Can our guinea pigs live outside all year?

[MrsGreen]

We are getting two baby female guinea pigs next weekend.

They already live outside where they are and we plan for them to live outside with us.

I am a bit concerned they will get very cold in the winter. How can I prevent them dying of cold?

Thanks
Gilly

plumber came round this morning. Last night his fish pond froze over, all the fish are dead. Depends where you are I suppose. We are overseas, very cold atm IMO and about to get worse

Hi my gps are indoors pampered they are in the lounge go out in the garden in big run during the day if dry and not cold

When I had them when I was a kid we kept them in the shed and my dad cut a hole out of their hutch, covered it with wire and put a light bulb behind it so they would have heat. Now obviously this could be a fire hazard, we had no problems with it but I'd suggest putting them in the shed with either a heat pad for reptiles or a hot water bottle.

Ours stayed outside. When temperatures really dropped I secured bubble wrap on 3 sides and roof of hutch, blanket then plastic sheet over the top. Inside the hutch, rather than just the usual sawdust/straw/hay combo in the 'bedroom', I got some wine boxes from the supermarket (the ones which hold 6 bottles) filled with hay
, put them in the 'bedroom' area and they snuggled inside them to keep warm. My theory being that the box was a small space in which they would keep warmer than the hutch 'bedroom'. They nibbled the box a little with no ill effects and I would just replace it when cleaning. It dropped to ➖ 10 a few years ago and the piggies survived!

Sorry,forgot to add that at night I would drop blanket and plastic down over the front mesh and leave just enough gap for air. Believe you can get hutch covers online but never tried them.

This is an old thread, but I didn’t want to start a new one.

My idiot neighbours are moving. Rather than give away their three guinea pigs, they released them. One has burrowed under our deck. We’d like to remove him. He’s fine here for a few more months. However, I live in Canada. It will reach -30C or colder by December or January. This is guaranteed. If they survive the roaming cats, they will freeze to death eventually.

I think it was incredibly cruel to release the guinea pigs.

Does anyone know how I can trap the one in my yard? There’s plenty of vegetation to eat, so luring with food likely won’t work.

What a terrible, cruel thing to do to those poor guinea pigs. Do you know where the other two are, Winterlife? Perhaps you could put a small cage outside, put some really tempting treats inside (they love carrots, sweet corn, cucumber, celery) and try to trap that way.

I have two guinea pigs who live indoors in my spare room. They have the run of the room and are not caged at all. In the nice weather I put them outside in the garden in a run, but always bring them in at night.

When mine were outside, they had a blanket wrapped round their hutch, then nailed into place (but not over the front, obv). Then a layer of shower curtaining - the hutch was wrapped like a parcel in it - then a flap of curtaining over the front that could be weighed down with a piece of wood so that it didn't blow about.

Cold nights, I would slip a warm hot water bottle under the paper in their bedroom, or a squash bottle filled with hot water in there (they can move away from that).

My current piggy (have one and desperately seeking Sowsan, a middle aged sow) is inside.

BTW, I bought the shower curtaining online, didn't chop up the curtain from the bathroom!

No pet should be left outside in the cold (or heat, for that matter). Pets should be treated as part of the family, so that should mean keeping them in the home with other family members.