best housing for my guinea pigs

Status
Not open for further replies.
P

piggypoos

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
63
Reaction score
1
Points
0
hi so (as you can probably tell from all my other posts lol) i have been in the process of planning my piggie shed for AGES. so now its nearly summer i think in a few weeks i might be able to actually do it. i have been looking at other peoples set ups on here but I'm not sure what would be the best solution
(the shed is 8x4ft and there are 3 boys currently living in a hutch which is way too small and causing them to fight alot)
here are my options:
a) take out the hutch and give them the whole shed. this would be my first choice but i think it may be too hard to clean and i dont know what i would put to cover the whole floor thats absorbant.
b) section off an area for them (ie most of the shed and use the rest for storage - they have a lot of stuff!)
c) section off an area and somehow add a second level
d) keep their hutch with the doors permanantly open although i think this will make them fight because they always fight when they have the hutch even when i let them out for floor time
e) buy a 7 ft hutch (which would be quite expensive...) and line it with vet bed and let them out for run time in the rest of the shed
so what do you think would be the best way to house them? bearing in mind this will be over winter and summer so they need to be warm in winter and cool in summer. dont think i will be able to heat it but it is insulated already. also what should i put on the floor. they are on megazorb but i dont want to put bedding over the whole shed as it will be expensive and hard to clean. i would like to put fleece/vetbed but dont thinki could get 36 square feet of it into the washing machine... oh and i looked and those lino tiles but i think it would be a pain to have to mop up the wee every day - i would prefer something absorbant that doesnt need changing too often :)) any help appreciated thanks! oh and any piccies also great! :p
 
If you go with the 1st option, you could put down fleece/vetbed and wash them in different loads. You don't have to wash them all at once.
 
you need the space to help them get along, if you can give them the whole shed then that is your best option, either use newspaper, fleece, towels or vet bed combination to line the bottom, or use megazorb or equivenent - what are you using in the hutch? Why change what you already use, I would put down a sheet of tarpaulin or lino on the floor of the shed though to protect the floor and provide a bit of a barrier between the ground and them.
 
i use megazorb at them moment
only thing is that it would cost loads to fill the whole shed with it.. like a new bag every week. and it would take hours to clean.
i would rather use something like fleece or vetbed that is cheap and easy to clean. and if they had something like this then i could sit on the floor and interact with them more.
but would fleece be warm enough in the winter? (i cant use loose hay as bedding because i have allergies so they get hay cookies to eat)
 
you would need heating in there, a lot of air space to chill them sadly. Are you able to bring them inside for the colder months? Think people who do winter outside would be best to advise on this issue as mine come inside and live in a huge hutch (my shed isnt suitable for anything more than storage and spiders)
 
well they were outside this winter in their hutch inside the shed and they were absolutely fine, we insulated the hutch and the shed and also the water bottles to stop them freezing. they had the snugglesafe heat pads and lots of cosy beds and houses and they were fine
but i guess they would be in a more open space so it wouldnt be as warm as the hutch....
bringing them inside is not really an option because we dont have the space and every one in my family has hayfever and/or athsma and i didnt realise i was allergic the the hay before we got them so i wouldnt be able to have them inside
we would insulate it a lot more and give them lots of cosy areas to snuggle with heat pads as well. i will have a look at getting a heater but i dont really think i would be able to get electricity in there
 
I would probably section off a chunk of the shed stick some Lino down (make sure it's a large piece that goes a few inches up the Walls aswell so pee doesn't go underneath it) put your normal bedding down on there....
You can always add a second level later on if you wanted... :)
x
 
piggypoos said:
well they were outside this winter in their hutch inside the shed and they were absolutely fine, we insulated the hutch and the shed and also the water bottles to stop them freezing. they had the snugglesafe heat pads and lots of cosy beds and houses and they were fine
but i guess they would be in a more open space so it wouldnt be as warm as the hutch....
bringing them inside is not really an option because we dont have the space and every one in my family has hayfever and/or athsma and i didnt realise i was allergic the the hay before we got them so i wouldnt be able to have them inside
we would insulate it a lot more and give them lots of cosy areas to snuggle with heat pads as well. i will have a look at getting a heater but i dont really think i would be able to get electricity in there
Click to expand...

Perhaps then for the winter lower the ceiling if you manage to get a safe enough heater. The hutch was a different matter as if you look at it there is not that much air space inside, and you can wrap the hutch up of course to make it even more cozy, perhaps a mixture of leaving the hutch open but giving them a pen outside as well would work.

And I dont want you to stick a blanket down near them to find it catch fire, If you think about camping (a little out there but bear with me), the smaller the sleeping area the warmer it gets inside at night even in colder weather, if you have a huge tall tent, it can be rather chilly in colder months as there is more air in the area. So if you can insulate the ceiling, and make sure for the summer its well ventilated as it will get stuffy too when warm, and provide extra warmth for them then they may be ok.
 
How about doing away with the hutch idea and purchasing some trixie huts

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/hutches/single_storey_hutches/trixie_natura_hutches/33223

Get 2 or even 3 of them and in the winter you can insulate them with blankets/fleece on the outside and plenty of megazorb and other non allergy forming bedding (for your benefit). I found my pigs only pee in their bed, so changing the huts would be easy. Line them with lino and curl it up the side to make cleaning out super quick, easy and hygenic.

You could put a gripy kitchen lino on the floor of the shed, again curling it up the sides of the shed to protect the shed floor. You can get childrens washable mats from ikea for £5 each which if they pee on, you can pop in the wash.

In winter you could suspend some feece from the ceiling to lower the ceiling height.

If you can get hold of some flower pots that will hold a water bottle, you can fix these to the sides of the shed with cable ties and cup hooks.

hth
 
hi thanks for all the great ideas
ariel&oscar - I'm not really sure what kind of mats you mean, could you perhaps provide a link? and do you mean to cover the whole floor with them?

i really like the shed in this thread (its about the 7th post down): http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=142&highlight=cage&page=5
what do you think?
also wheres best for lino, i looked on b and q website but they dont seem to have any
 
i would go with first one. my guinea pigs are also in a hutch inside a shed and i am going to use the whole shed (some of it will be used for their stuff)
and use newspaper, towels and fleece -you can get cheap fleece from charity shops, i find that it is more simple and better. Your ideas to keep the piggies warm are good but in a shed you will need more beds and heatpads
you don't need to put bedding in it will take too long to clean. To clean it you just put the fleece in the wash and the towels then through away the newspaper. To put the shed back together you should but 2 fleeces to put 1 in the shed while the other is in the wash. I am so excited to make my shed so here are some ideas on how to decorate the shed- make it like a house have a kitchen where they eat, have a lounge where they have their beds and heat pads and make a play area were they have an obstacle course to get food which is hidden.
hope helped:))
 
I am so excited to make my shed so here are some ideas on how to decorate the shed- make it like a house have a kitchen where they eat, have a lounge where they have their beds and heat pads and make a play area were they have an obstacle course to get food which is hidden.


That sounds great! I would love to see some photos of your shed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top