Overheating Concerns & Lack of Drinking

[A&T]

Hi,
I'm a little concerned because the weather at the moment is great an all for us being 25-30°c in London at the moment but perhaps not for my two Guinea Pigs (which are kept outside but mostly in the shade from 12GMT onwards), so i went out and purchased a temperature gauge to put inside there hutch just to keep an eye on the temperature and it currently reads 28°c inside (15.51pm GMT currently shaded for the rest of the day now), but the dilemma is I'm not sure weather to put the Hutch Hugger on in fear that it could keep them to warm and possibly kill them both of an evening as i'd remove it during the day! But wouldn't put it on till about 20.00pm GMT when its cooler but still warm.
The second problem is they don't seem to be drinking nothing from the bottle on the cage and even tried a small bowl and have only seen one of them drinking from it briefly so I'm a little concerned about this... I've only had them both not two full days yet and with the heat the way it is worries us some what!
Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated,

Many Thanks Aaran & Catherine

 

[threelittlepigs]

Hello there,

Congratulations on your new arrivals!

28c is hot for piggies. Are they showing any signs of being hot? These would include stretching out to maximise heat loss from their bodies and being listless. If so, you can cool them down with various non chewable items: special ice pods made by Scatch and Newton or home made versions. I'll try to find you a link to some homemade ideas!

I wouldn't worry about the lack of drinking. Are they young pigs? In my experience young pigs don't drink very much as their bodies are little and their kidneys are still nice and efficient! If you are worried, the best thing is to feed a couple of cms of cucumber or similar watery veg. This is nearly all water by weight so whatever you give them that is the volume of water they have had.

Is it warm in the evening/at night? If so, I wouldn't put a hutch hugger on.

Hope this manages to address some of your fears!

Pollie.

 

[A&T]

Thanks forgetting back to me Pollie, the Guinea Pigs are only 6 weeks old which would solve the lack of drinking issue but shall still keep an eye on them and try the cucumber solution!
As for the temperature issue ill take your advice and check out the cooler pads from newton and purchase some off there website so not to worry about the link

Thanks again Pollie, very much appreciated!

Aaran & Cathering xx>>>

 

[sharonS]

To keep them cool you could fill a plastic pop bottle, pop it in the freezer to freeze then put it in their cage covered with a sock or pillow case, see if they lie against it, or hang a wet towel down the front of the cage too, outside of course. I also found that my guinea pigs tend to drink more out of the glass drinking bottles that you can buy, must taste better.

 

[A&T]

Hi Sharon,

Love the frozen pop bottle in a sock idea will definitely give that a try tomorrow and report back on how they get on

Many thanks as well, much appreciated!

Aaran & Catherinexx>>>

 

[threelittlepigs]

Another homemade idea is to put cool tiles in the hutch for the piggies to lie on such as floor tiles or terracotta tiles. You can even put these in the freezer beforehand but you must then cover them with cotton cloth to stop the piggies getting freezer burn. You could also use freezer blocks (the type you use to keep food cool). These would also need to be covered to prevent freezer burn and unwanted chewing!

 

[sharonS]

Hi Sharon,

Love the frozen pop bottle in a sock idea will definitely give that a try tomorrow and report back on how they get on

Many thanks as well, much appreciated!

Aaran & Catherinexx>>>

Not tried it myself, but I have heard of people with rabbits doing something similar. Hope it works. Suppose you could try it with other plastic items, such as chinese takeaway plastic boxes that are small and low.

 

[Guinea pigs <3]

I put a frozen bottle of water in my girls C&C cage today (wrapped in a tea towel) and they both lied next to it. I'm in London and despite having all the big sash windows open it was stifling! There was just no breeze!

I was a little worried about them but happy that they found the bottle and stayed near it! I also gave them plenty of cucumber to keep them hydrated i think the bottle idea will work just as well as getting an ice pod (if you want to save money!)

 

[Starby]

The ice bottle is a fab idea. I have an indoor cage for when I get my new piggies (hopefully next week but I do worry about them being outside in the run for long. I will pass the idea onto friends who keep their piggies outdoors. It really is baking here and I'm on the south coast where there's a breeze!

 

[sharonS]

Another homemade idea is to put cool tiles in the hutch for the piggies to lie on such as floor tiles or terracotta tiles. You can even put these in the freezer beforehand but you must then cover them with cotton cloth to stop the piggies getting freezer burn. You could also use freezer blocks (the type you use to keep food cool). These would also need to be covered to prevent freezer burn and unwanted chewing!

Great ideas, nothing cooler than floor tiles.

 

[A&T]

Thank you all for your feedback, it's been a great help and put mine & my partners mind at rest, will report back on how thing go!

Many thanks to you all again

Aaran & Catherinexx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>

 

[Guinea pigs <3]

Thank you all for your feedback, it's been a great help and put mine & my partners mind at rest, will report back on how thing go!

Many thanks to you all again

Aaran & Catherinexx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>

No problem at all! This is exactly why i love this forum so much, help is always at hand with so many knowledgeable brains

 

[A&T]

Update as promised:

Both guinea's loved the cucumber and seemed to enjoy eating it!, and as for the bottle in a sock tricked seemed to work well with one piggie taking to it straight away and the other soon followed out of interest!

So again thank you all for your help and advice,

Aaran & Catherinexx>>>

 

[Guinea pigs <3]

Pleased to hear the tips worked and you are now feeling more at rest Mine have been cuddling up to their water bottle again today

 

[threelittlepigs]

Pleased the tips worked out! It's always nervewracking when you have new animals and it's great to have a forum like this to be able to ask questions!

 

[ronnievinnie]

Am loving this idea of the frozen water bottle in a sock, we def being doing that tom , although I do hear the hot weather is coming to an end, 8...8...
my tan is dropping off as we speak^)

Amanda x

 

[Phoebe-PP]

Every one seems to already have answere your other questions, but as for the Hutch Hugger, if yours is the Scratch and Newton one like mine, I would recommend leaving it on always. The way it's designed means it keeps warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and I've found from experience that is true. Also, the fly screen on it is fab for keeping bugs away. Hope this helps x

 

[A&T]

Hi Phoebe,
It is a Newton product and I did manage to find out what you said basically about keeping it cool in summer and warm in the winter after doing a bit of research myself, but never the less thank you very much for the info!

Aaran & Catherine

 

[Teresa J]

All great advice offered above - hope you're not quite so anxious now

Also worth mentioning that most animals are far more sensible than us humans. We spend all day rushing around in the heat still trying to get everything done but most animals, if they're feeling a bit warm, stretch out and sleep. Therefore try not to disturb them too much during the heat of the day. They usually know what's best for them so I dont pick mine up or play with them while it's hot.

Teresa xx