Does this sound ok? Piggy 'accommodation'...

[Inthepotty]

Hello!

Recently took in 2 girl guineas from our neighbours who moved abroad- piggies were living in an indoor cage when cold and out in run with attached shelter thing when warmer. The indoor cage really is too small, I think, and the run not suitable for winter.

So have bought brand new fancy hutch, big enough for 2 chickens apparently, that has a big run underneath, ramp connecting to high up house box with pitched roof, another living area, and then a nesting box at the end. DH has built it up and insulated the roof bit with insulation foam we had in the garage, and I've fitted over the roof of nesting/house box with carpet, then tarp stapled into the wood. There's card down, then megazorb, then loads and loads of hay in thier little pink plastic house I've put in there. They have snuggle safes and hot water bottles, do I shove them under the hay or prop them up somewhere? Not planning on making the move outside until it's milder/ march to april time I thought?

Does this all sound ok? I'm a bit worried about the rain/cold getting in the mesh door bits? Any tips for keeping the girls cosy? I've thought about an indoor cage but we really don't have room at all.

Hope they don't nibble those hot water bottles!!

My 2 boys have hot water bottles in fleece covers and they are 100% uneaten.I do have to wash them quite often because they pee on them .I just put them on the top of the hay in the haybox.

There is a website that gives you a size guide for GPs but I can't think of it at the moment.(Type guinea-pig cage sizes in google and it'll come up with something) Really the bigger the better.
Mine have 5'5" X 5'5" outside with a 3' X3' haybox in it (carpet covered ramp to the carpet covered box lid to give extra space). Our indoor cage is 4'X2'X 18" but it is just big enough, they get the hump if they are housebound.

Check if they can manage the ramp comfortably, chickens are more agile.Our ramp is in 2 parts with a platform in the middle, wide enough for the two to walk together. GP aren't the most athletic of the rodents but your girls might be more agile than our 2 boars.

Good idea to waterproof the cage ,they can't cope with damp.(Cold to a certain degree, but hay is a good insulator).

We have rubber car mats, layers of cardboard and half a big bag of hay (Pets@Home or The Range large size) which I change every 2-3 days,depending on how manky they are. I pull the hay aside to let the floor air and take any wet bedding out at night. Mine eat their bedding because they CBA eating from a rack.

Your girls will probably cuddle together, but boars don't tend to (ours keep a 'respectful' distance, there's a tendancy to get in each others faces-hence why they don't think their indoor cage is big enough).

If you can, give them cardboard play boxes, they love to hide, chew and destroy. I haven't bought the plastic or grass tunnels , it wouldn't last five minutes.But I'm going to buy a big outdoor run and give them some drainage pipe to hide in.

Enjoy your new guineas