In Cold Weather

Winter Care Tips For Guinea Pigs Kept Outside

 
Winter isn't a good time of year for many guinea pigs. Sadly, some people do not want to go out in the dark/cold/wet/wind to clean out the hutch, feed the guinea pig, and spend some time giving it a cuddle and a quick health check. So they get neglected.

Water bottles get iced up making it impossible for the Guinea Pig to get a vital drink, hutches end up stinking and soaking, and Guineas fall ill and could even die.

Here are some important things to think about:

Make sure you cover up your Guineas hutch at night, make it draught and waterproof.

Guinea Pigs can cope with the cold fairly well, but not damp and draughts. If their hutch is attached to a run, buy a waterproof cover to keep the run area dry during the winter.

Change the bedding frequently as wet bedding can freeze solid.

Spare water bottle (they don't cost a fortune) so that when one gets frozen up, you can swap it over quickly without having to wait until the original bottle defrosts. It's a good idea to put a bowl of water in the run for backup too. The water inside the metal nozzle of the bottle freezes quickly and often before the water inside the actual bottle does. There's a bottle snug available to buy. If you decide to make a bottle snug of your own, you can use bubble wrap to wrap around it (providing you resist the urge to pop all the bubbles first!!!) and stick an old sock over the lot with just the nozzle sticking out, but you MUST make sure that your Guinea Pig can't chew the sock and bubble wrap. You can do this by inserting a piece of thick card between the bottle and the mesh.

- Older Guinea Pigs can suffer dreadfully from arthritis so make sure they are snug and warm.

- Another idea to make a warm sleeping area - find a cardboard box a couple of inches smaller than the sleeping area, make a door in the cardboard box to match up with the door to the sleeping area, put newspaper on the floor of the hutch, put the box in (making sure the doors match up), pack the cavity around the outside of the box with newspaper or hay (remembering to do the top of the box), this acts as insulation. If your Guinea Pig urinates in the sleeping area, get a litter tray which fits inside the cardboard box, this will help by making it easier for you to clean out and it'll make the box last longer.

A Thick Layer of Newspaper on the base of the sleeping area, this helps to insulate, then loosely fill the bedding area with more hay and/or straw (but not packed in so tightly that the Guinea can't get in!), this helps to keep your Guinea warm. Also Another idea is to place a whole newspaper or attach a thick cardboard backing on the inside of the sleeping sleeping compartment door this acts as a great insulation barrier and with a heated pod your Guinea Pig willl be as "Snug as a Bug in a Rug"

If you can, move the hutch indoors to a shed or unused garage. Please DO NOT move your Guineas hutch into the garage if you use it to store your car in overnight, the fumes could easily make your Guinea very poorly.