Cold weather - what are you doing?
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Stephpig
Junior Guinea Pig
Helllooooo
Nope the water bottle has never been frozen, well not yet anyway!
hi!
must not be getting below 0 degrees in there then! they should be fine in the garage, just pack them with hay, fleece and heat pads
do you have a cover over the hutch?
think seeing as mine are inside tonight i wont give them their heat pads as i dont want them to be too warmer then usual so its not tto much of a shock when they go back outside
Hi Becks
Yes you are probably doing the right thing. With some heatpads, blankets and plenty of hay to snuggle into and to keep them cozy they should be fine. Do you know the temperature difference between the two? Thats the main thing to consider.
Hopefully it'll start warming up soon and we can all stop worrying about them! 8
Hiya
No I wouldn't know the temp between & I don't think I would have anything lying about to test it either :-((
They have a heat pad, tunnel surrounded by hay then a flat mat thing popped over the top then the hutch itself is covered in 3 blankets & finally towerpolling (sp lol). The living space is just newspaper @ sawdust so in the event it gets too hot they can retreat there lol.
Just been in the shed to feed my piggies, it's like Tahiti! They're stretched out all content enjoying the warmth. The next door neighbours 3 legged cat has taken advantage of the door being ajar, when I went in, he was curled up fast asleep on a cushion on top of the hutch. He's been done so at least he wont spray to mark his territory. Plus whilst he's in there, It deters other cats from going in.
TAN
Adult Guinea Pig
Am leaving my heating on 24/7 as one of my girlies was a bit cold - she lives in the lounge on fleece with hideys and 1/3 of cage with hay so have packed the hideys with hay - and draped a large fleece blanket (two for £5.99 in POundstretcher) over one end to make a sort of hammock / porch ,and shoved a load of hay under that - my poor oil bill ! - but work during the day so cant leave an electric heater on - am paranoid that will have an electrical fire.
Guinea Slave
Adult Guinea Pig
Hiya
No I wouldn't know the temp between & I don't think I would have anything lying about to test it either :-((
They have a heat pad, tunnel surrounded by hay then a flat mat thing popped over the top then the hutch itself is covered in 3 blankets & finally towerpolling (sp lol). The living space is just newspaper @ sawdust so in the event it gets too hot they can retreat there lol.
It sounds like they will be absolutely fine
Guinea Slave
Adult Guinea Pig
Just been in the shed to feed my piggies, it's like Tahiti! They're stretched out all content enjoying the warmth. The next door neighbours 3 legged cat has taken advantage of the door being ajar, when I went in, he was curled up fast asleep on a cushion on top of the hutch. He's been done so at least he wont spray to mark his territory. Plus whilst he's in there, It deters other cats from going in.
Mine too! It was warmer in the shed this morning than our bedroom ! (I have a wireless thermometer so I can see how warm their shed is whilst I am in bed...sad I know!) try explaining to your husband why the guineas quarters are warmer than ours :{ We are a bit stinjy with our heating though! (thats my excuse and I am sticking to it! inbreeding
Mine think its summer at the moment I am sure!
I'm a little worried now its even getting VERY cold here in Bournemouth!
Our piggies(2) are in an outside hutch which is positioned next to the house. They have plenty of hay, a cosy cavie each, a heat pad, 3 blankets plus a taurpaulin over the hutch.....
My friend on FB has just informed me that she kept her guinea pigs in a shed & went out one morning to find them frozen to death(thats awful:0) It was 25 years ago apparently but even so, its got me even more worried than I already was :...
Not sure what else I can do though....no room in shed or garage & we really dont want them indoors :red
Any other suggestions please?
Our piggies(2) are in an outside hutch which is positioned next to the house. They have plenty of hay, a cosy cavie each, a heat pad, 3 blankets plus a taurpaulin over the hutch.....
My friend on FB has just informed me that she kept her guinea pigs in a shed & went out one morning to find them frozen to death(thats awful:0) It was 25 years ago apparently but even so, its got me even more worried than I already was :...
Not sure what else I can do though....no room in shed or garage & we really dont want them indoors :red
Any other suggestions please?
Stephpig
Junior Guinea Pig
do you have a plastic bed for them? i put fleece inside mines bed and piled fleece on top of it to insulate, i also shut them in the top half of their hutch to seal it off. other then that it sounds like your doing everything possible.
it was -8 when i went to work this morning, glad i brought the boys in last night
its not ment to be as cold tonight as its warming for snow
suem
Adult Guinea Pig
Bertie is in a utility bit off the living room. Last night I thought his trotters felt a bit cold. So I got his carry box and put a towel in, some hay, a small dish of dry food, carrot and cucumber and attached his water bottle. He spent the night in the kitchen on the work surface. He had eaten most of his food so wasnt bothered. he probably thought we were away on our holidays and he was going to my sisters for a week. I will get him in again in about an hour as it is getting chilly...x)
rachelsharp
Junior Guinea Pig
I'm away for the weekend so my dad is on piggy watch and I'm getting text updates - he's just text to say it's 12.3c inside the hutch.
I've gone a bit obsessive about my piggy temperatures inside the hutch. The pigs are lucky enough to have an outdoor electricity supply which means we've been able to install two tubular electric heaters on the underside of the floors inside the hutch. They're perfect because they heat the hutch really well and also make the floor nice and toasty warm for them too.
Outside the hutch is covered in a homemade clear pvc cover which is really handy if it's cold during the day as I can leave the heater on and it keeps it warm for them. On top of that they then have an insulated cover and a tarpaulin that goes down overnight. We've then got bungee cables around the whole of the hutch to keep the cover close. I'd really recommend finding something to keep it close because it's amazing how much heat is lost when the cover is just dropped down and loose.
They've also got all the usual things like big balls of hay, fleeces etc.
The best thing I've bought for a while is an outdoor remote thermometer like someone mentioned earlier (I'm a geek too!) because I really didn't realise how cold it was getting for them even on typical nights, often down to 3c! I've put the sensor on the bottom level furthest away from the heater so that the temperature always shows the coldest point. Now it means I can keep an eye on the temperature and know when they might need a snugglesafe putting in, or if they really are cold I can bring them in for the night, although I've not had to do that so far.
What I do isn't perfect but I try my best to keep them toasty! xx
I've gone a bit obsessive about my piggy temperatures inside the hutch. The pigs are lucky enough to have an outdoor electricity supply which means we've been able to install two tubular electric heaters on the underside of the floors inside the hutch. They're perfect because they heat the hutch really well and also make the floor nice and toasty warm for them too.
Outside the hutch is covered in a homemade clear pvc cover which is really handy if it's cold during the day as I can leave the heater on and it keeps it warm for them. On top of that they then have an insulated cover and a tarpaulin that goes down overnight. We've then got bungee cables around the whole of the hutch to keep the cover close. I'd really recommend finding something to keep it close because it's amazing how much heat is lost when the cover is just dropped down and loose.
They've also got all the usual things like big balls of hay, fleeces etc.
The best thing I've bought for a while is an outdoor remote thermometer like someone mentioned earlier (I'm a geek too!) because I really didn't realise how cold it was getting for them even on typical nights, often down to 3c! I've put the sensor on the bottom level furthest away from the heater so that the temperature always shows the coldest point. Now it means I can keep an eye on the temperature and know when they might need a snugglesafe putting in, or if they really are cold I can bring them in for the night, although I've not had to do that so far.
What I do isn't perfect but I try my best to keep them toasty! xx
Guinea Slave
Adult Guinea Pig
Just one thing I remembered. Years ago (before I got obsessive!) I had my original two guineas in an unheated shed. It got very cold one winter their water froze so I put in plastic igloos and made sure they were toasty warm with fleece, heatpads etc. I did not realise until a couple of days later that because the temperature in the shed was cold and the temperature in their igloos was so warm that they were getting wet with condensation on the roof of their igloos! The roofs were soaking. :...
I felt awful as one was very sick at the time too. Now I only use wooden hideys but I still feel awful about it...worth checking as it just never occured to me
I felt awful as one was very sick at the time too. Now I only use wooden hideys but I still feel awful about it...worth checking as it just never occured to me
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