Trouble with towel liners

[xanterra]

So for the two weeks that I've had my rats I've been using towels for liners in my FN, and all was well and good until they discovered they could burrow under the towels. So whenever I go over to their cage all I see are three little bumps scurrying about. I wouldn't care much about it, but they are still being litterbox trained, and so do not always "go" where they're supposed to. As a result, there are tons of little raisins and pee puddles under the towels.  It's gross, and the plastic pan must not be very soft on their little feet. Is there a way to fasten down the towels so they can't pull them up and burrow under them? I use binder clips for the shelves and they work great, but I can't use them on the bottom pans. Any suggestions?

[JR1030]

I have burrowers, too, and what I've done is to either fasten the towel around the back of the pan with safety pins (like wrapping a present), or even better, I just made pillow-case style covers for the pans that fold under one end.  Then, on top of that, put a loose piece of fleece or baby blankets for them to burrow under.  It seems like as long as they have some loose fabric in there, they don't feel the need to burrow all the way to the pan.  Good luck!

[furmama]

I used binder clips to secure the towels into place, until I got tired of it and attached velcro (i have soild plastic shelves though).

[JustJenna]

furmama, how long have you been using velcro?  Do your rats chew it?  I was thinking about using it, but wasn't sure if my girls would just chew it off and wasn't sure if it would be safe if they did eat the velcro or it's adhesive.

[furmama]

I just put it on friday. It's working very well. I have 2 sided liners though, a kitchen hand towel sewed to a piece of flannel. The flannel is on top, and I sewed on velcro to the bottom of the towel. The I put the sticky velcro underneath the lip of the shelf, and wrap the edge of the liner around edge of the shelf. So, the velcro is not exposed in anyway. My girls aren't really chewers though, unless it's their cubes LOL.

[triciag]

I also have used binder clips, but just this last week, they have figured out how to pull the fabric out of them! I guess if they really want to find a way to get under there, they are gonna do it!  Determined little guys!

[looneycartoonie]

I know that it's not the greatest looking thing, but I use bricks to hold down the corners of my towels. I have an FN too and it took me a while to get it down right. I've also tried to use tape to hold down the towels. I would sew them or use velcro but my rats tend to chew holes in my towels so most of them only get one or two uses tops.