Guinea pigs in or out in warm weather

[ChesterandPatch2025]

Our Guinea boys are a couple of years old.We rehomed them from a friend (they were fighting with another boar) in January and they have been living indoors but going out in the daytime when the temp has risen above 10+ degrees.
They have had a thermal hutch cover which is usually off now unless it is abit windy/chilly.I wanted to get them a run however our garden is COVERED in daisies and I read that this can be harmful to them.Which is a shame as would have loved to pop them on the grass.
So they have been outside in the hutch in a corner of the garden where the sun gets in the morning when the temp is lower, but not in the warmest part of the day....it's shaded then.
Does this sound suitable as the weather warms up....as we move into summer and the temps rise to being in the 20s plus more I wasn't sure if they would be best to stay indoors on hot days.
They love their hutch and the extra space but don't want them struggling being too hot.
Advice appreciated, thanks

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

In warm weather a hutch becomes a dangerous place as the temperature in a hutch is often higher than the outside temperature. Therefore you need to have a thermometer in the hutch and use that to know whether it’s safe for them to be in it. Don’t go by the outside air temperature. Even in shade, a hutch can still be unsafe as they can be heated by hot breezes.
They definitely must stay indoors on hot days in the height of summer and definitely not be in a hutch.

They are only comfortable around 18-22 degrees.
Anything over 25 degrees risks heatstroke but there is also the humidity to consider.
Indoor piggies shouldn’t really go out until it is over 15 degrees.

Mine live in my shed. During the hottest summer days and days when I can’t keep my shed below 25 (which unfortunately is now a lot of them), they move either onto the lawn if I’m home (and it’s still cool enough for them to be on the lawn) or into my house. During the hottest days they only get lawn time 7-8am and then come back indoors. In a evening they will get lawn time again as soon as it’s cool enough, probably around 7pm for about 2 hours and then either go back into the shed if it has cooled down enough or they come into the house for the night.
It was 20 degrees yesterday and my shed was 27 degrees so it was far too warm for them to stay in there … it’s only May!

Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike

 

[ChesterandPatch2025]

Thanks very much for this helpful advice!
We have got one part of the lawn where there actually seems more grass than weeds (daisies) still, so have got a run and will put them there so at least they can have some time out.
I thought a run would be better than hutch in warm weather as long as there is shade due ti better airflow I presume.
We will bring them in when it gets very hot.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes a run is better than a hutch when it’s warm but only up to a certain point, even a run will get too hot (so it’s good you will keep them indoors when it’s hot).
Don’t use plastic hides outside (not in the hutch or in the run).
The hot weather guide I linked in explains ways to keep them cool in the house as well.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

Please take the time to read our hot weather guide. It is the most comprehensive collection of practical tips - and it goes way beyond that to help keep your piggies safe and cool at all time. It is not so such about just keeping the piggies cool; it is about keeping their environment cool enough that they do not need those emergency measures. A combination for comparatively small measures can keep things much cooler for them and you without you having to worry whether they will survive.

All the hard lessons from previous heat spikes and heat waves - often bought at the cost of lives even from diligent and very loving owners - have gone into this guide, as have gone our own individual experiments and experiences with different set-ups and living conditions, from inner city to country. You may want to bookmark it.

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

This the feedback and experiences exchanging guide from forum members working out what works best for them in their individual home: Hot weather warning for the UK - Member questions and heatwave feedback

Sadly, with climate change, hutches are no longer a safe environment during the warmer time of the year, nor are lawns in the middle of the day - not even double shade under a tree if the run is right in the way of a sun-heated breeze of over 50 C.

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

I wanted to get them a run however our garden is COVERED in daisies and I read that this can be harmful to them.

I think there is an info thread somewhere on the forum on edible wild plants for guineas. Little lawn daisies as opposed to marguerites are not poisonous. They do contain saponin. I used to have my guineas - generations of them - out on the lawn under supervision. Some of them ate the whole daisy - leaves, stem, flower. Some ate only the flower, others only the stem and then let the flower drop back to the ground.

Some of my guineas seemed to shut off their brain/instinct/nose power when I fed them wild herbs in the house in their cage, or "guinea pig landscape" as it is termed in Germany these days. Outside on the grass they never did. They seemed very good at knowing what to eat when and how much. Mostly they ate grass and they'd find it all among the moss and whatever else was growing. I read on here on the forum that moss is poisonous - my guineas were out on moss because the 'lawn' was covered in moss in places, but none of my guineas were ever interested in moss! I remember once I ate a lawn daisy at some point in the year when none of my guineas were eating it any more. I think the saponin content must have been very high at that time of the year, I think it was in the autumn. If I eat daisies myself, then more in the spring cuz milder flavour. My guineas must have known without trying. Good little noses, and much more attuned to the natural world.

Apparently some people's guinea pigs shut off their brains in the garden too and eat completely poisonous things, so you do have to know and trust your guineas. I never would have put their outside run on a patch of foxgloves or something really, really poisonous.

All just my experience.