Does anyone have this guinea pig hutch?

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

Hi all
Does anyone have this guinea pig hutch from Pets at home? The bottom run does not have a floor/base. So it’s directly on patio slabs. I have been putting newspaper down and their hay to chew. It’s fine when it’s dry weather. But we have had a lot of rain. I have a over for the open run to protect them from the rain. But the floor is still getting soaked along with their hay.

So interested to know what others have done for a base? Avoiding getting them so wet?

My idea was to screw an MDF base to the bottom of the whole area and raise it on small blocks around the edge to raise it from the floor to stop it soaking up All the ground water?

This is the problem with this style of hutch unfortunately. It's a lot of style over practicality. I don't like the tiny door to access the main run either - not adult human friendly and very difficult to interact with the animals. The doors aren't properly secured with bolts either.

You would be better off getting a children's wooden playhouse, it would be roughly the same footprint as this anyway, then you can modify the inside with insulation, shelving, ramps, tunnels and hides. AND go and sit inside in the dry with them when it's raining.

I had this hutch in green when I first got my guinea pigs. I had a similar issue as it would often rain where I live. I personally would raise up the hutch if you can as that's what I did for mine. It helps but I'm afraid this type of cage does not fair well over time. I personally couldn't cope with how awkward it was to clean the wood bases of these hutches and as the other person mentioned, it's awkward to interact with your pets with the tiny openings. I ended up moving my guinea pigs into a C&C Cage from Kavee as the wood was becoming annoying to clean. :/

We have this hutch at my parents house for when we visit (it’s their holiday home🤣). We have it on grass and stored it in the garage for the winter. It is fine but not great. We snapped the ramp off by mistake as it drags when moving the house. Also took a while for them to get used to the ramp- but nothing a parsley trail wouldn’t cure! In heavy rain some can get in the house and the piggies stay upstairs.

Had it on grass in a sheltered spot over the summer and then put a plastic tray on bricks inside the run bit over autumn/spring. Moved them to inside hutch over winter. They also had an extra wire cage attached when on grass to allow them to run about.

@YoComoManzanas where did you get the plastic tray to fit inside the base area?

I had thought about raising it off the ground. But anything like MDF in the base will get wet and take time to dry out.

I would not leave that outside. I would use.it as an inside hutch or in a shed perhaps. It doesn't look sturdy enough for outside and if it's letting rain in that's not good for the GPs