How to Keep Your Guinea Pigs Safe and Cool - Hot Weather Warning for the UK

I’ve found the air con unit, frozen bottles and damp sheets/towels really effective when it heats up. Blinds closed too. I’ve been running the air con over night and it gets the room down to 20-21. During the day I’m managing to keep it 22-24 and it’s been 30 degrees here 🥵
One of the best things I’ve invested in, is car windscreen sun shields. I’ve hung them behind the blinds in the piggy room to deflect the sun and it’s worked wonders at keeping the temperature down in there 👍🏻
 
0264C99A-73A1-466D-87A9-DABEA8BA8AC2.webpOh, I also put a couple of tiles in each cage for the piggies to sit on, but they haven’t bothered with them.

I have a few different thermometers in the room to get more of an accurate reading. I find the tommee tippee baby ones that light up, are the best. They alert you to temp changes 😊
 
Just seen that my sons fish tank is too hot. I am floating a frozen bottle in there too. Gosh. So much to think about. 😕
 
weepweeps said:
Just seen that my sons fish tank is too hot. I am floating a frozen bottle in there too. Gosh. So much to think about. 😕
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Yes isnt there, I also woke up to fishy panic, Mr Fish looking very lethargic- did a frantic partial cool water change, which Mr Fish found hilarious as he was just sleeping probably and is fine! Then the damp sheets, the frozen bottles in socks, the chilled cucumber chunks and cool drinking water for the piggies...
I've got a right "lady of a certain age" uncomfortable sweat on myself now and all the animals are just laughing at me and I'm currently wondering whether I should sit on the frozen lentil curry I'm defrosting for dinner, or shove it in my bra, or strap it to my face lol :)
 
It’s now reached that stage where the house just doesn’t cool down much at all overnight, frustratingly.
The lowest the pigs room got overnight is 23.5 which means it will creep up higher despite following all the measures advised.

I moved the pigs to the floor of a different room yesterday just to give them a bit of a break and also more space. But I can’t do that today as it was my husband’s office (he goes into the main office once a week) and he’s WFH the rest of the week.
That also unfortunately means laptops and monitors on all day which means slightly more heat upstairs.

I hate the heat, I don’t do holidays abroad in hot places because I overheat and that causes my anxiety to spike! When people say “oh you would only be moaning if it’s cold and wet, enjoy it!” It annoys me, as I never complain when it’s cold or rainy! That’s my favourite weather. Ha!

Good luck to all the piggies and animals that are struggling, and my fellow humans who dislike the heat. Another day of switching ice packs lies ahead!
 
Awful today isnt it, woke up after hardly any sleep due to the heat to find my coolest room on the shady side of the house was 24 degrees at 9am!
I've now just filled the freezer with every plastic bottle I could find so the piggies can have more cool packs, I think I need bigger socks as most of them are 1 litre juice bottles... mght cut a leg off some fleecy pyjamas to make large frozen bottle covers, not like I'll be needing fleecy pyjamas for a while!
Stay safe and cool everyone x
 
Yep, weather warnings out for this afternoon….
We have horses that would rather be in stables as it’s too hot outside and the flies are crazy!
We have piggies in their room that we are luckily managing to keep at no more than 24 degrees with lots of damp sheets, frozen bottles and air con.
We have a Husky who is glued to his cool mat in the coolest part of the house (I’m making him frozen Kong treats this morning).
We also still have a business to run, and I’m worried our labourers will die on site…….

They are predicting some parts of the UK to be up to 33 degrees today 🥵🥵🥵
 
Our piggies got up to 28 degrees yesterday. They seem fine but I'm not sure what else we can do.

Curtains are shut on the sunny side of the house and windows only get opened when its cooler in the evening and night, but like someone else mentioned it it now only getting down to 23 in the house at night.

During the day I've got a white wet towel at the window, another wet sheet over one side of the cage with the air cooling unit pointed straight at it. Ice packs are in but even at 28 the piggies didnt use them.

They're skinny pigs so I presume they have no fur to insulate them and warn them further which may help them.

Anybody else got any ideas? I've read the hot weather guide and I think I'm doing everything.
 
Really tempted to get an aircon unit, we also have a 17 year old dog, though he is quite content sitting in front of the massive floor fan, an AC unit would be ideal in the piggies room/my office!

Any recommendations? So far we seem to be doing Ok with the frozen bottle, ice packs and tiles, with a couple of small fans just to move the air around a little..
 
This is my piggy outbuilding at the moment ...
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I put it up there at 10am well before the sun came round, and it seems to be doing its job - the hutch thermometer has been showing a steady 23° for the last couple of hours. I can move the boards as the sun moves round so the sun is kept off the window and door particularly.

The piggies are actually on the lawn in the shade of a tree. I've given them a couple of covered freezer packs but they were ignoring them last time I looked - sitting in snuggle sacks and fleecy tunnels 🤔🤔
 
Just had a mini thunderstorm here with rain and then very big hail stones. Some wind too so I’ve ran around the house opening all the windows as the air outside dropped a bit cooler. Just waiting to time it right to get them all closed again as I predict humid heat shortly!
 
Hail (next doors garden as my longer for pigs grass doesn’t show the hail as well!)
The animal room has gone 2 degrees lower (from 26.5 to 24.5!) and now it’s blazing sunshine again so normal windows and curtains closed service has resumed! 52142AD8-6E90-4E85-A2E3-92AA940A90E3.jpeg
 
Lavinia said:
Hail (next doors garden as my longer for pigs grass doesn’t show the hail as well!)
The animal room has gone 2 degrees lower (from 26.5 to 24.5!) and now it’s blazing sunshine again so normal windows and curtains closed service has resumed! View attachment 181008
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:eek:The weather people were forecasting possible storms in the south east,but not the rest of the country today ... we've not had any here, though my weather app says some are 20% possible later. I think my garden would welcome a downpour!
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
:eek:The weather people were forecasting possible storms in the south east,but not the rest of the country today ... we've not had any here, though my weather app says some are 20% possible later. I think my garden would welcome a downpour!
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It was a crazy 45 mins but yeah think the gardens enjoyed it.(edited to add- the hail stones have put holes in my sunflowers leaves, so maybe they didn’t enjoy it so much!)
It’s horribly humid now and I have banging headache!
 
I keep a close eye on the lightning tracker maps due to my intense fear of them. Storms have been going on around and nearby me for a few hours now..….I’m sat here terrified. Much cooler now though - could put the piggies back in the shed but I don’t dare step outside!
 
Piggies&buns said:
I keep a close eye on the lightning tracker maps due to my intense fear of them. Storms have been going on around and nearby me for a few hours now..….I’m sat here terrified. Much cooler now though - could put the piggies back in the shed but I don’t dare step outside!
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Oh no I sorry about that. I hope it passes soon for you.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I keep a close eye on the lightning tracker maps due to my intense fear of them. Storms have been going on around and nearby me for a few hours now..….I’m sat here terrified. Much cooler now though - could put the piggies back in the shed but I don’t dare step outside!
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Hope the storms stop where you are soon then... what is this lightning tracker you mentioned? Sounds interesting!

Sorry about your headache @Lavinia !
 
I thought the same @Qualcast&Flymo and I’ve just downloaded an app called my lightening tracker & alerts. Looks interesting.
 
Crazy isnt it, climate change in action, I remember as a kid in the 1980s going to Mallorca on holiday and being amazed the thermometer showed 25 degrees! And once it was 27 and older folks who had been holidaying there for years saying they'd never known heat like it.
Now 25 is pretty normal average summer in northwest UK and you have 31 in Manchester and we have 28 in Liverpool with tomorrow predicted as hotter!
 
PigglePuggle said:
Crazy isnt it, climate change in action, I remember as a kid in the 1980s going to Mallorca on holiday and being amazed the thermometer showed 25 degrees! And once it was 27 and older folks who had been holidaying there for years saying they'd never known heat like it.
Now 25 is pretty normal average summer in northwest UK and you have 31 in Manchester and we have 28 in Liverpool with tomorrow predicted as hotter!
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It really is crazy. I remember when I was younger we also had more reliable seasons, warm summers, cold winters and snow. It’s so unpredictable these days. Makes managing the animals so difficult. And I really feel for farmers 😔
 
Took a while to get aquainted but today Jezzy floof is on almost friendly terms with the frozen bottle sock monster!
20210721_161508.webp

I usually have a fleecy tunnel instead of the sticks bridge hidey there but given the sleepy absent mindedness of my more 2 elderly ladies I'm not taking any chances!

Blodwen is also reluctantly sharing her favourite hidey castle with a frozen bottle in a sock but with maximum social distancing :)
 
Oh my…. 🥵🥵🥵 32…

I’m struggling with the piggy room. Got everything in place that’s managed to maintain the temp at 24c for the last few days, but today I’m struggling. We are at 26-27. Piggies seem ok. They like their frozen bottles and damp sheets. Hopefully it’s cooler in the cages beneath the damp sheets with air con on them.
All eating fine and behaving normally 🤞🏻

C14D5A5C-60FA-4039-81C9-AB6B286FEC8A.webp
 
We have been at 27° most of the day but the boys seem more lively than they have been the past few days, keeping ontop of the ice blocks and spraying down the damp sheet seem to be working!
 
rp1993 said:
We have been at 27° most of the day but the boys seem more lively than they have been the past few days, keeping ontop of the ice blocks and spraying down the damp sheet seem to be working!
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Thanks. It didn’t help that when I got up to check them at 3am last night, it was still 25c. It’s not much cooler at night. I’m actually looking forward to temperatures dropping and some rain this weekend. The animals need a break
 
Bradshaw Piggies said:
Oh my…. 🥵🥵🥵 32…

I’m struggling with the piggy room. Got everything in place that’s managed to maintain the temp at 24c for the last few days, but today I’m struggling. We are at 26-27. Piggies seem ok. They like their frozen bottles and damp sheets. Hopefully it’s cooler in the cages beneath the damp sheets with air con on them.
All eating fine and behaving normally 🤞🏻

View attachment 181193
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🥵🥵 Phew, that's a scorcher! Thankfully it's "only" 28 or 29 here.

My insulation boards seem to be doing the trick still, the hutch got to max 24.2 yesterday evening.

I tried with white sheets last year, it was difficult to hang them in front of the building in a way that would work. The walls are single layer so heat on the outside transmits to the inside, but I can feel the difference between the shaded and unshaded brickwork.

It's hotter outside in the piggy run, but the silly fluffballs are still sitting in fleecy tunnels instead of in the open ...
 
Pepper, who has black fur, seems to be struggling with the heat more than Percy, who is light brown. Do you think it’s because he’s drawing the heat to him? How are all your darker piggies coping? Just a thought. 🤔
 
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