Leave / Take piggies on 1 week holiday!?

[Lulu's Piggies]

Hello Everyone,
Our new piggies are settling in nicely, since rescuing them on 22nd April.
We are due to go holiday at the end of July for 1 week and I'm very nervous about leaving them for that amount of time in the hot Summer, since they will need checking on regularly when it's hot!
Our destination is the home of family members which is a 3 hour trip, and the insane thought of taking them with us crossed my mind.
Has anyone done this and is it an acceptable solution for a pig? Any advice and tips welcome.
Lucy

 

[Lulu's Piggies]

Hello Everyone,
Our new piggies are settling in nicely, since rescuing them on 22nd April.
We are due to go holiday at the end of July for 1 week and I'm very nervous about leaving them for that amount of time in the hot Summer, since they will need checking on regularly when it's hot!
Our destination is the home of family members which is a 3 hour trip, and the insane thought of taking them with us crossed my mind.
Has anyone done this and is it an acceptable solution for a pig? Any advice and tips welcome.
Lucy

I should clarify: I meant leaving them in someone else's care. Obviously we wouldn't dream of abandoning them for a week!

 

[piggieminder]

Lots of useful information in the guides in the link below.

Travel & Holiday Guides

I have taken piggies away with me usually only travelling for an hour but once for 3 hours. Some don't seem to mind the travelling or being away from home other's hate it. I did feel the 3 hour trip was too long for the pair we did it with. It's really down to what you would prefer and whether you feel you can meet their travelling requirements after reading the guides.

 

[AidaB]

For holidays, we do a mix of piggies staying at boarding sometimes & other times they come with us(usually to family).
We have had a long 5hr car journey (including stops) everypig was ok. Plenty of veggie snacks for hydration and stops to check on our boys.

So far most of our Guinea pigs have been ok with car travel. (Loki gets a bit impacted the day after a car journey of any length.)

When we take our Guinea pigs with us we put hay in their carriers- and stop for plenty of veggie hydration breaks, during the journey.
Despite always trying to do minimal piggie packing, they always end up with more than us!
I have found packing fleeces/bath mats in a big stuff sack easier. I take our big washing bag & will use the washing machine while we are away from home.
We use C&C grids- lined with ,from the ground up, plastic to protect floor(old table cloth) newspaper, disposable puppy pads and single layer of fleece fabric, then fleece pee pads in high traffic areas. The single layer of fleece fabric is pulled up the sides of the grids & pegged- too help prevent hay coming out. We don’t take a correx base. Usually a couple of cardboard houses, which pack flat or I ask whoever we are visiting to save us some.
I will see if I can find a photo for you.

Our holiday set ups have become a little more elaborate due to our 2 boys living as neighbours.

 

[AidaB]

I found an old thread that might be useful for you…… Here.
I can’t find any photos of our recent set ups, but there is one on the older thread.

 

[Gem789]

I went on holiday on my own a few years back(think it was 2018),my mum was supposed to come but was too depressed at the time so I took my 2 boys with me.We travelled from Daventry in Northamptonshire and went to holywell bay in Cornwall.It was a lot longer than 3 hours going by trains and buses but they did very well although both needed a bum bath once I'd got there after being in their carrier so long.

 

[Lulu's Piggies]

And if we find a good piggie carer for the week, do you think they'll be ok without lawn time for a whole week? They are used to getting exercise (or what you consider exercise for a piggy ) all day when it's dry!

 

[Piggies&buns]

And if we find a good piggie carer for the week, do you think they'll be ok without lawn time for a whole week? They are used to getting exercise (or what you consider exercise for a piggy ) all day when it's dry

They will be absolutely fine without it for a week.
(To be honest as the weather gets warmer they are unlikely to be able to be out all day anyway - only being able to go out early morning and late evening during the height of summer).

Mine are checked on twice a day if I go away. They live in my shed so have to move indoors while I’m away due to the heat. They don’t get any lawn time during the time I’m away.

 

[Lulu's Piggies]

They will be absolutely fine without it for a week.
(To be honest as the weather gets warmer they are unlikely to be able to be out all day anyway - only being able to go out early morning and late evening during the height of summer).

Mine are checked on twice a day if I go away. They live in my shed so have to move indoors while I’m away due to the heat. They don’t get any lawn time during the time I’m away.

Ok thanks that's really helpful. Depending on the forecast I might move them in. Time to invest in a C&C cage!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I have extra grids cable tied together except the end two. they concertina up for storage and I can quickly unfold them, pop connectors on the end grids and just lay down a plastic sheet to protect the floor, puppy pads and a fleece - and it’s all done within a couple of minutes.

Keeping them safely outside in summer has got so much harder over the last few years particularly. Sheds and hutches can become too hot too quickly - it gets much hotter inside the hutches than it is outside the hutch.

 

[Lulu's Piggies]

I have extra grids cable tied together except the end two. they concertina up for storage and I can quickly unfold them, pop connectors on the end grids and just lay down a plastic sheet to protect the floor, puppy pads and a fleece - and it’s all done within a couple of minutes.

Keeping them safely outside in summer has got so much harder over the last few years particularly. Sheds and hutches can become too hot too quickly - it gets much hotter inside the hutches than it is outside the hutch.

Yes I can see how they may need to spend quite a lot of time inside over the summer! Luckily our utility room is really cool as it's a concrete outbuilding, usually at least 5-10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house.