Climate for living outside?

[Freela]

I'm just curious, as I know that many forum users keep their piggies outside. I'm in Canada, and this would absolutely not work here- it's cold/snowy for about 6 months of the year, hot for about 3, and erratic for the other 3. Just curious what the climate is like if you do keep pigs outside. How much temperature variation do you have? What happens when it snows/gets below freezing?

 

[Hermes]

Here's a link to the MET office website which gives a summary of the UK climate - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate/?tab=climateTables. Obviously those are averages so it does get below freezing in winter and above 20C in summer (Max and Min link - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/extremes/#sunshine_hours)but we don't tend to get really extreme weather in the UK. In cold weather/over winter some people bring their pigs indoors, others provide them with heated sheds and some people keep them outside but provide heat pads and a lot of insulation around the hutch, this thread describes cold weather care - http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?54309-Cold-Weather-Care-For-Guinea-Pigs. As for our summers it's typically fairly mild (and it rains!) pigs can usually stay out all summer so long as they are given appropriate shelter from wind/rain/damp and given shade and cool places to lie when it's hot as they can get heatstroke (and by hot I mean if it gets up to 25C it'll be in the newspapers, 30C is extreme).

 

[Wiebke]

The climate in Britain is generally much less extreme than in places of equal latitude in America thanks to the stabilising effect of the warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico that the Gulf Stream carries across the Altantic Ocean.

Guinea pigs can happily live outside during the frost free summer months as long as they are protected from the worst during (rare) heat waves. Summer is anything above 25 C/ ca. 80 F and we speak of heat waves as soon as temperatures hit 30 C / ca. 90 F or more!

While guinea pigs can survive outside in sheltered spots with adequate insulation and frost protection for hutches and sheds, we generally recommend people to bring their piggies indoors during the night frost season (anything from September/October to April). Local climate can vary quite a bit across the British Isles, but long periods of frosty weather are unusual, as are very hard frosts! We have about a 1:8 chance on a white Christmas here in Britain - mostly is just frequent rain...

 

[Wiebke]

PS: And a white Christmas can include anything from a little snow flurry to actually snow lying on the ground in order to qualify as such!

The further away from the Gulf Stream you get in Middle and Northern Europe the hotter the summer and the colder the winters.