I am once again experimenting with liners since I've found that aspen on every level of my DFN is much too messy. I decided I'd try lining every level but the full bottom level (which will still get aspen). However, the previous liners I've used have not been very successful - getting completely shredded (fleece-flannel-fleece), not maintaining smell (fleece-newspaper), and getting food embedded in it (Borris mats).
I recently heard about people using the mattress protector pads that soak up night time accidents for kids in guinea pig cages and thought it'd be a good idea to try. Amazon has some that are pretty close to the DFN pan sizes ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER ). My idea was to sew/quilt fleece or flannel on top (more for aesthetics) and put these in the cages for when the brats decide that the litter box isn't good enough for pee anymore :P . The quilting is more to deter chewing than anything. The sizes absorb between 2-6 cups of moisture, and I don't think my 6 rats produce that much pee anyway (at least not that I can tell; 2 cups seems like a lot!). I was going to make pan liners and then have these mats sit inside the rounded areas of the pan. Hopefully, since they'll sit straighter and be stiffer than a fleece liner, they won't get messed with. My rats didn't bother the Borris mats until seeds got embedded in them (I washed them multiple times and each wash seemed to embed them further.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I'm hoping these will be more absorbent than previous attempts, since they are made to absorb urine, and thus control smell much better. What do you guys think?