please advise me...guinea pigs living outside all year

[stickchildren3]

we have 2 male guinea pigs (cousins) who currently sleep in a hutch at night, in a reasonably sheltered position by our house. During the day they are put on the lawn in a 'run' with a plastic 'igloo' thing for shelter. They seem perfectly content and get excited when put out each morning and equally happy to go back into their hutch late afternoon/early evening.

Obviously the weather is getting colder and I'm now worrying (I seem to be ridiculously protective of these little animals) that they shouldn't be put on the grass if it's at all cold and will they be warm enough at night midwinter?

Every webpage I visit except 'rodentswithattitude' insists they should be living indoors but this is absolutely not an option for us. My husband was totally anti getting them for my daughter and we had to flutter our eyelids hard. We won (of course!) but now I'm worrying I've been irresponsible? The best I could do would be to put their hutch in our integral garage when it starts to snow (often very heavy here and at that point my husband would 'cavy in' (ha ha) because he wouldn't cope with seeing my daughter's anguish if the poor little things froze to death).

So, please advise me.....how to best ensure they are absolutely comfortable without causing WW3 in the family. Their hutch is raised off the ground, the lower part is currently not used as they are on the grass most of the day. However, when the weather is really wet we put the ladder down from the top so they have two floors. We also have a waterproof cover for the hutch.

Any sensible advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance guinea pig loving mumsnetters.

We also have 2 male guinea pigs and almost exactly the same situation as yours. They go out in a run in the day and in their hutch at night.

They are Ds's guinea pigs. He doesn't put them out if it is really wet or really cold and they are a bit stupid in that they often overturn their plastic shelter so then they get wet!

They did come in for the winter a couple of years ago but they were SO noisy at night and quite smelly and messy when living close to them (they were in DS's bedroom) so they haven't been in again.

Last winter when the weather was extremely cold. I think it went down to -9, we put them in the garage for a couple of weeks so they had more shelter from the wind and snow but it was very dark in there for them.

I think they are ok as long as they are out of the wind and are not damp. I read that GP's hate the damp.. As they have each other to cuddle up to they keep warm easier than a single GP. We do completely fill the bed area with hay when it gets cold though so they can burrow in and we put their plastic hut in too.

HTH

Yes it does help fruitshoots, thank you! I already feel reassured. The plastic hut in the hutch sounds a good idea too.

anyone else with their experiences?

Mine in cage that is outside almost year round. I put cage in (low temp fluctuations) greenhouse when there was constant deep snow last winter, though.

I put mine on grass almost every day. I keep a tarpaulain over the run to get/keep grass dry. If it's very cold either I truncate the time out to just a few hours or set up the run so they can jump in/out of the warm/dry hutch whenever they want.

Friends kept their GPigs so they can run around all day like that over whole run of the garden; they will bound around a lot outside given the chance, even in snow (but admittedly, Gpigs dont' really know what's good for them).

I have had them in outside cage in snowy & frosty conditions without any apparent ill effects (had babies born one very cold Feb, too). As long as they're dry & frost-free when they want, that's the main thing I thing. I only get concerned if it looks like their water might freeze.

They are bred to live in on the floor in Andean kitchens or in small cages in lean-tos next to the kitchen (cavies were domesticated as meat sources), places which get very very cold at night (certainly a little subzero), but are still dry & (mostly) draft-free. They don't really need that much exercise, though, so don't feel bad if they don't get to run around some days. Just as long as they have their daily hay. Those are conditions that they are adapted to live in over last 7000 yrs.

ragged- thank you too! These are really helpful and reassuring replies. I hadn't thought of the greenhouse which would actually be easier than our garage and possibly warmer? As they'll have run of two hutch floors when the weather is bad I'm starting to feel better - thank you!

in fact, the greenhouse would be a great place for my daughter to play with them and for them to exercise anyway. Brilliant!

Mine live in my dining room. I couldn't live with myself in the winter if i had to leave them outside when I was tucked up inside in the warm. It was -12 here last winter an we had snow on the ground for 5 weeks solid.. imagine being outside in that with no escape.

Ours are inside already!

Are you mostly looking at American Cavy websites, stickchildren? I find they are much more cautious about winter than British cavy owners. Which makes sense in places like Colorado/Nebraska/New Jersey. It's only because winter temps here are relatively so mild (very rarely below -2 C in southern half of Britain) that I think it's reasonable to overwinter outside. I'd have mine indoors if it were -12 outside C too.

If you are going to bring them inside all winter maybe it makes sense to do it now, so that they don't have to deal with big temp change if you brought them in suddenly from the cold in December or whatever.

I love the American utube videos of guinea pigs frantically keeping their chins above water in bath tubs while the owners witter on about how they love swimming!
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Mine were always either in the shed (with blankets round the hutch), internal garage or in the house.

IMO you should put them in the garage, it will keep the freeze off them.

The temperatures will fluctuate in the greenhouse, and it would get condensation-y.

I did used to put them outside for 30 mins or so even on a very cold day, the garden run had a snug, straw filled hutch attached to it so they'd usually stick their noses out, nibble a bit of grass for 5 mins then go back in.

This is my first winter without piggies in 30 years .

ragged, yes I think they probably were American websites actually so that makes a lot of sense. I take on the point about moving them now to avoid a big temperature fluctuation. However, the garage isn't exactly baking hot so I'll bear that in mind for a month or so time when there really is a frost in the air. I need to be cautious because our winter here (Peak District) last year was horrendous.

meglet, it's good to know you still put yours out on a cold day for just a little while. Like ragged said, evolutionally they should be used to the cold.

The thing is too, and this is an observation not a criticism, do caring owners have a tendency to think that the guinea pig is suffering in the same way we might?

Guineas seem to be so sweet it must be easy to do this, but fundamentally the guinea pig surely just needs company, a dose of human love and attention, shelter, warmth, food, water etc, not the actual company of my overcrowded, manic household and trappings of modern family life?!!

I wonder that too, stickchildren. But certainly ours seem to enjoy being inside. They get more cuddles and more treats - and guineas are the only one of the little rodenty pets that actually seem to like being handled. Gerbils and hamsters and most rabbits I sadly suspect live in a constant state of terror.

yes, that must be true, and of course the more you handle them the easier handling them is! Out of interest, what do you give them for treats? we bought some treat things on sticks to hang on their cage but they weren't interested at all. they seem to like nothing better than celery, carrots and broccoli stalks! They are greedy aren't they? Is it possible to overfeed them I wonder?

I've got a special small animal hutch warmer that you put in the microwave then stays warm all night and a thermal space blanket to go over their hutch.

wow, do you remember where they're from? If not I'll do a websearch. Does that mean you keep yours out all year?

I got them from ebay. When it was freezing last year we put them in the playhouse.

guineas are the only one of the little rodenty pets that actually seem to like being handled

Not true, ime, most GPigs seem to just wanna leggit from being handled! Whereas Most Rats absolutely adore a good cuddle. They brux away (like purring in cats).

I did meet one truly cuddley GPig once... and even a friendly rabbit once (shock, faint, fall over). And the odd pony or two that loved a good fuss. It comes down to individual animal personality, I guess.

Must jus be our guineas then- I've never had them before and was very resistant because of my worry about them living lives of silent desperation. I wanted a rat instead, but dp said it was a rat or him!

My pigs live indoors. They go out in the day on the grass and also have a plastic shelter. In the summer they stay out if there is light rain. In the winter we put them out for a couple of hours, out of cold winds, when it's dry and not in the snow.
They are hardy little things, but I would say that putting their hutch in the garage during the colder months would be kinder. Insulating the hutch with carpet will keep them warm!
It's best to be safe than sorry, if they have any weakness at all, which small animals can get without us noticing, getting cold in a hard winter is not going to be good for them.
I am sure your dh will understand they are living creatures with a right to be warm!

Absolutely countrylifemummy. After a long chat about it the other day I think he's come round to the idea of them being in the garage and so I intend to move them reasonably soon. They can still go out in the day whenever possible. I'm a SAHM so it's pretty easy to watch for windows in the weather when they can still have a romp around in their run and cut the lawn and eat the weeds for me!

We have 2 guineapigs and they live in a hutch outside, all year round. I try to put them in a run whenever the grass is dry enough, and I put them on the patio if grass is too wet. I got them from a guineapig rescue centre. They advised that the piggies would be fine outside, as long as they had time to gradually acclimatise... eg dont buy them in November from a warm pet shop and stick them straight in the back garden!, Ours have never known anything else and seem fine.

A friend of mine is a guinea pig lover and vet, she keeps hers outdoors all year round but keeps them dry. That said, mine are already indoors for winter because I love having them in with us so we can watch them play and handle them more easily.

we have two long haired boys and they are still out in the day but live in our garage at night as am too worried that foxes will get them. They seem to be oblivious to rain and go out eating irrespective. We had them in the garage all winter but they seem much happier now they are outside. We only got them last October and they were inside till about March but will try to stretch it a bit

For treats how about some parsley/ carrot tops/ cucumber or mint. Ours love them although read somewhere you mustn't give them too much parsley.