Do you have to keep guinea pigs inside in the winter?

[Dancergirl]

We are possibly thinking about getting a couple of guinea pigs, my dds are really keen.

But I want to think carefully about their care before buying them. I know they live outside in a hutch most of the year and have also heard they need to be inside when it's very cold, is that right?

The problem is, we don't really have anywhere indoors the hutch could go. We don't have a garage, garden shed is falling apart and at the end of a (v long) garden which isn't really practical for feeding them. Guinea pig hutches are quite big so you'd need a decent sized space for it.

Any ideas?

c and indoor cages are great and can fit most spaces. is it worth repairing shed so that a cage could go inside?

guineas don't do well in extreme cold or damp so an indoor/sheltered option is useful in cold winter months. we got a reasonably cheap she'd as had. N facing garden and knew a flimsy hutch wouldn't last long, but they came indoors in winter as feeding them outside was difficult. look at indoor hutches which come in all sizes, but large best for two.

Hi Dancer

can you get a new shed and put it up near the house so they will have the protection from the housewalls and are nearer for feeding,
My boars are in a wooden Playhouse halfway down our garden and it is a bit creepy in the dark
I put the outdoor light on, the piggies have a light in their shed. It's trying to get round to the garage in the pitch black that's no fun - their hay and bedding is kept there.

One poster (IIRC bytheway) kept her pigs outside all the time and only put them in the shed when it was 'minus' temperatures. They lived to be 12 yo.and their breeder still had their mum-pig

Mine are in at night - for Guy Fawkes then probably end Nov til Easter. I'm sooooo tempted to put them back out (it's not that cold, I think, and the hay is getting everywhere ) but it is really and I don't think we'd sleep soundly knowing that the boys are out in their shed while we're all tucked up.
It is the damp though that would concern me, it's been vile here, our garden path has just re-appeared from underwater.