hey guys so today's video is going to be
all about using fleas for your pet rats
as bedding I get a lot of questions
about how I use the fleece why I use it
and how I clean it and stuff like that
so I'm going to go through a bunch of
different steps on how I make the fleece
liners how I end up cleaning them and
how I reuse them just a reminder this
video was pre-recorded before amber
passed away so she is in this video and
I am also going to kind of give you a
comparison of fleece and other beddings
that are on the market available for
rats
first things first and this is why I use
fleece it's just a lot cleaner for them
in general it's softer for them and you
can also decorate your cage but the
number one reason is because rats are
super susceptible to respiratory
problems and using fleas or another kind
of fabric can cut down on dust and lung
irritation by almost 100% fleece is
really good at kind of soaking up urine
if your rat is peeing in the cage and
it's also super easy just to kind of
sweep up some poops if they are not
using the litter pan using fleece might
seem kind of expensive in the beginning
but it's really not once you compare it
to other beddings that are available for
rats and you can also reuse it I also
wanted to do a price comparison with
other beddings that are suitable for rat
and if I were to go out and buy a bag of
carefresh to cover up my whole
coordination it would be around 15
dollars and I'm going to have to throw
it out within a week and aspin it would
be around nine dollars and the same
thing I have to throw it out within a
week and then except would be clean and
cozy and that would be around twelve
dollars and same thing you have to throw
it out within a week and it gets all
nasty and gross so next up would be
fleas and it can actually range between
three to ten dollars a yard kind of
depending on where you get it it also
depends on whether or not you're going
to go out just get like a blanket that's
just made of fleas a lot of times that
can be cheaper than going to giant
fabrics and getting a yard of fleece but
in general I do go to Joanne's to get my
fleece and it is around $4.99 a yard
normally it's around $9.99 but they
usually have
sale going on I've only gone once when
they did not have a sale going on and I
get two yards for each color and that
covers up my whole critter nation so
here are my pans here I do this the most
convenient easy way possible but you can
get pretty exact especially depending on
what candidate cage you have if you
can't take out the pans you can do a
full-on measurements and to make sure
that everything is perfect but I just
lay my two yards of fleece over the pans
and that way I can see the intentions
and you know how much is going to be
able to be tucked under and I just take
some scissors that are really good and
don't tear the fleece whatsoever and I
just go ahead and cut so once I'm done
cutting it will look like this and you
can see that I have perfect liners for
the coronation pans and once I put them
in the cage I will just tuck them under
and I have binder clips that I'm about
to show you here and I had different
size binder clips but I just clip them
down sometimes I need them sometimes I
don't but I know the areas that they
like to pull up and then I will just
tuck under the fleece like that
I do have a really old video on how I
made my liners before I used to put
towel underneath them but I've stopped
doing that I heard some horror stories
of rats choking on some of the towel
fibers from chewing on it and so I
stopped doing that but you can also put
heavy stuff on top like here I have
their tile so this corner that you
usually don't mess with it because they
can't get it up now the number one thing
that you need to remember is that they
are rats and they are going to chew so
if they end up chewing the fleece it's
not the end of the world and you can
still reuse it later I'll show you how I
go ahead and kind of consolidate my
place once everything has been chewed up
and as you can see here I leave about
four inches extra to be tucked under the
pans so this kind of also prevents them
from pulling it up by the end of the
week
so next up is cleaning and this part is
kind of self-explanatory but I still
have a lot of people that ask questions
about it so I literally will take it
outside to my garbage can and just dump
and shake off the police liners to get
rid of any kind of poop or food or gross
stuff and yeah I just literally just
dump it off like this so then next I put
it in the wash machine and I don't have
a special wash machine just for my
liners it's my regular washing machine
that I wash my own clothes with and I
just put it all in there after it's been
knocked off and this is one thing that
you want to remember is you want to wash
it on the sanitize cycle and if you
don't have a sanitize cycle on your
washing machine then you want to make
sure it's on very hot or hot the hot as
possible and then this is the soap that
I use it's just the eco-friendly kind it
is a lemongrass scented but it's really
faint and it's cruelty free and you want
to make sure that it's safe to use for
your washing machine and I also use this
I showed this in one of my other videos
it's kind of like an concentrated
cleaner and I just put a little tiny cap
pull in and then when it comes to drying
I also put it on the sanitize cycle and
again if you don't have sanitize cycle
on your washing machine or your dryer
just make sure it's on the hottest one
possible so that's it everything is dry
now and as you can see here as I'm
pulling it out some are completely
intact and some aren't like this one
here have been it chewed up pretty bad
for some reason the second level and the
coordination is always chewed up by the
end of the week usually the other levels
are okay and sometimes the hammocks are
kind of chewed like this one here but I
will go ahead and show you guys what I
do with my fleece and how long it
usually ends up blasting me so how long
can I use my liners the two small ones
the one that goes to the very top of the
cage and the one that's in the middle
that is their kitchen I can use those
liners six to seven times before they
are a little bit too tough for me to use
anymore and the top large one that has
the cutout hole for the ramp I can only
use that one two to three times it's
like I said I don't know why they like
doing that one up and then the bottom
one I can use that one around five times
before it's just too mangled up to even
use so I have my fleece kind of
separated in to four sections and the
first one is full fleece that has not
been chewed it's either a full liner or
I can use it to be cut up into another
liner and then next up is partially
chewed liners that are still usable and
then next up is stuff that's too chewed
up to use as a liner but I can actually
make it into a hammock I will do that a
lot and make a bunch of hammocks I
really want to get my money's worth when
it comes to the fleece and if I can make
hammocks out of it then I definitely
will I can post a video on making
hammocks if you guys want I'm just not
sure if somebody would want to see it
because I do have to use a sewing
machine and I also will donate some of
them like here are the last grouping of
fleece it's just so I mangled and chewed
up that I can't do anything with it so a
lot of times I'll give these scraps to
my local rat rescue the last time I did
she really really liked it so I'll
probably just keep giving them to her
okay that's it I try not to make this
video too long but that's how I use my
fleece liners and I hope this video
helped you guys if you have any
questions just go ahead and comment
below and I will see you in my next
video thanks for watching