As Much Advice/opinion As Poss Please.....

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Lou1975

Lou1975

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I'm sending myself mad at the moment....here's my situation;
I adopted four female guinea pigs four weeks ago. Two are 24 weeks old & two are 13 weeks old. One of the older ones was getting fatter and fatter and while grooming I felt a fluttering...last Friday a vet confirmed that she was pregnant!
I contacted P@H Adoption Centre and they said that yes, they originally thought she was male & she was in with the boys. So she could be due in 2-3 weeks. I have her & her bonded companion in an indoor cage in my teeny tiny box room. The other two piggies are in a covered hutch outside.
But after her babies are old enough, I'd like all my girls back together (with any boys being rehomed).

So, I need advice on large hutches. I'm going blind with the online choices and I've been to every place locally that sells any form of housing. Preferably I'd like a hutch with a run they can access freely during the day. My OH won't let me have a full-sized shed to convert.
I keep reading on here that they really don't like using ladders /ramps. I've looked into a chicken coop with a low level entry...


Please help. I only want to do what's best for my girls...the two little ones came to me from a different GP rescue absolutely covered in ringworm & mites, but instantly bonded with the "big sisters" so I want them all back together (everyone has been seen by my vet & treated accordingly...£120 thank you very much).
 
We have an outdoor hutch with a ramp & I was worried about our 6 week old babies falling off it.. After about two weeks they have mastered it but we did put a kind of safety rail on one side .. Good luck with the babies x
 
Thank you! x
What size is the hutch & how many piggies do you have? Do they get cold feet on the floor in the winter?
 
Hi I hope the pregnancy goes smoothly.

i have found ramp tunnels are a great way to both make your ramps safer and encourage your piggies to use them. I have some from CandECosies but they are currently taking a break until some point in August as they have a new baby. You can fashion your own tunnel by adding sides to your ramp and then using bulldog clips to cover it with a bit of towel/fabric.

Another thing to consider is that, depending on how many sows you have in total in the end, the minimum size requirement will vary and that size requirement is based on a single level - even if they become proficient ramp users you aren't really supposed to count other levels as part of the overall floor space to meet the requirements.

I can understand why your OH might be put off by the idea of a shed but it might end up about as reasonable cost-wise and give you that right amount of floor space maybe?

I have seen some nice chicken coop type set ups online. I don't have one but I do have a hutch with ramp down to run on grass. We don't use it as a home because it is too small (bought before we realised space requirements) but we do use it to give lawn time connected to another run. From this I have learnt something important. A hutch with run underneath is quite heavy to move around and you are going to need to move it around because the grass underneath will not grow quickly enough! So I'd suggest you pick one with the run area to the side rather than underneath to give more light to the grass and/or go for one of the chicken coops which have wheels on one end to make it easier to move them round!
 
Thank you for the advice! x
I think the OH is just of the opinion that we'd be paying for a lot of wasted space with the unused height....

How much sq footage of space is needed per pig?
 
Lou1975 said:
Thank you! x
What size is the hutch & how many piggies do you have? Do they get cold feet on the floor in the winter?
Click to expand...
It's a two story one and we have only had them this month so not sure about winter .. We will be getting a c&c cage and bringing them inside for winter.. Coz I don't want them to be cold.. You can get thermal covers or put them in a shed..lots of info from experienced people on here x
 
I might be getting a shed in October for my 40th!
My brother's and I always had guinea pigs as children & they always lived in hutches outside all year round. None of them ever died from the cold. Are the winters colder nowadays (than they were in the 60's, 70's & 80's) or have guinea pigs become more susceptible to the elements over the years? I can't keep them in the house; noisy children & two cats... :lol: x
 
Lou1975 said:
I might be getting a shed in October for my 40th!
My brother's and I always had guinea pigs as children & they always lived in hutches outside all year round. None of them ever died from the cold. Are the winters colder nowadays (than they were in the 60's, 70's & 80's) or have guinea pigs become more susceptible to the elements over the years? I can't keep them in the house; noisy children & two cats... :lol: x
Click to expand...
I think it might be more that you have come to a forum where people know more than most about the better (kinder) ways to keep guinea pigs. It's difficult for us to know how nice it is for the piggies being in the cold, even if they do survive.
Don't beat yourself up about what happened when you were young nor think I'm trying to criticise you. I'm really not - we had guinea pigs when we were young and they weren't treated as well as the ones we have now. I have no idea what sex they were. One lived in my room and the other in another room. They lived in a small plastic storage box each - maybe about 60x40 cm. I wouldn't have done that now even without coming across this forum but I have come to appreciate a lot more things about how to be kinder to them as a result of this forum.
Yay on the shed front!
 
I would avoid a coop style or "drop down" run entirely. Coops quite frankly are a waste of money, they are smaller than they look and your pigs only get a 2x2 box for shelter, so idealy the whole thing requires boarding up any way. Making it a false economy. large hutches 6ft+ which is what you idealy will need for 4+ girlies do need begin to get expensive, even if you get a double story i would suggest getting bigger as you need to consider they loose floor space due to a hole in the floor and a ramp they have towalk around inthenext. so quite frankly a shed may be more approprite. Tell your OH that the added height will a.make it easier to clean out, b. Mean you dont have to stand in the rubbish weather in the winter for cleaning out. c. You can also have shelving or a cabinet put in to store their stuff so piggies and supplies are kept together. Therefore making the height entirely reasonable! Or you could build a multi level hutch up one wall of the shed.
Run wise i would suggest attaching the run to the hutch (or shed!) via a pipe that can be blocked off at night time.
 
I have the rose cottage from pets at home.

I was worried about the ramp at first but my two 1yr old sows have mastered it!
It is 152 x 60cm and 2 levels.

You could get a run and attatch it. It is very easy to clean because of a pull out tray.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...nd-runs/outdoor-guinea-pig/rabbit-folding-run

Ayemee has the same hutch and keeps 4 sows in it, with a run I think!?

It was originally £179 online click and collect £150 then in my store it was £140 then I had a voucher from the vip magazine in pets@home (it's free so worth joining!)
and then 20% off if you spend more than £20.

I got it for £116 previously £179! And water bottle, food bowl, wood shavings, hay and sample pack of pellets.

It takes about 30mins to set up with 2 people.

Hope everything goes well! Hope this helps!
x

image.webp

Edit : In my experience I find that there is no need for a ramp tunnel.
 
Rose cottage is definitely one of the better large, low cost hutches, it comes with a little bannister the the ramp too which is useful. I'd definitely addvise adding one if you get or have a double tier without it. A family friend of ours did not have one on theirs, and their little sow who had lived happily in the hutch for 3 years slipped and broke her lower back :(
 
I purchased the Chartwell 6ftx2ft hutch from justrabbits (cheapest place I found it) as I have 4 pigs. They weren't inclined to use the ramp so my OH added a side to it and carpeted it and they were soon zooming up and down. My old hutch had an exposed ramp that we had to add sides too but they would more happily use that because it wasn't so steep and also had roofing felt (or something similar) on for grip. I like the Chartwell for a budget hutch (compared to some of the top quality ones I saw of the same size for £350-400 or more!).

As it happens my chartwell has worked out a fantastic buy as Jemima and Isobel decided to have a fall out so we took out the ramp and made it into two living spaces so each pair has a 6x2 space that's technically big enough for 4 pigs.
 
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