Moving house with a senior guinea pig

[VenusSky]

We are due to move house soon, in about a month and are not exactly sure what to do about transporting our guinea pig to the new house.
For context, we had two guinea pigs but one unfortunately passed away last year. The other guinea pig has been living on his own since and is perfectly happy. He has lived indoors in the same cage all his life so has not experienced much change. He is 5 years old, due to turn 6 this year.
The cage he currently lives in was built by me and will have to be taken down and rebuilt during the move. My question is, how can I comfortably transport him stress free on the day? We have a travel cage but I'm worried he will get bored and stressed being in there for so long. He will be in the car for about an hour and will have to be put somewhere not noisy/dangerous while I put his cage back together too. If anyone has any experience with this I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

 

[Roselina]

Hello VenusSky …..so much to do - fluffysal has recently moved with her two guineapigs and I’m sure can offer you advice. Providing he has water / hay and some treat food I’m sure he’ll be ok - could you make up a temporary playpen while you get his cage made up. I would just add that guinea pigs are not happy on their own , they really do need a friend. Maybe when you get settled you could investigate getting a piggy companion ? Lots of rescues offer ‘ dates’ to make sure they’d be compatible. Good luck with your move

 

[AidaB]

We have taken our piggies to visit relatives or even a weeks holiday with us. They travel well in the car, in their carrier with hay & stopping for cucumber snack breaks( for an hours journey you shouldn’t need to). We also cover the carrier, it makes everything slightly less scary.
I would recommend prioritising setting up your guinea pigs new space or a temporary space as soon as possible on arrival, and a blanket over the top so your piggy feels more secure.
Good luck with your house move.

 

[AidaB]

Sorry- I should have been clearer. When I say the piggies have been to visit relatives with us, it’s for a long weekend or a weeks stay- not just a pop in!

 

[fluffysal]

I moved 10 days ago. The first bit of advice is to make sure he's used to the carrier. Mine would use theirs as part of their floortime so it was familiar if they needed to be transported anywhere. When I take the dirty fleece out of it I always replace it with the one I have been using for lap time so it still smells familiar.
An hour travelling should be fine, I gave mine a hay cookie each and some cucumber. We had a 2 hour plus journey and checked on them twice, they just slept mostly.
When we got to the new house we did prioritise them, still had the original pet shop cage so they went in there with some "dirty" fleeces in it. Those fleeces then went into the rebuilt cage.
You should be fine. My big worry was that all the disruption could break their bond as they are young adults.
Good luck

 

[Eriathwen]

I moved 3 years ago with 20 piggies (it was as fun as it sounds! Fun fact, you can fit exactly 20 pigs in a vauxhall astra lol) Best advice is make sure they have hay, a water source like a piece of cucumber, company theyre familiar with if applicable, familiar smelling bedding etc. An hour isn't too bad, it's how long I travelled with my herd. A lot of mine consist of special needs, older or otherwise kind of fragile piggies and they actually travel very well, some of them actively enjoy it and try to look out the window, some will just sleep.

Good luck! Chances are you will be more stressed than they will be