Guinea pigs inside or out?

[mahonia7]

Hi

I've recently bought my children guinea pigs. I did not realise how wonderful they are. I am absolutely besotted.

I bought them an outside hutch with run. However, I've been worried about them getting cold. I fill the sleeping area with straw and hay and they burrow down to keep warm. I was thinking of getting a pet hotwater bottle equivalent for the nights. I have also protected the hutch with carpet and waterproofing.

The problem is that I've bought a fantastic indoor cage for them. Time has gone by and they have now been in for about 4 hours and I'm concerned about putting them back in their inside hutch. The heating has not been on in the house all the time they have been in.

Do you think I should keep the piggies inside or out? I'd love them to stay in so we can all be with them more but I am worried they may smell a bit as the only place we could have them is the kitchen.

Sorry about the long post.

Best

M

Sorry I meant is it ok to put them back into their outside hutch....

Personally i'd go for out but there's no reason that they cannot come in to play. It sounds like you have weatherproofed their hutch well so they will be fine outside.

If you are moving them outsie, do it now before it gets much colder, then they still have time to adjust.

Its fine to put them back out.

we always kept ours outside...if weather was terrible, we put them in shed or garage [careful of car fumes though].

I f i remember correctly...it is the sudden change in temp that is harmful. My GP lived to 13....mostly outside.

I loved her

They don't really smell as long as they're cleaned out often- ours are pretty well odour-free for about 4-5 days, and it's so nice having them inside so they can sing when they hear you coming

Me too Btw, did you mean you prefer g-ps to children, or that you like them better than your children do???

Wow, Talcy, 13 years!!! you must be a champion guinea-pig carer.

We have ours inside. They don't smell much if you keep them cleaned.

Temperature changes and humidity changes in kitchen a problem? Or not?

Have you considered knitting little coats for them, Ruby?

We used to keep our rabbit and guinea pigs indoors all winter in the indoor cage. It was in the kitchen and probably smelt a bit but not too noticable when you walked in the front door . We let them run around the house for exercise.

As none of the animals can live with each other any more they have separate hutches and runs in the shed for the winter, living out in the summer.

I wish we had friendly squeaking guinea pigs instead of rabbits that hate us!

Ahh, poor Blu. You could get some pigs too?

...yep she was 13
her name was beanie
she would sit in my bike basket
and sleep on ,my shoulder
and sit in my roller skate
her sister died at age 4
and go through my 'book maze'
and share my yoghurt

sorry for that outbust

Oh, lovely lovely beanie.

That's why children should have pets. All that love, still felt now.

Aged 30 I woke up sobbing from a dream I had about the pet dog who died when I was 16.

They aren't that smelly if you clean them regularly. And it's neatly packaged poo. Clean straw and clean guinea smells nice. If you have space for a good sized cage indoors I'd keep them in. Outside animals can tend to get ignored in the winter IME

I had a lovely guinea when I was a child. Female. Then I had another one. Male (apparently). Then I had hundreds of them. It was quite a cottage industry - sold them on to the pet shop for 25p each. They were adorale. The mum used to go for walks across the lawn with a string of babies jumping after her.

Lol at neatly packaged poo. It's true though. GP poo is rather nice.

Hi Everyone

Thanks so much for all your replies. I've set the cage up indoors but was wondering if the pigs could be outside in the day but inside at night?

M

I think in winter the temp changes being in at night/out in day would be too hard on them, mahonia -- unless you keep your house relatively cool.