finally given in - guinea pigs are now . .

[sanfairyann]

. . .living it up in makeshift cage under the kitchen table. poor little things. it's supposed to be reaching minus 9 tonight.

so who else has a house full of outdoors pets now cluttering up the house? mine are looking v cramped but it's better than shivering outside

Our guineas live inside anyway.I couldnt bear to see them outside.

Mine is tip-tapping round the playpen as I type. She's been inside for 2 weeks now.

The dc's think she's hilarious, she's one step ahead of them though and can scuttle off when they pester her too much. Although 15mo DD did steal some baby sweetcorn from her yesterday .

we've got some indoors ones as well - it's lovely being able to watch them hopping around. the outdoors ones were supposed to be indoors in winter but my mum's still got the cage I got at hers so we're improvising a cc cage round the kitchen table. I can't believe how cold it's got so quickly.

meglet, my toddler likes to share her veggies: a bite for piggie, a bite for her

um..my post made it sound like she was actually living in the playpen, she isn't. Just going for a walk round it.

Our girls(sisters) need a bigger cage really but cannot find one and our dorma bungalow idea failed miserably.They get pmt every month and squabble.The dominant girl is completly blind and has diabetes and her sister tries to take her down by pulling hairs out her bottom occasionally
And they are bloody enormous(rabbit sized)
However they have the run of the kitchen floor every night.

mine are indoors now, have been since the snow started

pmsl meglet - that would be a space saving idea - keep the baby and the gps in the same pen

ouch to hair on bottom pulling, pelvicfloornomore. my girls are nasty to each other too - they all gang up on one of them every now and then for no real reason

one of ours grumbles a fair bit at the other, sort of rumbles and swings her bum back and forth. Is that what your pmt one does?

Other one is never fazed by it

yes she does that and also the other one lies on her back to pin her down.They get on mostly though.

gps being cuddled to extreme by the kids this morning, lots of happy noises and popcorning going on. think they're going to have to live under kitchen table on blankets/towels for next few weeks. dh is going to blow his top. aaargh, need my indoor cages back

Ours "Winter in"!
Although in the cellar,as they are Texels & can´t stand it too hot.
They come up everyday for a cuddle & run around, though!

Mine are in and DH says they can go back out now. No they can't!

wondering how the Mildmanneredjanitor is getting on with her 2, I think she got boys. Wondering if they have settled a bit now.

We keep ours in the garage in the winter but I've bought them in this evening. We reached -8 over night and even in the garage their waterbottle was beginning to freeze over. Already at -5.5 tonight.
Bit worried they are going to find indoors too warm now - first time they've had to come in to sleep.

cats clearly not very happy either and the litter tray needs cleaning constantly. Pet shop didn't have the right sort of litter so it will have to last until we can get out.

I read conflicting advice re temperatures. What is their natural habitat? I know they are from South America but is it up high in the Andes Mountains (presumably cold enough) or lowland in which case -8 is going to be hard on them?

They do leave their poos in their food bowl. We always used those bottles so have not encountered that problem with the water. The poos are hard though ,not mushy (sorry to be so explicit everyone) so don't blend with the food IYSWIM. I think it is more of a probelm when they are smaller and practically sit in the food bowl to eat. Later when they're a bit bigger, I found they manage to keep their bottom half out ofthe bowl when they eat and then it's less of an issue.

I read somewhere they do sometimes eat their own poo so maybe they are notthat fussed about finding it in their food bowl?

our pigs are indoor piggies too. Can't bear to think of the poor little buggers out in the snow.

mines live in the livingroom anyway, i didnt have the heart to keep them outside when we got them.

Other than hay to sleep in do you do anything else to keep them warm in the night when the heating isnt on? we have 4 and i presume they cuddle and use each other for heat.

I don't know really clayre but presume being indoors is enough really. Maybe you could just lay an old blanket over their hutch so they get air from one side andthe other three are covered, keep it a bit warmer