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fairly new owner! Help please

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Hello everyone,

A couple of years ago our daughter was really keen to get guinea pigs. We got two, put them in a hutch we already had, in the garden, and they lived for about two months! Then we got another two, same thing happened, only this time we had to have one put down as it had chest infection.

Anyway, I vowed not to try again, having bought a new hutch and an outside run, etc. Our daughter, however, still wanted them and they were top of her Christmas list last year. I didn't get them and they are still top of the list this year.

I have decided to go for it but I have now done a lot more research on piggys and I have to confess to being quite excited about the prospect of our new friends arriving.

I have decided that this time round we will keep them indoors as I can't help thinking that they may have got too cold. We are lucky to have a room we can use to put them in but my question (sorry to have waffled) is related to housing. I want to give them (two) as much space as possible and I also want an "easy to clean" home for them. Thus I am looking at hutches with trays or coated surfaces which are a minimum of 4x2 ft. I had hopped to get one of those Trixi 5x2 ft hutches that I have seen mentioned on this forum but they are out of stock until January and, as we will not be getting the piggys until after Christmas (thought it best as we will be away for a day and a half) I do want to present the wrapped flat pack hutch to my daughter on Christmas day.
I am quite to get a hutch with a run beneath but I want one which has a floor to the run for indoor use and I'm not convinced the hutches with ladders/ramps are big enough? The gap for the ramp in the top seems to be quite large and takes space fromm the actual hutch. I am looking at the Rabbitshak R54019 but not sure whether the actual hutch has a coated surface or whether the hutch has a floor, so I will need to check with the supplier.
Has anyone got any other suggestions or recommendations please? I have a reasonable budget but definitely don't want to go over £120.

The other question I have is re the outside run we have. Can you put the piggys in the run if the grass is wet or should you only use this in summer? Equally, we have a dog (obviously won't put them out with the dog running around the garden as don't want to scare them) but he does poop on the grass. Obviously this gets picked up but I am unsure whether it would affect the piggys if the run got put on a part of the grass where there was a residue we didn't know about?

Many thanks and sorry for the long post
 
oh how exciting, if father chrimbo brings me any piggies i will be more than happy!

You defo cant put the pigs out on wet grass ever.

Good luck with it all, its a brill idea to get all the info upfront instead of leaving it until after they occasion.

:))
 
What about a C&C cage?

Or would you be able to get them a cage with a ramp out into the room? Could they just roam about that room? This is the situation with my piggies,I have piggie proofed the room but they are free range and when I am home can wander the rest of the house.

As already said piggies should not be put on wet grass...they get cold very easily and can develop respiratory infestions.

Hope this helps :)
 
Where is your "indoors"? Be aware that piggies will still need further protection in an unheated garage! Guinea pigs are from a warmer and drier climate than Britain.

If you have them in the house, you may want to think about a grid and correx cage (C&C). Do you have other pets?
 
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