It's that time of year again. Time for a new 'Keeping the Super Furry Animals cool' thread

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

There's alot of new piggie mums coming on board (and rabbits,rats,hamsters and all things furry)

So a thread to pool ideas ( pool see what I did there? Though I don't see my boys enthralled at a swim ).

What works for you. What can we try. What to look out for.
And don't forget he Flystrike risk .

My boys turn their hairy little snouts up at water so they have watermelon and cucumber ,

I'm going to remove the hay bedding in favour of hack-rack and fleeces.

Persuade DH to line the haybox with ceramic floor tiles.

Plastic water filled bottles in the freezer on standby for quick chilling.

Come and add your top tips

HAY rack not hack rack

I think i'd better freeze some water bottles for my bunnies. Poor DBunny1 has been flopped in her run looking too hot all day.

Make sure runs have a cover to provide some shade, and access to the hutch or a hiding place out of the sun.

Current Bun has the choice of lounging in a boiling hot conservatory or a cool living room - he always chooses the conservatory! Today he was hot enough to cook on! I removed him to the living room but he just ran back - I give up with him.

My piggie boys have plenty of shade in their run and will soon be relocated into the cool of the utility room (as soon as their new cage arrives - don't tell DH). I keep refreshing their water and lots of cucumber seems to go down well.

Hi all, wondered where you were all - enjoying the one day of sunshine!!
Have just been to visit my guinea nephews, they had been out all morning, but, despite a shaded run and hutch to hide in, had been taken indoors, it is the hot humidity they dont like as their little bodies cannot adjust to different temperatures so quickly. They must have access to water and plenty of shade, they really dont like full on sun because of their furry coats. I used to let mine free range at this time of year, because even hutches and runs in the daytime sunshine can get over warm - they could usually be found hiding in the borders under the cool of the lemon balm, or under the shadey apple trees, where all the long grass was where I couldnt get the lawn mower around. Don't let hutches overheat if they are in full sun.

70 we had ceramic tiles down in the basement where the girls were in the winter and hottest days of summer ( 4 precisely in the north!) - they are brilliant, wipe clean and easy to keep the guineas cool. In winter, put some old carpeting down under their cages as the tiles got very cold in winter (361 days of the year where we were :)) - they are brilliant for cooling furries down.

aaaaaaahhh at guinea- nephews

I've just popped down to say Goodnight to the boys and replace their window, their haybox lid was open but they were judgily sitting there. They prefer the lid shut . They've had some grazing time with a cover but GP2 still managed to find some full sun. He lay there airing his bollocks
Mine have fresh water/bed/pellets every night and even though they totally ignore the water there was the hugest pee puddle on the paper . Must be part camel .

Previous Bun used to escape to the cellar of our old house in the summer. She was a completely free range bunny and would disappear down there for hours. Either that or she'd sunbathe

Love the 'piggy nephews' - bet they are being spoilt!

arf at your gp2 sunning his, um, assets 70

Rabbits here

Mine have been stretched out in the shade all day like furry draft excluders

Put extra bowls of water out but they didn't touch it

Have already started putting hay in rack instead of in enclosure, exposing the cool stone floor (which they seem to enjoy)

Will be putting water bottles in freezer tonight and buying cucumber and watermelon tomorrow (thanks for reminders)

Still worried though because, owing to unusually cold spring, their coats are much furrier than in previous years... they haven't moulted as much as usual - worried they might really suffer if the hot spell continues

Mine favour the cellar too Fernie

None of my boys are much interested in water either. Have only seen Smoothpig drink once. Scruffypig drinks every 3 or 4 days. Current Bun has a monthly drink but we all know about it as it's usually in the middle of the night and lasts about 20 minutes (he's a very noisy drinker)

2 bunnies here and 1 (soon to be 2) guinea pigs! Guinea Pig has been sat in his hidey hole thing most of the day. Rabbits have been bouncing around loads, turned there noses up at the water! hay is always in a rack, they are currently ligged out on the stone floor of their set up, bouncing around the run occasionally.

Guessing yours are outside buns super? Current Bun has been moulting like mad - he's turned our carpets black with fluff. Poor Hoover is struggling to cope. I've been brushing him (which he hates) and have extracted enough fluff for several pillows or perhaps to knit piggy scarfs/ hats for winter.

Actually I do groom them a bit more in warm weather to help get rid of excess fluff. Will be getting watermelon tomorrow and putting water bottles in freezer, so expect temperatures to plummet!

my lazy pigs free range, the poorly one gets too lethargic to go back up the ramp so i have placed a large ceramic bowl of water at the base of it and she been lapping it up and washing herself in it. keeping Wendy shed windows open at night once i have locked them in.

Fernie buns are both indoor and outdoor ifyswim. They can go where they want during the day. (Walled garden.)

They are still in their "winter" routine of going downstairs to cellar to be locked up for the night though. (Has hutch with in/out access for winter months + half room's worth of enclosure). Haven't moved them to summer outdoor cage with run because of strange weather - hot one night and cold the next. Maybe that is why they haven't moulted? Cellar is not heated though.

Definitely should brush them more but they hate it too!

Maybe should move them outside and block access to cellar. They have less space overnight but perhaps healthier for them.

Good to know mine aren't the only ones that drink intermittently though!

Remembered one good tip for rabbits in hot weather ...if your schedule/stamina/fox population allows for it ...

... try and ensure that they have outdoor access at dawn and dusk when it is naturally cool. They are love it because they are naturally crepuscular.

oops

they love it

Your rabbits sound like they have a great set up. My indoor boy is not massively impressed with outside and at dawn is generally hopping around the breakfast table. At dusk he's normally leaping on and off the sofa.

Lucky you Fernie Would love mine to be a bit more civilised so they could be on the sofa, and not chew dh's Internet radio wires.

Mine are a bit too 'rampant' (for want of a better word) to come inside main house now apart from the cellars. They used to live in a large cage in the sitting room when they were tiny, but they grew ... and grew... and then they started to chew ... and chew.... . So they mainly live outside now - which is great and a good natural life - but you do sacrifice a closeness in your relationship with them. It's not quite the same. So I envy you having one in and one out!

They do occasionally come in if the French windows are open in hot weather - it's very funny to watch. They are like a pair of adolescents checking out somewhere that they are about to burgle .. they look round guiltily first .. then fall over one another as they rush in ... then they go and seek out the first bit of unprotected wiring or upholstery they can find

Had guests coming to dinner not long ago and was just setting table at last minute ...spread out 'best' tablecloth ... and noticed a row of nibble marks all along the middle folds ....grrrrrrr

[apologies 70isaLimit didn't mean to hi-jack thread!]

They're not nibble marks, they're nice frilly patterns

no worries with the hi-jack.

SFA threads have a mind of their own (and I know I've hi-jacked a few in my time )

My girl pigges are free to roam the garden, so plenty of shade, they have also taken to hiding in the shed. they are doing a good job at saving me having to weed, by eating the dandilions

Very of Free Range Guineas.
There is a family of foxes in the service road at the end of my garden. They are completely unflappable and nothing I do will shift them.

The 70isa Boars would be mincemeat

Mine would be lovely mincemeat and with the amount of tomatoes and basil they eat, would make a great bolognaise

Also jealous of free range pigs - we have far too many cats around, one of whom is an excellent hunter.

It is a shame there are predators.....at one point our neighbours had 7 @#%*ing cats eyeing up guinea girls for their bolognese...woyld only let them frre range if one of us was outside patrolling, never entirely on their own...often would take mire than an hour to round them all up!!

70 - foxes?"? Not to be trusted at all...you are right to keep your boys under your close eye,where they wont end up as fox tea.