Lino tiles or fabric liners?

[Happi Wolf]

I just order my girls a Martin 680 cage! :dance: I cant decide if I should just use Lino tiles from the dollar store or buy fabric liners from an online supplier.

If I just buy the lino tiles then I can spend more money on toys and what not. :heythere: I mean...lets face it, the baby girls would probably like having fun toys more than fancy fabric liners. I have plenty of time to wipe them down.

But...Fabric liners look awesome and I get to potty train them and save money on bedding. :think:

 

[Godmother]

Go for the liners! Ratties have very modest tastes when it comes to toys; a kleenex box, toilet roll, paper bag, chew toy and wheel will do you. Liners really make cage cleaning easy. (And we get to see photos of them and drool :lol: )

 

[jorats]

I personally don't like the linos in cages. When I do my weekly cleaning, I scrub everything and I know it would drive me nuts not to be able to get at the crud between lino and cage. anic:
Fleece/flannel liners are soft on the feet, snuggly, movable, chewable for that extra bit of fun and beautiful!

 

[user 78]

I use both, personally.. I like the solid flooring as it makes it so I don't have to scrub the cage every week, and the liners make it so I can get away with wiping the cage down every 2-3 days. The biggest problem with using just lino, is that unless you're right there to mop up every pee and poop, they're going to be in constant contact with dirty floors. Along with a few other factors [weight, age, predisposition] this can cause foot problems such as bumble foot. It's fine if you have a single level or area like that, but an entire cage isn't so great. It's highly suggested that you offer a variety of surfaces for them to walk on. Even if you jsut clip down some dollar store fleece or old cut up t shirts, it would be good.

As an aside, you can litterbox train them regardless of what sort of flooring you use. It is mainly for poop, though, not pee. If you use bedding in the bottom tray, you would need to use a very different sort of litter for the box. ie: if you use aspen for the base, put yesterday's news in the litterbox.

 

[LA]

Go for the liners! Ratties have very modest tastes when it comes to toys; a kleenex box, toilet roll, paper bag, chew toy and wheel will do you. Liners really make cage cleaning easy. (And we get to see photos of them and drool :lol: )

I totally agreee modest tastes. Lily loves getting toilet papers rolls and kleenex boxes. Mine will totally ignore other toys. Except for the bamboo chew. They love that.

 

[Happi Wolf]

Thanks for sharing your opinions on Lino tiles vs Fabric Liners. I'm going to go with the liners.

 

[Godmother]

On the shelves of my Martins I put some kind of solid surface e.g. Coroplast or part of a dish-drainer tray from the dollar store. My favourite combo is Coroplast with a liner over it. Then I don't have to clean crud in the grid of the shelf all the time.