Guinea pig hutch/ run combo thing - where do you keep it?

[JaneSeymour]

Hi,

we got one of these with the hutch on top and a big run underneath, but I'm having trouble knowing where to site it.

We've a big lawn and I was hoping it would be relatively easy to lift the hutch off, and move the run around for them to nibble different patches of grass. However it's arrived (second hand thankfully) and the run is light but the hutch is so incredibly heavy, I can't lift it by myself.

There goes our plan then. If we left it in the same spot, they would just eat through to Australia, wouldn't they - or at least turn it into a muddy swamp.

I have put it on the patio for now but what use is a run on concrete? Can I get them some astro turf or something, to make it nicer?

I've luckily got a triangular run for the lawn so they can still go on that most of the time, while the weather is good.

Any thoughts? Thanks x

Piggy bump

I'd leave it on the patio, the run just gives them extra space and it's easy to keep clean, you can hose it down when mucky or smelly.

Watch out for them digging when you use the triangular run on the lawn, I had to put netting on the bottom to prevent it. Also make sure they've got a somewhere for shelter while out on the lawn, so that they can hide if something spooks them and to give a bit of shade in the summer.

Oh thankyou - that's great.

They have got a house bit at one end of the run - have spent all day in it, quivering
I think they've never really been outside before. Seagulls and cats and children - and the wind of course.

We had a Sparrowhawk a few months ago, took a pigeon. So will be careful.

Thanks about the digging thing, I didn't know!

They'll soon get used to being outside, it sounds as though they've got the best of both worlds there, a run on the grass and one attatched to their hutch, so they're never going to be too cooped up.

I just noticed it's for guinea pigs, not rabbits, you'll be fine, they don't dig! ( have rabbits on the brain, just been looking for a run for DD's new rabbit)

oh thanks!

Mind you one is still only 8wks old so she would just squeeze under the edges of the run, I have to be careful about the ground being level.

Rabbits are great aren't they - we used to have them loose in the garden when I was young.

Yes we've had rabbits loose in the garden when the children were younger, but they're grown up now and I actually have some nice plants that I don't want eaten or dug up, so I'm getting a run for this one.

And I can't face the palaver of trying to put it away at night,have memories of endlessly chasing rabbits around the garden.

Lol!! My mum ended up wqith w totally rabbit-dedicated garden a few years ago. She had little fences everywhere and couldn't grow anything! It was terrible. And when I was a teenager we used to have to put the rabbit away using bits of digestive biscuit, every night...rabbits got very fat! Mum is a rabbit freak.