advice on guinea pig shed/wendy house

[Thecavycorner]

Hello! so i have 3 female piggies, 2,2&3. they are currently living in a 6x2 c&c cage in my bedroom! although i have always dreamed of having an outdoor area for my piggies. of course i do not want to make their cage smaller, for me that is never an option i will make, but as their cage is pretty large, it takes up most of my bedroom space and as i live in a really small house i have no other place to put it. so i was wondering if anyone had any playhouse / shed / wendy house options that i could put the c&c cage in and maybe even a area for them to roam in the enclosure but out of their c&c cage! also any tips and tricks and any important info i should know about insulating and cleaning and any other important info about it would be gratefully appreciated! thankyou so much! i hope you have a great day / night
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[Piggies&buns]

Where are you in the world?
Will your shed/playhouse have electricity and therefore be able to be heated?

I’m in the UK and my two boys live in a shed but it doesn’t have electricity so can’t be heated.

If you are planning on them moving out there to live permanently, and you are not able to completely heat the shed, then I would not use a c&c cage as it could be very difficult to keep them warm enough.

I have a 8ft x 6ft shed. It’s insulated and has a stable door with internal mesh doors so I can ventilate safely.
They have a 6ft hutch and then the area directly in front of the hutch, which is enclosed by c&c grids.
They are only locked in the hutch at night during the winter for warmth, all other times (including during the night in summer) they free roam a total space of 36 square feet (i have a strip down the side for me to walk in where they don’t have access to). It works very well and they love having lots of space!

To keep them warm enough on winter nights, they have the hutch filled with hay, and then four snugglesafe heatpads. On the hutch is a thermal hutch cover, two blankets and a normal (non thermal) hutch cover and then a duvet I can pull down over all of it. I also have a plan to bring them inside for winter if it gets too cold and these measures fail (as it has done once), and have a c&c cage for them to come into

Summer is actually much harder than winter as the shed becomes very hot very quickly and my boys generally move into the house for a few weeks in the height of summer as keeping it cool is near impossible (it reaches 38 degrees + easily in there). Even on a warm but not particularly hot day, they usually have to come out because it can still get to 25 degrees, only going back in late in the evening. The shed is generally 5-10 degrees warmer than outside temperatures (except summer when it gets worse).

They are bedded on megazorb or aubiose which is topped with hay. I occasionally use fleece on the shed floor area (never in the hutch) but only during a dry summer and not in winter as i find it doesn’t dry properly.
They have a separate run on the grass for summer time “ I am there to supervise

Member Gallery: Sheds

 

[Thecavycorner]

ahh hello! i’m at from the UK too! i hear what you’re saying! i will have a look at a hutch and see if i can find one a suitable size for them! thank you for your detailed help it’s very useful! do you know if there is a certain brand of sheds that are mainly suitable for piggies with a bit of alteration so i can make it fully piggies proof ! thank you so so much!

 

[Piggies&buns]

ahh hello! i’m at from the UK too! i hear what you’re saying! i will have a look at a hutch and see if i can find one a suitable size for them! thank you for your detailed help it’s very useful! do you know if there is a certain brand of sheds that are mainly suitable for piggies with a bit of alteration so i can make it fully piggies proof ! thank you so so much!

There is no need for any specific shed - anything will do as long as it is good quality and not likely to blow over in strong wind!
You will need a 6ft hutch for three piggies.
Double check your measurements - things such as a 6ft hutch won’t fit along a 6ft side of a shed as the internal shed measurements are of course less than 6ft. My 6ft hutch is along the 8ft side of the shed.
I had everything planned out, sizing, where I was going to out everything inside etc before I placed the order for my shed
My shed was custom made by a local company, I specified where I wanted the doors and windows put, and that that I wanted stable doors put in (which cost extra).
We then made the internal mesh doors and put a shelf in ourselves.
I use c&c grids around the edge of their area so they cannot chew the wood of the shed itself.

If you’re going to insulate it fully you need to make sure there is ventilation otherwise it will condensate inside.

I have an oilcloth tablecloth on the floor so it wipes clean and protects the wood of the floor from urine and my wet and muddy feet in winter!