DFN/DCN- What's your routine with fleece?

[Sonja]

Heya! Sonja back with some great news - our little clan of girls has grown again to include one more - a rescued black berk girl who we named Primrose! She's a total blast, but very shy! Anyways, with the addition of Prim, we're going to be getting a Double Ferret Nation! We found an AMAZING deal with a local person a town over - selling a like-new, gently used DFN for just 125$. We're going to take a look at it, but it looks totally intact... They apparently got the cage for a child's pet, which didn't last very long. (Another case of "Rats are great pets for 4-year olds, right??" I'm assuming - that's how most people get pet rats here in my area!) With that being said, we're going to be reintroducing the litterbox to our girls, and lining the pans and shelves with fleece. What is y'all's routine for cleaning fleece-lined cages? How many "replacement" sets of fleeces do you have? Any way to prevent your furry-kids from shredding it and going underneath etc? How do you secure the lining to the shelves? I've had big problems in the past with my girls shredding any lining and bringing it into their igloo to nest. We're thinking about using metal binder clips (the black triangle-shaped ones from office supplies) to secure fleece to the pan, and having 3-4 extra pieces cut to size on the shelves to replace soiled fleece with weekly. c: I'm seeing "rat laundry" days in our future! I'm really curious to know everyone's routine!

I'll update with pictures and the like when we get the cage home and set up!

 

[Joanne]

Hey Sonja, glad to hear you have another girl in your clan. You will love the DFN - access to the entire cage is wonderful with the full-sized doors.
I have a DCN, and keep two full sets of rattie fleece, with a bunch of extras. How messy the girls are will dictate how often you need to clean out the cage. I have the old style shelving, so I do have covers which are held on with Velcro. (With the new shelves, I don't use liners because it's so easy to pull out the plastic shelf liner and wash it frequently.) I don't nail down the main pan fleece, but instead just wrap the ends underneath the pan. When I clean out the cage, I do rattie laundry, using unscented soap and no fabric softener (fabric softener will prevent the fleece from absorbing pee and water - instead it will sit on top of the fabric.)
Now here is the key (pay close attention):
Get a sewing machine. Get some scrap fleece. Every time your kids chew a big hole in the fleece, wash it and then repair it. When the liner is 95% repairs, you are permitted to toss it and get a new liner. Repeat. Hahaha! You should see some of my shelf liners!!!

 

[Sonja]

That's a great idea, Joanne! We have 4 yards of fleece fresh from the store that we're cutting down to size to use there, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of scraps to use for repairs. I'm super excited - we spent 60$ on new stuff for the cage Ledges, toys, chew stuff, extra hidey holes and all sorts of new things for them to use. c: They're going to love it, it's about time they got spoiled!