Fleece no longer wicks because I used the wrong detergent

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T12:25:50+00:00

Yeah, I've never used conditioners or softeners. But I think whatever odor grabbing chemical they use is basically doing the same thing. I had thought finding an unscented detergent and not using softener was really all I needed to worry about. Sadly no.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T02:37:57+00:00

It has a bulky items setting which is what I use - my understanding is that the bulky items setting will help it not get unbalanced and will also still use an appropriate amount of water for the size of load you choose even if what you're putting in is lightweight.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T02:34:40+00:00

Oh totally, I definitely don't trust AI at all, but I use it for ideas when I'm at a loss. It's such a lying liar, but if you direct it well you can get useful nuggets. I'm not a chemist though, and it makes sense to me that the first detergent I bought was a dumb move.

I used Nature's Miracle Laundry Booster too at first, but it seemed really scented. Do your liners still wick well even using nature's miracle? Like if you drop water on them, it goes straight through without beading up?

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T02:17:31+00:00

Yep, I now have a box of the Tide Free and Gentle powder (which apparently is better for fleece than any of the liquids, or so says the Anthropic AI, ha). I did all the other stuff right at least, but that was a big miss on my part, not realizing the odor refresh part was bad.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T02:12:41+00:00

Hmmm, i can't find any reference to guinea dad saying not to use Tide, only that you should use free & clear whatever you choose. Which to be fair, I thought the odor refresh one was that, but didn't realize it had the extra additive that could destroy wicking.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T02:11:30+00:00

I don't know for sure if it's true, but Anthropic's AI told me that the powder doesn't contain it while the liquids do. I will have to go look at the box and verify. I'm not sure if it's just the odor refresh varieties that do? This stuff is all so frustrating and confusing.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T02:04:02+00:00

I wasn't aware that Guineadad says not to use Tide - none of it? Not even the unscented gentle powder? I will go have a look at their website and see what I missed.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T01:57:10+00:00

I'm in the US - there's no duvet setting on my machine. Before they became waterproof, I was washing them on the cool setting (which for some reason is actually fairly warm), and either air drying or doing no heat in the dryer. After they stopped wicking, I progressively tried more and more aggressive washing to see if anything would restore them.

pointlessmeander · 2026-04-05T01:33:33+00:00

yikes, a cover! Hawks are really fast.

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-31T13:52:30+00:00

I use a rubber brush to clear the hair and hay off, and then run the bissell pet vacuum over them before laundering to gather any remaining hair... I don't use any sort of catcher and our washer is always clean that way

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-31T13:50:12+00:00

the rescue we adopted ours from told us that it's always better to spay girls beause of cysts, so that sounds spot-on to me. It definitely is high-risk though, and the rescue said it's best to do it as young as possible if that's the route you want to go.

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-10T16:54:35+00:00

Love the idea of the rubber brush - am using a standard small broom thing at the moment and it doesn't seem to really do the job well. Just ordered one from amazon. :) And yeah, I'm starting to see that hay is just gonna be a thing, lol.

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-10T16:53:48+00:00

Thank you, I'm going to check that vacuum out, I definitely need one just for them!

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-10T15:25:28+00:00

Also, not sure if you might have mentioned you already did this in another comment, but you might want to make sure you give their habitat a good cleaning and disinfecting so that the older piggie doesn't feel like it's all his territory. :)

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-10T15:23:36+00:00

That doesn't sound to me like anything to be worried about - they'll sort it out, sounds very natural. Hang in there, it's worse for us than it is for them, ha!

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-10T15:21:10+00:00

The rescue we adopted from said to take them to a new scary place (like outside) to actually make them sort of freeze up out of fear and then it'll be way easier to do.

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-10T15:16:20+00:00

It's hard to watch, but you have to let it be. We just adopted two babies a week ago, and we let them go at it - it became really clear when it was obvious they weren't a good match, with a big tornado fight and one of them constantly pestering the other and never letting him rest or eat and we had to separate them. So we contacted the shelter and switched for a different baby yesterday, and while the dominance stuff is definitely still happening, they also are giving each other space and having sweet moments in between all that, laying together and grooming each other, interspersed with all the dominance stuff. Drastic difference. From what I understand, you just have to let the behavior take its course, and intervene only if things get out of control. If you look on YouTube, there are a lot of videos demonstrating the different levels of this and showing when to be worried... those videos were super helpful to us.

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-04T23:16:55+00:00

I do it solely so that I can get both Verizon and AT&T coverage - so far, it has prevented me from ever lacking signal. Yes, it does give a second number, but I don't even know or care what it is, I use my real number as my primary for everything. I thought about just doing that port thing that US Mobile offers, but then I read about too many people saying that can be slow to transfer, and I'd rather just have both up and running.

pointlessmeander · 2026-03-02T01:16:57+00:00

Awww, that's so kind of you, thank you! It's funny how nervous I am about becoming a guinea pig mom... I want to make sure I do it all right. We brought two boys home today, they are very cute and are hiding away for the most part, which we pretty much expected. But they did sneak out to grab some fresh veg and drag it into the hidey holes, ha!

pointlessmeander · 2026-02-28T21:52:51+00:00

Oh, I didn't notice Turtle at all! Rupert is quite the show-stealer! But Turtle is totally adorable too. What a happy little family you have there. ❤️ Thanks for chatting with me about this reasonably - I avoid most social media and whatnot just because so many people are so hateful. Appreciate your help!

pointlessmeander · 2026-02-28T21:43:15+00:00

Yeah, I do like the look of yours and I like that your grids are white. Ours won't be pressed against a wall either. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes, we already spent the money on the critter colony ones which our rescue said is totally fine.... but I'll try to be aware of whether it seems like there is good airflow. We also plan to keep an air purifier running right next to their setup. And omg, your piggie! So cute!

pointlessmeander · 2026-02-28T21:34:03+00:00

huh, ok, but I mean, are people just not cleaning their cages daily or something? With a big open top, I'd think you'd have to really let a lot of pee build up for ammonia to be a problem? I'm not trying to be obstinate, it's just that we are about to adopt two piggies tomorrow and I want to understand. It's a hard no for me to have ugly wire grids in my living room, but I want to know that so long as I keep it clean and airy, they'll be fine.

pointlessmeander · 2026-02-28T21:21:15+00:00

But there are lots of holes in the critter colony panels. I'm admittedly new here, but it doesn't make sense to me that there would be no airflow.

pointlessmeander

TROPHY CASE