Will I have frozen guinea pigs?

[golgi]

I am looking after the school guinea pigs for the holidays and am therefore under pressure to make sure that they don't end up as guinea-pig-icicles!
They are in a cage, covered with a rug, in a shed, with plenty of hay and there are two of them. Is there any more I need to do short of bringing them indoors to live in the kitchen? (obviously not an ideal solution)
Please feel free to say "don't be silly, they are covered in fur"

Ooo whispy i was following your newighbours gp thread - glad you rescued them. I have moved mine into the extension shell which is fully built so lots of shelter - wrapped them up with hessian, oodles of hay and foil blankets etc and a carpet for added measure chucked over... They seem happy now as am i. I have considered bringing them in for an inside play but worrie dthen they would feel the cold more when i put them back out.

I have been lurking in the snowy shadows
Nice to see the truce
My gps are tucked up warm in the garage, love them to bits, but you did make me laugh pw! Happy xmas hols to ye all.

do you think it does make them less hardy to bring them in and have them in the warmth then put them back outside again when the cold snap passes? I must say i am tempted if i can get a free cage to bring them in though i have made efforts to shelter and wrap em in..

That´s why mine go in the cellar nappyzonecantrunfortoffee

Providing when you put them back outside, after the cold snap has gone, with plenty of hay/cover over the hutch etc etc....they will be fine.

These two I have just rescued I am going to keep indoors until the snow has gone - then I'm going to put them back out, in a hutch, into my shed which has a heater etc....

whispy I am worried about my guinea pigs. They have been inside in a box all day but don't know what to do about bed time.

hmmmm i dont like to bring them in for a play for the same reason diddl as this does concern me. I feel mean - i just have to go sit outside with em and freeze.

thanks - im going to source and indoor cage from somewhere .....

Do you have a coolish room you could keep them in?

Me?

no spare cool rooms only a garage and then they wont see light of day or people so not ideal - they are in an extension shell at mo like i say but it has no proper windows in it but at least not fully exposed to the elemnts. They have survived outside the last 3 yrs but im just concerned it does seem extra nippy this year. Ive just stuffed a load more hay in with them - was tempted to bung in a fleece blanket in their plastic igloo thingy.

It breaks my heart to think of all the poor little gps,rabbits,ferrets etc that are dying due to ignorance and neglect. It is so easy to buy a caged animal and then just leave it to die.

I'd like to see a register with details of pet owners and the pets they keep on it and random inspections to check the animals are being looked after properly.

I think you have to go on a training course before you are allowed a tortoise.

FAB - have you got a cat basket? Washing basket? Anything that they can stay in for tonight - just line it with some newspaper...they'll be happy with that.

Keeping them in a box obviously isn't ideal but then again if your outside temperature is anything like ours here atm they're better off indoors no matter what they're actually in.

Where abouts do you live?

nappy - I'd definitely put a blanket in with them or even a towel - just something for them to snuggle up to and if you stuff it into their igloo they'll be happy with that. Have you got a fleece blanket? They restore the heat much better.

We do have a cat carrier case. I brought them home from the rescue place in it. I will get their snuggly bed and they can sleep in that with paper and hay in the carrier. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE IDEA.

Is the box not idea because it isn't secure?

We are near Maidstone.

I am just chopping up ds's old fleece cot blanket .... going to bung it in.

silver...one of the biggest culprits of causing this complete negligence with hutched animals is Pets at Home. They don't do pre or post-home checks. They sell simply to anyone.

A year or so ago I saw on eBay an indoor cage for sale...and in the photo was this very nice cage with a rabbit sat inside it.

When I scrolled down to the description bit I noticed it said 'what you see is what you get'...so I emailed the seller to ask if she was selling the rabbit too and she replied 'yes'. She lived in the same town as me and I recognised the rabbit as one of a few that were being sold at Pets at Home.

I rang Pets at Home to see what they'd suggest and they asked that I purchase the cage and rabbit, to bring the rabbit back to them and they'd reimburse me. The seller refused to take the rabbit back herself. So I did...I met the seller/owner on a scruffy housing estate - she lifted the rabbit out of the boot of her car and I took it straight to Pets at Home. They gave me my money back (about £20) and they rehomed her.

It makes me angry that they don't check where these animals are going - all they simply is 'do you have an adequate hutch?' and providing you say 'yes' then that's fine.

This is how my neighbour came by the two pigs I took from her today...she got them from PAH. Stupid irresponsible shop.

I have bought fish, snails and hamsters from PAH including adopting one but I refused to buy GP from there once I found out about the rescue place and I won't buy animals from PAH again. They don't have a clue. Selling ONE GP on its own.

Fab - No I just thought a box would be a bit dark/enclosed for them...presuming it was a box without anything for them to look out of? Plus if its cardboard they'll wee straight thru it! But like I said earlier 'anything is better than nothing' and providing they're warm it doesn't really matter what they're in.

The two I took on today are in a cage that isn't big enough for them but it'll do for the time being....my neighbour has just brought round her filthy wet hutch and left it in my front porch....I'm going to 'attempt' to clean it and dry it out over the weekend and put it in the shed for when its warmer....but they'll be having the heater on at night and a light!!!! (yea, I know, I'm a soft so and so!...my DH thinks I'm mad!)

Was she buying the rabbit to sell on and make money?

Fab - yes they will sell to anyone...absolutely anyone. Its cruel, stupid, irresponsible and they clearly do not care. Makes me angry when I go in there and see kids hanging over the enclosures telling their parents they want one...yes they're cute and cuddly when they're tiny but they soon grow up into adults that don't appeal to kids anymore and, therefore, get ignored!

And they charge the earth to sell them....my last two pigs have come from PAH but from their rescue section..ie the enclosure at the back of the store where those that are unwanted are put....one of mine was there cos the owner didn't like his colouring.... Pathetic.

Fab - no she simply didn't want it anymore. The cage was far too small for it anyway. It couldn't stand up on its back legs cos cage not deep enough. The rabbit was in good health too and really friendly. I'd have had it had I got the room. PAH helped on that occasion and I'm sure they'd take any animal back but they shouldn't sell them in the first place, imo.

The box is open at the top and we have put loads of paper and hay in it and it is now in the lounge on my best blanket and a towel to soak up anything...

That's brilliant Fab! Absolutely perfect. Happy pigs I'm sure. at best blanket!! x