Anyone around for a bit of advice?

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Fudgey

Fudgey

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Hi
I'm totally new to this forum,
To cut a long story short I have 2 piggie's caged outside seperately. Do you think they will be ok in this cold weather?
It's the first winter they have been alone.
Any advice on what I can do to keep them warm appreciated.

Tracy
 
sorry but i can't give advice on outdoors as all my piggies are housed indoors. i have read alot of posts on here and all the girls seem to be putting in extra hay and mayb shredded paper. some are putting in fleeces and what i would call hot water bottles ;D mayb you should have a quick read through posts might give you some ideas....... do you have a cover over your cages or are they in sheds?
 
Hi,

I am frantically reading through posts.
They are in an open shed at the moment. It isn't ideal but was the best of a bad situation to be honest.
I can't bring them indoors on account of the dog.
 
do you have any cardboard boxes? if so fill them with hay and paper and mayb put in some old fleeces or jumpers, just give them something they can hide in and cuddle up in.
 
Until reading the posts on the forum I wasn't too sure about blankets etc.
Thanks for the ideas
 
hope it helps until somebody with real knowledge comes along, just makesure the blankets aren't to fluffy ;D i use fleeces and flannelet sheets when mine need a cosy. good luck
 
Hi Tracy and welcome to the forum :)

You need to cover them with waterproof coverings and also perhaps an old duvet cover, keep looking on the forum i'm sure somebody has just been talking about this. My little man is an indoor boy.
Good luck and enjoy your time here :)
 
all mine are in heated sheds but outdoors although not recomended unless like you have no other choice they need to be well covered no droughts and as already suggested boxes with hay towels are quite good as they are thick hot water bottles need to be kept under the bedding but i would have thought they would just freeze once cold , a duvet or thick bnlanket over the top of hutch helps as well
 
Mine are outside - all covered up. Ive got the same issues with having a dog as you.

I use old carpet tiles - carpet shops by me give them away for free or 50p each. I buy cuts of thin board from diy shop and slot these in front of hutch which i then slip the carpet tile into - leaving a few inches at far end of hutch for water bottle/air flow.

I then cover in blanket/old duvet then finally top with waterproof cover - i get the carpet protector rolls of plastic from Wilkinsons £2.99 and make covers from this.

Mine have always been fine, if we ever move house I'm getting a shed - i live with my parents but if i had my own house no doubt everyone would be inside!
 
Hi & welcome.
Is there anyway these 2 piggies could be together so they can share body heat? obviously not if boy & girl!

I have in the past kept my piggies outside in a hutch & I regret to say that they did suffer (compared to what they are used to now ::)) But if yours are under a shelter in a hutch thats much better than in the open. I would def give them a source of heat - but once you do that you have to continue right through to late spring when its constantly warm enough to be without added heat.

I have a heat pad which costs £20 & lasts about 10 hours which you heat in the microwave, but with 2 seperate piggies this would be alot of money as a one off payment if you haven't got it. In the past I have filled an empty cordial bottle with very warm water & then put a thermal sock over it to stop the piggies getting burnt. Only thing is that it doesn't stay warm all night - but will give the pig a head start with generating enough heat to warm up its hutch. If the hutch is insulated enough & has a box inside the sleeping compartment stuffed with hay & the water bottle they should be ok. I would put the heat in about 7pm & cover the hutch over entirely. I have been giving my shed piggies warm water in the bottle (sad I know because its a heated shed!).

Anyway I hope this gives you a bit of food for thought!
 
Piggie No 1 Fudge came to me with a rabbit. They were found together abandoned. Flopsy (the rabbit) died last summer. When I took them to the vets he assured me Fudge was a girl. So for company I got piggie No2. Well as it happens Fudge wasn't a girl at all! I ended up with 5 babies.
Hence the reason they are now seperated. ( I feel so sorry for them)
I like the sound of the heat mats can anyone point me in a direction of a website they are available from.
I have no electrics in the shed.
 
this is one of the many places that you can buy the microwave heatpads from: http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=138&pf_id=2265 i have 4 of these which i use for my outside hutches. i heat them up at about 8pm and pop them underneath some straw in their bed chambers. they are supposed to say warm for about 10 hours. they are quite expensive but it saves you alot of worrying! i also use scratch & newton hutch huggers so i know they are completely dry because damp can be as harmful as the cold.
 
I turned their little hidey house upside down and put a big fleece jacket in - they climbed in last night and were really snuggly - mine are indoors but the room they are in can freeze so I'm over cautios - try this for your outdoor piggies...

kerryx
 
i have 8 guibea pigs in cages outside 4 of them are 3 days old and there all doing fine at night i put covers down on the cages in in the daytime when its cold
 
My three are outside in a hutch.

The hutch is covered with a hutch hugger, which is padded out with old sleeping bags.

I then have an extra big waterproof top over the cage and another sheet which comes down of a night to protect it all even more. The sheet is very thick plastic.

Then in the sleeping bit it is full to the top with hay and shredded paper.

Upto now my waterbottle hasnt frozen and the piggies have been lovely and warm each morning i have gone tp them. I really do think the hutch huggers make a huge difference.
 
Hi there!

Welcome to the forum!

I think as long as they have plenty of hay - I tend to have shredded paper in with the hay as well and just lots of it :) and maybe a cover etc they should be fine

Have fun :)

Trace x
 
Fudgey said:
Hence the reason they are now seperated. ( I feel so sorry for them)
I like the sound of the heat mats can anyone point me in a direction of a website they are available from.
Click to expand...
You can get them at the Pets at Home some good independent pet shops have started to stock them.

Its quite a common story re vets mis-sexing guinea pigs - I hope you told them :(

It might be worth getting your boy neutered then he can go in with the girl. You will only have to deal with 1 hutch then - they have proven that they like each other ;D
 
Samjam said:
My three are outside in a hutch.

The hutch is covered with a hutch hugger, which is padded out with old sleeping bags.

I then have an extra big waterproof top over the cage and another sheet which comes down of a night to protect it all even more. The sheet is very thick plastic.

Then in the sleeping bit it is full to the top with hay and shredded paper.

Upto now my waterbottle hasnt frozen and the piggies have been lovely and warm each morning i have gone tp them. I really do think the hutch huggers make a huge difference.
Click to expand...

where do you get cage huggers from i have never hard of them and i have all had mine outside
 
Thanks for all the hints/tips.

It did cross my mind to get Fudge neutered but he must be nearly 6 not sure I want to put hin through it.

They are all snuggled up with hay and covered over and I've also asked my local pet shop about heat pads. (nearest big pet place is over 40 miles away)
 
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