single or double height hutch?

[Rockinghorse123]

Hello everyone. We are getting a pair of female guinea pigs and I've been looking at hutches.

With winter coming up I thought it might be worth getting one with a liveing/play space underneath as it may be too cold for them to be in their run l. Has anyone used one of these hutches? And can the guinea pigs manage the ramps?

We have 4 girl pigs and a big double level hutch and they all manage the ramp fine. It does give them a lot more space and they zoom around up and down the ramp like crazy things sometimes.

We have 3 girls and have a double height hutch. They manage it fine although it took a few days for them all to manage the ramp.

It means they can get a bit of space from each other sometimes too.

Our GP1 and GP2 had a ramp in their Pighouse (wide,shallow,carpeted) leading onto the top of their haybox (also wide and carpeted) . They never used it apart from if we put them on the top, they walzted down.

GP3 hid under the ramp.

So we removed it to free up space.

If you get a double height, will it go onto a hard surface?
On grass. it would get poached (guinea pigs are like locusts on grass, we move our run every 3-4 days) so you need to be able to move it.
And treat the wood against damp
Make sure it's secure so it won't get knocked over or the local cats perch on it.

On concrete or patio you can give them a 'floor' of cardboard or lino and change when needed.

Ramps don't work for our lazy hogs but we give them tunnels and boxes to hide and play, then they have a seperate outdoor run.

Our new pigs only occasionally use the ramp but I'm hoping once they are bigger they use it more often!

Thank you. We went for the double tier but now we're struggling to find guinea pigs to go into it. The whole process is more stressful than I had imagined!!