Sunbathing Piggie

[Sid]

My guinea pigs' hutch is out of the sun, however there's a patch of sun that hits just in front of the hutch, and when they're in the run my black boar, Nox, loves to sunbathe. (Water isn't an issue, they've got a bottle upstairs and downstairs, and they eat plenty of veg, cucumber and celery being their favourites with the high water content). I just want to make sure that Nox is okay to keep sunbathing, baring in mind the sun comes round to that patch at midday so it can be quite hot. I've just seen him hiding under the hutch so I assume if he gets too warm he knows when to get out of it, and I always keep the doors open for them to hop back into the hutch if they need to. But I just wanted to check to see if there's a limit on how much sun they should be allowed to get, especially considering its my darkest pig who likes to sleep in it!

tl;dr: do I need to force my guinea pigs back into the shade after a certain amount of sunbathing?

 

[helen105281]

Mine sunbathe too but indoors when the sun streams in the window. It is ok for a short while but I would make sure they have plenty of shade too and keep an eye out for the signs of heat stroke - mainly lethargy and laboured breathing. That tends to occur when they are out in the full sun with no access to shade though.

 

[Wiebke]

As long as you provide safe shade and enough protection to prevent heat stroke there is no problem if a guinea pig loves to sunbathe. They will seek the shade once they get hot.
Hot Weather Management And Heat Strokes