the edges so it it goes over the sides of the correx and underneath. Just haven't done this new fleece yet, big mistake!
Now mine are in a C & C cage I made cage liners to fit over the correx, so I've not had this problem, they just move their furniture around instead when they are bored! rolleyes
When we first had them in a cage I draped the fleece over the top of the plastic base, then put the cage lid back on & clipped it down, catching the fleece between the plastic & the cage bit; can you take the cage top off & do the same?
I have always folded the fleece over so that it leaves the top section with just newspaper and they have always wee'd in those two corners so ive never had a problem with having a wet fleece.
If they continue burrowing though I think I will have to clip the fleece all over the base of the cage-the suggestion of clipping the top over it would work.
Then I would have to change the fleece more if they started to wee on it.
One solution I found was to give them an extra smaller blanket in the cage, and they would burrow underneath that instead of the actual fleece on the base. Hope that makes sense!
I've just found a new solution to this and it's working a treat!
I lay newspaper down like you then my towels then i would normally put the fleece in (folded in half) and lap it over the edges of the correx to stop them chewing it but even though i clipped it on they still got under so NOW i have started laying the fleece out in full and basically wrapping it around the correx, so i lift up one side and tuck the fleece under and the then the next side etc. I have 140cm fleeces for my 4x2 c&c cage. now there is no way they can under! |)
I intend on getting at least one liner made by 4piggies when i can spare the cash as they're so convenient but for now this works very well.
Not saying that you haven't- but have you got enough hides in their cage? Mine seem to go through stages where they all seem to like going under the fleece and I've found this is especially when I've taken one of the hides out and forgot to replace it . Little nightmares lol.
Mine seem to have stopped lately but last time they did I was planning to stick some Velcro to the fleece and cage so they can't pull it up.
yeah if you only have 120cm for example sew two together then tuck everything right under the correx, that way they cant pull it out from anywhere
Mine were doing it despite a couple of chubes, upturned boxes and hammock houses. It was mainly annoying cos they would be pooping under it but of course you cant find all the poops so that would add to the smell. Now they cant get under I can rest assured I've scooped all the poops out and not missed any plus its quicker cos I;m not constantly straightening out fleeces rolleyes
The girls have plenty of 'hidey' places but they still choose to get under the fleece, I think they just love to burrow under it from one end of the cage to the other.Its in such a state now and covered in hay so its going to take some shaking out and that makes my back hurt.
I'm really struggling to bend etc with my spine being fused (seeing my surgeon on Monday and pray I dont need further surgery), so I have to think of the simplest way for me while I'm in pain and I think fleece is just too much work all round-although I do love it.
I'm going to try and get some carefresh/megazorb today and give it a try, even if its tempory while my backs bad, I could give fleece a try again in the future.
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. Little nightmares lol.