Warmer spring weather is on the way - and that means the start of the lawn season!
How to provide the run
- Provide a shelter against wind and weather, as temperatures can drop quickly as soon as the sun has gone or a sudden shower crops up. Make sure that your piggies have access to hay to help balance the digestion and ideally a place slightly above the ground that is dry and warm, so they don't catch UTI (urinary tract infection).
- Remember to make a run safe against predators from above, not just from the ground! If your lawn is easily accessible by dogs or foxes, make sure that it is anchored into the ground.
- Don't ever leave any runs with or without guinea pigs unsupervised on a front lawn open to the street.
- Part of the run should always be out of the sun. Unless the day is really unseasonably warm, limit the first few times your piggies are outside to let them get used to it.
- Make sure that any plastic hideys are out of the sun, as they quickly heat up and turn into ovens in full sun, especially on hotter days.
- Here are our hot weather tips. Please bring your guinea pigs indoors during heatwaves and keep them in the coldest room of the house. They can die from heat stroke even in the shade of a tree if a sun heated breeze is blowing their way and building up!
Hot weather management and heat strokes
How to best prepare indoors guinea pigs for the lawn season
- Treat your guinea pigs like tender plants and accustom them to the outdoors slowly on sunny, warmish afternoons with sheltering away from wind if wished and well insulated from the still cool ground.
- Please remember to put indoors piggies only out on the grass for the first when it is warm and dry to your bare feet in order to prevent UTI (urinary tract infection).
- It would be good if you started to gradually accustom your piggies to fresh, rich grass once the new grass is gorwing out. Start with small ripped grass portions and then up the amount every time in order to avoid diarrhoea or, at the worst, bloat on their first full stay on the lawn with an unaccustomed digestion. This is especially important for young, frail or elderly guinea pigs!
Beware!
- Do not feed soaking wet or frozen grass; it can cause tummy upsets.
- Please do not feed lawn mower clippings; they ferment very quickly and can cause digestive problems.
- If you have treated your lawn, you need to wait until you have mowed the grass 3-4 times before it is safe for the piggies to graze.
- Please remember that dog and fox pee is poisonous to guinea pigs; make sure that you don't let them have any grass or fresh greens from places where dogs could have toileted - this applies parks and road verges, too. Fresh dog pee can kill!
- Creeping buttercup and moss are poisonous. Too many daisies are also not good to eat.
How to provide the run
- Provide a shelter against wind and weather, as temperatures can drop quickly as soon as the sun has gone or a sudden shower crops up. Make sure that your piggies have access to hay to help balance the digestion and ideally a place slightly above the ground that is dry and warm, so they don't catch UTI (urinary tract infection).
- Remember to make a run safe against predators from above, not just from the ground! If your lawn is easily accessible by dogs or foxes, make sure that it is anchored into the ground.
- Don't ever leave any runs with or without guinea pigs unsupervised on a front lawn open to the street.
- Part of the run should always be out of the sun. Unless the day is really unseasonably warm, limit the first few times your piggies are outside to let them get used to it.
- Make sure that any plastic hideys are out of the sun, as they quickly heat up and turn into ovens in full sun, especially on hotter days.
- Here are our hot weather tips. Please bring your guinea pigs indoors during heatwaves and keep them in the coldest room of the house. They can die from heat stroke even in the shade of a tree if a sun heated breeze is blowing their way and building up!
Hot weather management and heat strokes
How to best prepare indoors guinea pigs for the lawn season
- Treat your guinea pigs like tender plants and accustom them to the outdoors slowly on sunny, warmish afternoons with sheltering away from wind if wished and well insulated from the still cool ground.
- Please remember to put indoors piggies only out on the grass for the first when it is warm and dry to your bare feet in order to prevent UTI (urinary tract infection).
- It would be good if you started to gradually accustom your piggies to fresh, rich grass once the new grass is gorwing out. Start with small ripped grass portions and then up the amount every time in order to avoid diarrhoea or, at the worst, bloat on their first full stay on the lawn with an unaccustomed digestion. This is especially important for young, frail or elderly guinea pigs!
Beware!
- Do not feed soaking wet or frozen grass; it can cause tummy upsets.
- Please do not feed lawn mower clippings; they ferment very quickly and can cause digestive problems.
- If you have treated your lawn, you need to wait until you have mowed the grass 3-4 times before it is safe for the piggies to graze.
- Please remember that dog and fox pee is poisonous to guinea pigs; make sure that you don't let them have any grass or fresh greens from places where dogs could have toileted - this applies parks and road verges, too. Fresh dog pee can kill!
- Creeping buttercup and moss are poisonous. Too many daisies are also not good to eat.