Lighting Routines for indoor piggies?

Big Sky Piggies

Big Sky Piggies

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Hi there!

So my two piggies, Willow and Luna are outdoor piggies in the summer, but because I live in the UK it is far to cold to leave them outside in the winter so I bring them inside to my bedroom floor, with a 4 by 4 C and C cage. I love having them in my room, but the only thing is my bedtimes can vary alot each night. This also means the light levels in my room change at different times each night.

In the morning it is fine as light comes through my blinds, but in the evening it is a bit of a problem. Do guinea pigs need a certain amount of darkness in a day? Will their body clocks be messing up with my weird lighting changes? If they are effected by it does anyone have any tips? I am just worried as i want to assure they are getting their Beauty sleep and not getting too muddled up.🥺 I always try to get the main light off my 11pm and i then leave my small bedside lamp on until i go to bed around 12am. But some nights ill be asleep and lights out by 10:30pm.

Sorry if that is a little confusing, but hopefully someone can help! Both the piggies seem very happy and their normal selves.
Many Thanks!
 
When my piggies were indoors, I used to turn the light out in their room any time between 11pm and 12:30am depending on when I remembered. I don't think they were that bothered by the irregularity etc. I always used a desk light rather than the main light in their room, so it wasn't too bright if I left it on late, just in case, and I also put a big towel or similar over one end of the cage so they had a shaded area if they wanted it. Perhaps you could always put a blanket over their cage at a set hour, if you're staying up a bit later.

Piggies are most active at dawn and dusk in nature, so when it's neither bright nor dark. They also don't sleep for a long period at night and then wake up in the morning, they usually sleep for a while and then are awake for a while repeatedly during day and night. So not likely to have the body clock issues that humans might have!
:zzz::zzz:
 
I suddenly feel like a very bad owner.
Our piggies are in our open plan living area, and get the lights switched off and on at all hours.
For example 2 days a week we get up at 5am, some mornings it's 6am, and at the weekend it is a lot (lot!) later.
They do have natural light, but I certainly wouldn't say we have any sort of lighting routine of them.
Maybe that is why Ruby is always so grumpy with me :))
 
If you want your piggies on a regular lighting schedule, I highly recommend using a light timer. I use one on my fish tank to keep the lights on a regular schedule so I don't get an algae outbreak again. 😅
 
Swissgreys said:
I suddenly feel like a very bad owner.
Our piggies are in our open plan living area, and get the lights switched off and on at all hours.
For example 2 days a week we get up at 5am, some mornings it's 6am, and at the weekend it is a lot (lot!) later.
They do have natural light, but I certainly wouldn't say we have any sort of lighting routine of them.
Maybe that is why Ruby is always so grumpy with me :))
Click to expand...
I don't think you really need to find an excuse for Ruby's grumpiness :lol:

5am though - that's the middle of the night to me :zzz:
 
I think that, like babies, you don't need to go exactly by the clock but a general routine helps everyone know where they are. My pigs are always covered by about 10pm as they have usually 'retired' for the night by then. Hubs stays up much later than me and so the lighting can be erratic but once covered they know they won't be uncovered until the next day. Sometimes you hear one moving about in the night though. Wake-up happens with the sun in summer but in winter they sleep in a little later! If I tip-toe down in the wee small hours to get milk or something there is often a subdued 'muttering' until I 'reply' but this is very different to the proper getting up time when there is much more noise to show they are waiting for their veggie treat. George literally 'flips his lid' by which I mean that he stands under a cover that won't fasten down properly and quite deliberately flicks his head up to make it bang! He does it every morning to say, "I'm awake! Where have you been!" Luckily I'm an early riser :D
 
What are these lighting routines people speak of? :)) I always have some light on somewhere - I don't want to be hunting around for my glasses in the dark, damn things are a pain to find in broad daylight. Besides, it didn't matter when I went to bed or which lights were switched on or off beforehand - 20 seconds after I went to bed it was party time every night.
 
Mine are in the front room... no one comes in on a weekday before me and I purposely don't come in until I am ready to feed them... if they hear me speak they start to shout... at night the other half has the tv on until he goes to bed... they have little fairy lights on their cage and I always turn them off and say night night... . I slept on the sofa last night but don't put any lights on... but my cage camera was on motion detection & all I could hear was the click of that on and off 🙈🙈
 
When I'm up . . It's light on in piggie room. . I go in first and put my brew down on table in the dark and next time I arrive it's food time light on. Never 2 morning the same. Lol.
Sometimes they love to see me at times not. Lol. Love um
 
Mine are in my living room... before I go to bed at night I open the curtains so they will get the natural light coming in as the sun comes up. They are always up and about when I come downstairs.
 
My piggies are in the living room so lights are on the whole day. Lights are on when hubby wakes up at 8am. The lights are off depending on when I go to bed. Usually between 12am to 2am. 😂
 
Guinea pigs are diurnal, which means they sleep during both the night and the day, so I wouldn’t worry about them having any routine.
I have no lighting routine whatsoever... my guinea pigs usually fall straight asleep, the lazy things, but late in the night I often hear a “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!” Or then bashing their metal bowl repeatedly into the bars of the cage :))
 
Ours have always had a dark hut like a pet carrier to retreat into for darkness. I have a cheap nightlight in the room that, when all lights are out provides just a gentle moonlight equivalent in the room.
 
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