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Will they be safe in the garden?

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Hoggle*&*Ludo

Hoggle*&*Ludo

Adult Guinea Pig
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When the weather picks up a bit, I want to put their play pen on the grass but there is no cover on it and I have read about crows and magpies hurting/killing them...am I being over dramatic or is this real? Would they be better in a run or is there some kind of cover I could use?

Plus there are 2 cats next door. :(
 
I am so sad to say that is how i lost my Romey i left the lid up off the run just while i popped inside for food and ran out when i heard the most horrendous piggy squeal ever, and Romey had gone bless her still have no idea what actually happened.

I looked everywhere hoping if whatever took her had dropped her but never found her.

So i would strongly say never leave them uncovered even for a second as i was all of two mins and she was gone.8...
 
Frankly, I would never put guinea pigs out in the open without a solid construction and cover. Attacks can and do happen in a matter of seconds.

We lost two of our guinea pigs in Switzerland to a neighbours dog who had managed to burrow under the fence.
 
Oh gosh that is awful. :(

I am so glad I asked now.

Our garden is super secure when it comes to dogs but sadly and obviously not cats and birds.

I have put in a request to my dad to build me a run, he built a super hutch for my last piggy.

I will get some super fine mesh then and I am wanting a large rectangular one, with one side of the run solid wood.

Is it possible animals can dig under the actual run?

If the weather is nice, obviously I would sit out with them but what if I needed to nip inside? Is this more trouble than it is worth? I just wanted them to enjoy the grass. :(
 
We have a pair of buzzards that live in the woods just a wee bit up the road and they are forever circling the overhead in summer.
When we got our smallest dog the gent that lives locally who has birds of prey told me to only let the wee mite out when I was with her because she was so small she would be seen as fair game (she was the size of a medium guinea pig then) so I think to be safe as others have said I wouldn't. And you have cats, dogs etc as well locally that probably have a very good prey drive . I always use a sturdy run that has a roof and is pegged to the lawn if I put them out, the piggies in the past that is.
 
We put our pigs out for the first time last week in their run. Its a material run with a mesh cover, its ver sturdy though. We were watching them through the kitchen window, turned our back for a second and suddenyl there was a cat prowling round the pen! I dont think the piggies noticed it as the bottom half of the pen you cant see through. We ran out and scared it away. My OH squirted water at it too haha.

Is it safe from birds and cats even when you have a cover? The pen is pegged down too. I doubt the could rip through it but they could still scare the pigs by prowling round or jumping on it.
 
If our cat landed on the mesh top I wouldn't hold out much hope of it holding up but he is rather a one off being the size he is. How secure is your garden for dogs not being able to get in ?
 
There is no way in the world a dog can get in our garden as it is super secure in that respect, the open side of the house is blocked off with a car port/shed thing so that is one good thing but we have extra high fences and a summer house in which the cats next door still seem to be able to get on, gets me so angry!
 
Hoggle*&*Ludo said:
There is no way in the world a dog can get in our garden as it is super secure in that respect, the open side of the house is blocked off with a car port/shed thing so that is one good thing but we have extra high fences and a summer house in which the cats next door still seem to be able to get on, gets me so angry!
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I'd say the run you are looking at getting your dad to make will be perfect hun.

I was asking the other poster about dogs because if a dog can get in and becomes over excited they will rip through a material pen to get to the prey.
 
Oh sorry, I thought you were asking me! "):(|)

My dog (who lives with my mum) is totally oblivious to other animals, except my sisters dog who he fancies! He is a little darling! :(|)

Yes I think the triangular shape is best for me then no animal can get on top. I will also get superfine mesh so no kitty claws or beaks can get through. :(|)
 
Make sure it's wire mesh and not plastic mesh and that you can peg down the corners of the run wiht herrings, so no predator can wiggle under a corner.

You will also have to think about sun protection for heat waves.
 
We had guinea pigs when I was a child and they had a secure run with their hutches either end. Unfortunately Patch was killed by a ferret who got in through holes in the chicken wire. She ran into her hutch and was trapped. We got home just as it was happening, we were too late to save her but trapped the ferret. The ferret was owned by a man in the village who let his pets out to find their own food- it had a collar on with a phone number! When my dad returned the ferret along with some very choice words, the man didn't even say sorry.
My brother was too upset to have another guinea pig and my Sammy (who had luckily escaped by being in the other end of the run) lived out his days alone.
It was a very long time ago but still upsets me. A sturdy outdoor run is a great idea, just make sure the mesh is an ok size.
 
Sorry to hear what happened flips. :(

I will find the smallest mesh possible, they will still be getting fresh air but will be safe.

Is B&Q or somewhere like that the best place?
 
Any builder's merchant as well - they may well be cheaper!
 
You are well in then hun, I think the wire mesh goes really small in the square area so you should be fine.
 
I had a rabbit when i was younger that had a big pen that was rested against a fence, we didn't count on next doors dog (A small dog- the kind that catches and kills rats) ripping a whole through the fence, i was away at the time and i came home to find my rabbit gone and a hole in the fence- no one told me what happened to my rabbit, they just said he probably escaped. Don't think they wanted to upset me even more then i already was. You just have to do what you can to secure the pen as much as you can and keep an eye on them i think.
 
Gosh it is really scary with all these stories. :(

My dad will be sure to make it safe, better get on the phone to BF to price things up! -c
 
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As you can see my guinea pigs had full run of the 'pen' also had a little gate into the garden! They had a great alarm bell as in Spangle the hen,who would cluck if there was a cat,which was usually in the next garden.The guinea pigs and the rabbits would be on the look out.The guinea pigs would just run into their hutch!
But this year it will be different as I've now got dwarf rabbits that can go into the guinea pigs hutch...mot good! Also Spangle is no longer with us! So I'm going to have to make a new run!
 
My run was originally a fenced off part of the garden with no "roof" but i was always there to supervise, however, one day magpies congregated in a nearby tree & spooked by boys so much they all huddled together, i naturally scooped them all up & returned them to their hutches. Had the magpies chosen to swoop i dread to think what may have happenws. My big run is now an aviary type run with netting & my smaller run has a mesh lid (to be made into an aviary type this year).

Run0289.jpg
 
Poor boys - reminds me of my last job, outside my office were some little ducks, only just been born and the mum went off somewhere (one heartless colleague said she went to Tesco for the kids! rolleyes ) and I witnessed a crow take one of the huddled up chicks and peck it to death, it still haunts me now and it was a year ago.
 
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magpies will attack piggies - i had one swoop into our garden in the summer when i first had the pigs

we also have a local pair of red kites which i would be more worried about
 
We have an egal whcih circles, the piggys have a hard cover which nothing can get to them. Its the rabbits i worry about, but they are bigger than the birds!
 
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