Cooling piggies down

Hi luckily it’s cooling down from today
I use Ice blocks wrapped in covers or you can freeze water bottles and put them in socks and as the melt it keeps the area cool
Some people put a ceramic tile in the cage so piggy can lie on it
Keep curtains or blinds closed and a fan directed away from the piggies cage can help
I’m sure other people will be along to offer advice
 
Roselina said:
Hi luckily it’s cooling down from today
I use Ice blocks wrapped in covers or you can freeze water bottles and put them in socks and as the melt it keeps the area cool
Some people put a ceramic tile in the cage so piggy can lie on it
Keep curtains or blinds closed and a fan directed away from the piggies cage can help
I’m sure other people will be along to offer advice
Click to expand...
Thankyou can I give them bottled water as it’s colder ?
 
I tend to freeze small bottles of water & pop them in a sock. Some piggies will happily sit next to them but others will avoid. I also made fleece covers for reusable cool blocks but again some piggies will avoid them. My rainbow bridge girl Hazel was a huge fan and could be found lying on them at every opportunity whereas Iris has always backed away from them.
 
Hi

Please take the time to read our hot weather guide. It contains the largest collection of tips of how you can keep your home as cool as well as the piggies as cool as possible - the two things are closely connected.

Lots of little measures can actually add up to a surprisingly effective impact without costing you energy.

Here is the link again: Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike

You may also find this link here helpful, for questions and different ways forum members have made things work for their very different homes and challenges: Hot weather warning for the UK - Member questions and heatwave feedback

I hope that this helps you as well.
 
Hi,

I have read the hot management guide and inplemented as far as I can . Window shades fully closed and window shut with fan on. Tried an occasional light water mist spray for my boar and sow. Plenty of lettuce as well as hay.

Very hot this week in southern England. Temperature last evening peaked in room at 30 degrees. Currently 29 at 16:30 . Haven’t seen it this high since I kept pigs ! Global warming maybe but this is supposed to continue into next week

Both very subdued all afternoon . The sow is smaller but less happy in the heat. Sphinxing most of afternoon.

Is there a temperature over 30 degrees in shade that is getting dangerous? Where I should remove them to another room ?

Bit worried.
 
Any temperature over 25 is too hot and risks heat stroke. They ideally need to be kept between 18 and 23 degrees - easier said than done in this weather but at 25 degrees they are in risk territory and may show signs of struggling.
If you have a cooler room then please do move them straight away.

While it’s normal for them to be quieter, do keep an eye out for heat stroke signs

Please don’t spray them with water if that is what you meant. It won’t do any good. Piggies lose heat through blood flow to their ears.
An extra slice of cucumber a day can help keep them hydrated. Giving lots of additional watery veg is not recommended as it can cause digestive issues and potential for diarrhoea and thus fluid loss.
 
For my frailer piggies, I prefer to cool my microwaveable pads in the fridge and put them underneath their favourite snuggle place. You need to replace the pads with fresh ones every 2-3 hours (I always have a second lot going for that reason, so I can switch at need).
It is not for people who are out at work all day but it is a gentler way of cooling down oldies than a frozen bottle.

Key is however not so much just sticking a frozen bottle in the cage but either keeping their room as cool as possible or moving them into coolest room of your accommodation. See a frozen bottle as a last stop measure because when your piggies snuggle up near it, they are already overheated - which is something you'd rather avoid in the first place.

The other important point is that while piggies will gradually adapt to higher temperatures; what is a killer are temperature jumps of over 10 C, especially for the frailer (old, ill, newborn or pregnant/nursing because of their weakened, weak or overloaded immune system). This also includes the quick change between day and night temperatures for guinea pigs that are not used to them. Guinea pigs used to stable indoors temperatures should not suddenly be exposed to temperatures over 25-30 C. It is also important that temperatures in full sun are much higher than those in the shade (which are used as guides). And that a brisk sun-heated breeze can still kill piggies in the shade or that are exposed to it by a fan being placed next to an open window in full sun.
We sadly see those kind of cases every summer. :(
I started the day in my dual aspect lounge which has sun on it all day long with 21 C and still have only 23 C (at 5 pm) thanks to airing thoroughly first thing in the morning and then keeping the french doors on one side and the bay window on the other protected with old bed sheets, which I have been dampening every few hours as we are coming close to 30 C here.
A can, which can be pumped by hand to provide the necessary pressure for spraying, is what I use for the front, including to water down my hub's unprotected office window; this is something that can be still used during a hosepipe ban. I haven't used any extra electricity and very little extra water to dampen the sheets in a sink. There is a fan if really needed but I prefer not to.
We now also have heat reflecting film on most of our upstairs windows; it takes about 1-2 degrees off on a really hot day.
 
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