New Outdoor Hutch

[askgar]

After a few years of use our hutch is finally looking like it needs replacing. After dealing with a wooden hutch I was hoping someone would know of some sort of alternative that could be used outside, or ways of dealing with wooden hutches to make them less of a pain (previously was lined with lino and we used vetbed). I saw some plastic ones however they all seemed a little small for 2 piggies.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[Maisy and Poppy]

If you have a shed or garage you could put a c and c or a normal indoor cage inside there if you are prepared to buy heating.

 

[biscandmatt]

in what way did you find them a pain?

i would avoid anything plastic for definite. too small as you say, and dangerous temperature wise aswell. they heat up very quickly and dangeously in warmer weather.

perhaps a shed would suit you better? or maybe inside?

 

[PiggySmitten]

It does depend really on what it was that you found a pain.

Was it keeping it warm in winter, cleaning it out or something else?

 

[askgar]

in what way did you find them a pain?

The biggest problem I find with the wooden hutch is that despite lining the floor with lino, it is still a pain to clean out. The back and sides used to get disgusting between cleaning, and despite spraying with pet friendly cleaning problems it would get bad again within a couple of days. The ceiling also gets covered in mildew every few days (which I have to spray and clean like the rest of the cage).

The other issue was that vet bed used to be a pain to wash, although I think I'm going to move to fleece on the next cage, it was always much easier to clean when we used it on an indoor run as the pile doesn't hold onto everything.

 

[BossHogg]

Have a word with the @The Hutch Man and see if he can suggest anything, he has had good feedback from some of our members.

 

[biscandmatt]

it sounds like you got a poor quality hutch. mildew shouldn't happen like that and a good quality hutch well looked after should last a good ten years or so. there are some great companies who make excellent quality hutches. more expensive to start with, but work out cheaper in the long run.

you can also lino the sides of hutches aswell to make cleaning easier. i've seen some pics of people who have done that, although not sure if they were on here or the rabbit forum! you could also try a waterproof cover over the felt roof for extra protection (although not when it's very hot obviously)

alternatively, placing the hutch in a shed would be even better, if this is an option?

hope you manage to figure something out and hope we can help with recommending some good hutch companies.

 

[askgar]

it sounds like you got a poor quality hutch. mildew shouldn't happen like that and a good quality hutch well looked after should last a good ten years or so. there are some great companies who make excellent quality hutches. more expensive to start with, but work out cheaper in the long run.

you can also lino the sides of hutches aswell to make cleaning easier. i've seen some pics of people who have done that, although not sure if they were on here or the rabbit forum! you could also try a waterproof cover over the felt roof for extra protection (although not when it's very hot obviously)

alternatively, placing the hutch in a shed would be even better, if this is an option?

hope you manage to figure something out and hope we can help with recommending some good hutch companies.

Our current one was from Pets at Home (I believe it is an older model of this http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/bluebell-hideaway-(in-store)). I was never really happy about the back of it (the back panel felt a lot thiner and weaker than the rest of the hutch and the wood has "peeled"). It's had a scratch and newton waterproof cover on it for its life (well, during bad weather) as well.

We don't have a shed, so that wouldn't be an option (although I've seen some of the sheds on here and would LOVE to have a guinea pig shed, just not practical here), I'd definitely be interested in hearing about some good hutch companies.

 

[biscandmatt]

Our current one was from Pets at Home (I believe it is an older model of this http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/bluebell-hideaway-(in-store)). I was never really happy about the back of it (the back panel felt a lot thiner and weaker than the rest of the hutch and the wood has "peeled"). It's had a scratch and newton waterproof cover on it for its life (well, during bad weather) as well.

We don't have a shed, so that wouldn't be an option (although I've seen some of the sheds on here and would LOVE to have a guinea pig shed, just not practical here), I'd definitely be interested in hearing about some good hutch companies.

i've had hutches from happy hutch and ryedale pet homes in the past. the ryedale ones are more expensive but they are such good quality and very heavy. it took both my o/h and brother to lift and carry it. some other good places have come up since then. the hutch man and boyles pet housing i've heard good things about. hopefully others will beable to recommend more aswell

 

[PiggySmitten]

I can second the rydale pet homes hutch recommendation. We have one and it is excellent quality. We chose to have a wipe clean type wood for the flooring in it and that's worked out quite well. We've had it nearly a year now and never experienced any of the problems you've mentioned.

I don't use vetbed or fleece in it though - I've used Fitch or Aubiose. I can recommend both those.

 

[PiggySmitten]

I've also used Carefresh but that's more expensive. All 3 though don't have to be washed, can be composted and you can take out the particularly wet/ soiled bits and just replace those to prolong the time between full cleans a little.

We have a 2 storey 5ft hutch and it takes me about 40 minutes to do a full thorough clean.

You mentioned pet friendly cleaning products - all I use in our hutch is either Anigene (lavender one) or F10 disinfectant. They are both good for preventing mould of any type I think. I dilute the concentrate and put it in a spray bottle (cheaper to do that than buy the readymade spray). I then spray liberally, leave for a minute or two, wipe down with kitchen roll then leave until the surfaces are dry to the touch before I put fresh bedding in. If I'm in a hurry, I dry it with further kitchen roll rather than wait for it to air dry.