Do you put your guinea pigs to bed?

DonDon121405

DonDon121405

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This might sound like a daft question but do you have a nighttime routine for your guinea pigs.

We are on to night 3, we have made some adjustments to the hutch today to make sure it is water tight and off the floor.

we have a 2 tier hutch with a ramp up to the “house area” which can be closed off. For the first 2 nights we have put the guinea pigs to bed each night and closed the door because I was worried about them falling down the ramp in the dark.

now we are getting more use to each other we have noticed that snowy will happily take himself up the ramp and stay in the house part, come out for some food and a play and then go back up.

Mittens on the other hand has not even attempted the ramp.

What am worried about is that if snowy has decided this
is his area am I causing issues if I put mittens in with him in a night?

we have had no issues so far, each morning when we go out to them they are both quite happy in the tube that’s in there.

also should I be closing the doorto the house part or should I leave it open? Can they see in the dark as I don’t want them falling in the night?

we have put 2 solar lights next to the hutch so it’s not totally dark.

thanks in advance for the advice

😀
 

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The ramp looks quite steep so sorting that out and getting some sides for it should help Mittens feel more confident in going up and down. Putting a tube on the ramp can help too though some piggies will never want to climb a ramp at all. There's a guide on ramps but I can't link as I'm on my phone but someone should be along soon who can link that for you.

As for closing off the top bit I don't know about that. Someone else will be able to help with that very soon 🙂
 
They should not have access to an outside space overnight, so shutting them in the secure hutch is essential.
Piggies aren’t natural climbers so using a ramp takes time. If they are too steep or don’t have sides, then often piggies won’t use them
However, I’m sorry to say, the upper part of the hutch is too small for them to be locked into. Two boars need a hutch of 180cm x 60cm on one level. Given they can’t have permanent access to the bottom level (they can’t be out when it’s wet or cold, or at night time), then the top level needs to be the permanent space so it needs to be much bigger.
Lack of space between boars, particularly once the teens hit, will cause tensions and problems in their relationship

Cage Size Guide
Ramps In Guinea Pigs Cage
 
Update, we have purchased a 6x4 new home for our guinea pigs, just awaiting delivery.
No problems with them so far and they have actually learnt to take themselves up the ramp to bed when we got out on an evening to “put them to bed”
We’ve Also made progress and they have started eating from our hands now and they let us stoke them. Slow and steady progress 👍🏻
 
Eddie & Elvis said:
The ramp looks quite steep so sorting that out and getting some sides for it should help Mittens feel more confident in going up and down. Putting a tube on the ramp can help too though some piggies will never want to climb a ramp at all. There's a guide on ramps but I can't link as I'm on my phone but someone should be along soon who can link that for you.

As for closing off the top bit I don't know about that. Someone else will be able to help with that very soon 🙂
Click to expand...
Mittens is now up and down the ramp all the time, he seems so happy and is excited to get out each morning when we go to give them their breakfast. Snowy has had no problems at all since day 1 ☺️
 
That ramp is really steep, none of mine would attempt it!

Great that yours are happy to use it, but as others have said, I would be worried about them falling off. Even if it's a temporary measure before they go into their new home, I would use a tunnel (like the expandable ones from Pets at Home) and see if you can attach that to the ramp
 
DonDon121405 said:
Update, we have purchased a 6x4 new home for our guinea pigs, just awaiting delivery.
No problems with them so far and they have actually learnt to take themselves up the ramp to bed when we got out on an evening to “put them to bed”
We’ve Also made progress and they have started eating from our hands now and they let us stoke them. Slow and steady progress 👍🏻
Click to expand...

Sounds like they know they’ve got a good home ☺️ It’s a lovely feeling when they start to trust you. Means you’re doing it right.
 
Fantasimo said:
Sounds like they know they’ve got a good home ☺ It’s a lovely feeling when they start to trust you. Means you’re doing it right.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much, that’s a lovely thing to say as we are still learning but think so far so good. They just need to trust us a bit more I think 🤔
 
So the boys now squeak as soon as they hear me in a morning and come right to the door with their little noses in the air.
We have them inside at the moment until the shed is delivered Friday and then we plan to insulate the shed and move them out there so they have much more room and we can look after them better in all weathers.
We have purchase some heat pads and a couple more hides.
Snowy has taken to sleeping high up on top of our plastic castle and mittens likes to make a warm bed under an old golf towel we have been putting in to help the keep warm.
The guinea pigs now seem to be mine more than the kids as they still don’t like a cuddle and the kids have lost interest. I don’t mind and actually enjoy watching them when I am taking a break from working at home.
 
So the boys now squeak as soon as they hear me in a morning and come right to the door with their little noses in the air.
We have them inside at the moment until the shed is delivered Friday and then we plan to insulate the shed and move them out there so they have much more room and we can look after them better in all weathers. We have purchase some heat pads and a couple more hides. Snowy has currently taken to living in top of our castle which we have put some
 
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