Housing questions

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LesleyA

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Hi :)p

I joined this lovely forum a few days ago as we have aqcuired our first ever Guinea Pigs. I have learned such a lot already, we bought the pigs from a pet shop and one of them is pregnant. I am saddened to read about the places that petshops get guinea pigs from, horrified in fact. We have kept mice and hamsters and rats in the past but we have always got them from friends so these are the first animals we ever bought from a shop. When the babies are weaned we will either keep them or ask one of the rescue people on here to help find them homes, at least they will have good lives. I have a few questions about housing our piggie girls. They have asmall hutch, which we have indoors as it is still chilly (Lancs UK) and I think we will keep them indoors at night. The hutch is about the minimum size for two pigs as I have read on here, but they only go in it at night. They also have a grazing run of five feet by three for fine days outside, and I have made a nice little indoor run of about fifteen square feet with hidey holes etc for wet or cold days (they are in it today and love it) So they are out from 8am to 8pm in either the outdoor or indoor run - would people think that is OK? They are such lovely animals and we want to give them the best we can. We have no space for a bigger hutch indoors, the indoor run is one which we can assemble and fold away at night. Also, hay and sawdust is messy and we have given them newspaper covered with fleece to line the hutch and the indoor run. Do they need hay to burrow in or will extra fleece bits do? I know they need to eat hay and we have a hay rack for that. They seem to love fleece! I can wash almost every day if necessary and we have a couple of large fleece blankets we have cut up. I wondered too do they not chew fleece?
 
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I think that that is OK. However, you will have to make sure that your outdoors run is well secured against cats, birds of prey and foxes, depending on where you live. I.e. it needs a solid top and if necessary some anchorage to the ground.

You will also have to provide some cover against the sun and rain if they are out, either by pegging towels over the top. You can think about a little hut sitting on a frame on stilts so the piggies have the full use of the grass, but somewhere they can hide in or under depending on the weather.
 
That sounds fine. It sounds lovely actually, I'm sure they'll be very happy :)

If the run has a solid roof and is pretty sturdy, it should be ok for the daytime I'd say. I always worry more about runs at night, so I put mine away at night too, in case of foxes or whatever.

I don't know if you have a little house in the run, but I think it'd be good if you do, in case it's a bit windy or chilly or too sunny. I have this little house, it's pretty cheap and they can go underneath it, which they love, and still eat the grass. They like having somewhere to hide sometimes. It might look like they can't fit under but even my full grown male can. The smallest size one is fine, it's plenty big enough.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/rodents/cages/rabbit_hutches/natura/33223

Good luck with your new piggies and the babies! There's loads of info on here in the pregnancy section. Most important thing is to figure out the sex of the babies and seperate the boys at 3 weeks or so. :)
 
Thanks! Yes, the outdoor run is secured with tent pegs but we wouldn't leave them in it if we were away from the house/garden and I check on them all the time too. It is covered at one end for shade and shelter and is very solid, and we have a little wooden house at one end and I have improvised using a toddler's step stool at the other end, they love it! I fill it with hay and they burrow in it underneath. They have been "popcorning" in both the indoor and outdoor runs - so nice to see! They do seem really contented. Now the next step is the babies!
 
Oh and I forgot to say, be careful with the babies since they can often fit through the bars of cages, until they're about 3-4 weeks! Mine could easily get through the bars, so I got smaller spaced wire and put it around.
 
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