Dont GP's like to burrow cosy nests?

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kryten

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I've got two guinea pigs and they live outside in a hutch. They have woodshavings all over the floor, and in addition I put copious amounts of hay in the nest area. I used to keep ferrets when I was a lad, and we had the same setup, and they made cosy little nests deep in the hay. However with the piggies, they seem to within one day have flattened out the hay and sleep on top.

When I see it flattened out, I add more hay, as I thought that they're just eating most of it and that they trampled their nests by accident. But now I'm thinking that they dont like to burrow nests. I dont understand why they'd want to sit on top; surely its colder at night to sit on top, sort of exposed, rather than burrow into the hay? ?/
 
:)

Guinea pigs are not burrowing animals. They simply borrow the burrows of other animals. Also, 80% of their diet should be hay, so it is likely that they will eat most of what you put in there!
There are other ways to keep piggies warm, such as cosey, snuggle safe heat pads or hutch snugglers for winter. If piggies are to be kept outside all winter it is very important that their hutch has the correct protection, as extremes of temperature really dont suit piggies, (despite most people thinking otherwise.)

Hope that has answered your question. :)
 
Thanks. I guess I'd have thought that even if they werent traditionally burrowing by nature, they might do so to keep warm. Over the winter I will continue to ensure the hay is topped up, but come next summer I'll go easy on it.
 
:/

I feel i should point out, if your hutch is not in a shed or garage, just giving them extra hay will not be enough to keep them warm in winter. There are many other ways of keeping them warm, piggies are comfortable in the same temperatures we are comfy in, so think about how cold you would have been outside last winter! :O

Not all the ways of keeping a hutch warm are expensive (people use of duvets!) Hopefully someone who knows more about keeping piggies outside will come along to help.
 
Hi, yes I have a host of other things I have available for the cold (Snugglesafes, blankets, insulations etc).
 
they will burrow into hay during the winter...not as much as other animals might, but you do end up with little rounded nests where they've shoved themselves as deep into it as possible :)
 
It depends a lot on what the hay is like. I have a bale of quite stalky hay and this makes it easy for them to burrow in and I couldn't even see 2 of them earlier. However, the last bale I had was much softer and they trampled it flat within half an hour. :)
 
You'll get that with pigs but they just need it topped up every day or just fluff what's there back up again when you see it flat. They'd already feel sheltered by their hutch roof over-head anyway so they'll not feel the need to do that. Pigs only will out of fear generally.

Also, I have to say this, about having them outside, let me just give you my experience and knowledge with keeping them out during winter. If you put a single pig (any age) outside for the first time in its life during the winter or for instance this time of the year where it's getting colder at night, you are definitely asking for trouble. We made a HUGE mistake in 1998 when we got a baby rabbit and it died 4 days after we got him... it was Boxing Day morning, we rushed him to the vets, we were told he'd gauged himself to keep warm, we had no idea he shouldn't have been outside that young, on his own and at that time of year. He died in-front of us, and I seriously would not wish that upon anyone else so you must really know your stuff when having them outside.

I've kept pigs (and my 9 year old rabbit who has only spent about a fortnight living inside before) outside for over 14 years now and only made a mistake once. I wouldn't give anyone advice that was going to harm their animals. As long as they're old enough (preferably over 4-5 months), they're at least a pair, they've been outside a good few months already this year leading up to winter, and you have an indoor cage on stand-by just in- case you get snowed in or it's as cold as it was last winter, stay sensible and logical, then they'll be absolutely fine!
 
Mine burrow and make nests!

Mine are outside too. I use newspaper and woodshavings on the base to absorb urine. I put plenty of bedding in the bedroom for them to make nests from.
This will be my current pigs 1st winter but these are the steps i have used in the past.
In the winter i cover their hutch during the night with an old coat. They have a water bottle holder in their hutch to help stop the bottle freezing, I'm not sure it works yet though! This will be my piggies 1st winter.

i hope this helped
 
Thanks all. I have spent a lot of time reading the likes of these forums an learning tips about their welfare. But I'm still learning and welcoming comments and even if I know bits already, the advice is always useful written down for the next newbie doing a search.

My pigs are a pair, and I got them as babies in March, which still was very cold outside. They've never been inside so they're used to the weather (ish).
Over the coming weeks I'll also be introducing varying levels of heat retaining layers and also their Heatpads will be back in action.
 
Another thing I do feel sorry for them about is no more juicy fresh grass! They love grass above everything else. We put all manner of treats in their run but they don't touch it, but if we put the same veg in their hutch they Hoover it up pronto.
 
Well I've given up trying to convince my pigs to burrow. I filled their nest section up yesterday evening with fresh hay, and even wiggled my hand in through the entrance to create a nest cave. But sure enough, when I looked in this morning, there they were sat plum on top of 12 inches of compacted hay. rolleyes

So today I bought two of these:
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=445&pf_id=56818

I am planning on putting them in the nest in the middle of the hay, so they cant trample it down. They're the perfect size to fit ontop of the snugglesafe heat pads too. :)
 
piggies do love a good hidey! :) I'm sure they will go down nicely.

Readi grass is a good alternative to grass in the winter, however it cant be fed toooo often because its fairly high in cacium. (sorry i didnt see the grass comment untill now. :) )
 
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