Sophie @2003
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi me again I am getting a 12 x15 f shed for my guinea pig tomorrow and I was just wondering if anyone had any pictures on there shed lay out and also how to keep it warm in winter thank xx
New Guinea pig shed
- Thread starter Sophie @2003
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Member Gallery: Sheds
And in reality most people say keeping the shed cool in Summer is often more of a challenge than keeping it warm in Winter.
Certainly something to think about.
It would be easier to give specific feedback on your situation if you could let us know how you plan to use the shed - hutch inside, does it have windows, how many piggies, how will you position it, etc.?
Member Gallery: Sheds
And in reality most people say keeping the shed cool in Summer is often more of a challenge than keeping it warm in Winter.
Certainly something to think about.
It would be easier to give specific feedback on your situation if you could let us know how you plan to use the shed - hutch inside, does it have windows, how many piggies, how will you position it, etc.?
I’ve added some pictures of my shed below
My shed is an 8x6, with a stable door, two windows and an internal mesh door (the mesh door is also stable door style) they have access to 6x6 of it. There are two boars living in there.
They have a 6ft double storey hutch but the ramp is removed and they only have access to the bottom part of the hutch. The hutch door is left open for free access day and night while the nights are warm enough (mid spring to mid autumn usually). Once the nights start to get cooler but aren’t yet too cold, I pop heat pads into the hutch but still leave the door open so they can choose. Hutch is always filled with hay (increasing amounts once it starts to get cold) with aubiose, megazorb or shavings used in the shed floor.
During winter they are allowed to roam the shed during the day only and are locked into the top half of the hutch at night for warmth - it’s much easier to keep the top half (rather than the bottom half) of the hutch warm enough to cope with the mid winter nights.
To keep them warm in the hutch they have four snugglesafe heatpads between the two of them and loads of hay. I then put two blankets over the hutch, then the thermal hutch cover, then the waterproof hutch cover with the plastic front (this obviously isn’t used for its waterproofing purposes given it’s in the shed but it makes an excellent layer to help hold warmth in, and then pull an old duvet over all of it. I still have a spare cage to be able to bring them in the house if the measures fail and they can’t be kept warm enough. This has only happened once.
The shed is usually 5-10 degrees warmer so a 10 degree night outside means my shed is usually around 15 degrees - any colder than that and my measures start to increase in increments from adding extra hay, then adding heat pads (two at first, then all four as it gets closer to winter) and then hutch covers (again in increments until all four hutch cover layers are being used towards winter). All the time I’m keeping an eye on the hutch thermometer because I can usually keep the inside temperature of the hutch itself warmer than the shed temperature. So 0 degrees outside and my shed is usually 5 degrees, but inside the hutch under all the covers and other warming methods is 10 degrees at a minimum. If I can’t maintain that and it drops below 10 in the hutch then they come in the house.
As Swissgreys has said, it’s actually not keeping warm in winter I find hard, it’s keeping cool in summer - this has never been possible and they have had to come into the house at some point during every single summer - it can vary from just going onto the lawn during the day and back to the shed at night; having to come into the house during the day because even being on the lawn is too hot but still back to the shed at night; and having to move into the house for several weeks on end day and night because the shed wasn’t even cooling down enough overnight. Even now it’s only around 20 degrees and rather overcast for the last few days, the shed has still been 27 degrees and too hot for them to stay in there.
My shed is an 8x6, with a stable door, two windows and an internal mesh door (the mesh door is also stable door style) they have access to 6x6 of it. There are two boars living in there.
They have a 6ft double storey hutch but the ramp is removed and they only have access to the bottom part of the hutch. The hutch door is left open for free access day and night while the nights are warm enough (mid spring to mid autumn usually). Once the nights start to get cooler but aren’t yet too cold, I pop heat pads into the hutch but still leave the door open so they can choose. Hutch is always filled with hay (increasing amounts once it starts to get cold) with aubiose, megazorb or shavings used in the shed floor.
During winter they are allowed to roam the shed during the day only and are locked into the top half of the hutch at night for warmth - it’s much easier to keep the top half (rather than the bottom half) of the hutch warm enough to cope with the mid winter nights.
To keep them warm in the hutch they have four snugglesafe heatpads between the two of them and loads of hay. I then put two blankets over the hutch, then the thermal hutch cover, then the waterproof hutch cover with the plastic front (this obviously isn’t used for its waterproofing purposes given it’s in the shed but it makes an excellent layer to help hold warmth in, and then pull an old duvet over all of it. I still have a spare cage to be able to bring them in the house if the measures fail and they can’t be kept warm enough. This has only happened once.
The shed is usually 5-10 degrees warmer so a 10 degree night outside means my shed is usually around 15 degrees - any colder than that and my measures start to increase in increments from adding extra hay, then adding heat pads (two at first, then all four as it gets closer to winter) and then hutch covers (again in increments until all four hutch cover layers are being used towards winter). All the time I’m keeping an eye on the hutch thermometer because I can usually keep the inside temperature of the hutch itself warmer than the shed temperature. So 0 degrees outside and my shed is usually 5 degrees, but inside the hutch under all the covers and other warming methods is 10 degrees at a minimum. If I can’t maintain that and it drops below 10 in the hutch then they come in the house.
As Swissgreys has said, it’s actually not keeping warm in winter I find hard, it’s keeping cool in summer - this has never been possible and they have had to come into the house at some point during every single summer - it can vary from just going onto the lawn during the day and back to the shed at night; having to come into the house during the day because even being on the lawn is too hot but still back to the shed at night; and having to move into the house for several weeks on end day and night because the shed wasn’t even cooling down enough overnight. Even now it’s only around 20 degrees and rather overcast for the last few days, the shed has still been 27 degrees and too hot for them to stay in there.
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Spaghetti & Noodles
Forum Donator 2026/27
I have just got a new shed for our 3 pigs who live as a sow pair and single boar neighbour, I am lucky enough that my husband has installed light and power, so in the winter they have a greenhouse heater fitted into the top section of the double height hutch and I use snuggle safes and old duvets to cover the hutches. My hope is that they can have access to the run during the day and then I will shut them in the hutch or top section overnight. Whilst my set up will be slightly different this year in the new shed it worked quite well last winter.
Sophie @2003
Junior Guinea Pig
So the shed is going to be Positioned at the top of my garden underneath the be a big tree my plain for the cages is to build the cages myself within the shed it has one window on the side of the shed and at the minute they’ll be a total of four males living in a and two females I know that it’s harder to keep them cool within the summer as I’ve had guinea pigs most my life I’ve just never had them living outside but I do have indoor cages just in case it does get too hot within the summer xx
Are they going to be proper hutches or open types cage such as c&c?
Keeping them warm in c&c type cages won't be easy unless your shed is properly heated all winter. Keeping them safe is also a consideration for open type cages (rats, mice etc getting into the shed)
What position will the shed face (north, south etc?), is the tree casting shade where the shed will be? It's great yourve got the ability to bring them indoors again if needed. Keeping them cool in the house is so much easier as the heat doesnt get trapped as as quickly it does in a shed.
Keeping them warm in c&c type cages won't be easy unless your shed is properly heated all winter. Keeping them safe is also a consideration for open type cages (rats, mice etc getting into the shed)
What position will the shed face (north, south etc?), is the tree casting shade where the shed will be? It's great yourve got the ability to bring them indoors again if needed. Keeping them cool in the house is so much easier as the heat doesnt get trapped as as quickly it does in a shed.
Qualcast&Flymo
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My piggies are in an outbuilding of single layer brick which I heated with an oil filled radiator in the winter. Fitting insulation boards to the roof in December made a difference in keeping the heat in, and I think it also made a difference to how quickly and how much it heated up in the direct sun recently compared with last summer. (Like a thermos flask can keep liquid cold as well as hot). I would have fitted sheets to the wall too, but there was cupboards and stuff in the way.
Sophie @2003
Junior Guinea Pig
Thank you for your help and if it wasn’t for you telling me all this I probably would not have got the shed and had electric put in it so now I have someone coming out to price up how much it would cause to have electric installed xx
That's good. Light and electric will help.
You can get some good thermostatic heaters which will help - not sure how much it costs to run a heater through the winter though