1 Gradually accustom indoors and shed piggies to the outdoors
- Avoiding the risk of UTI or URI
- Avoiding the risk of big temperatures swings and overheating
2 Accustom your piggies slowly to fresh growing Spring grass
- How to accustom piggies to fresh rich growing grass
- Which grass not to feed
3 Highly poisonous garden plants
4 Predation
5 Avoiding escapes and lost piggies
It is this time of the year again. Here are lots of practical tips on how to avoid the most common dangers and - sadly - seasonal Spring deaths.
1 Gradually accustom indoors and shed piggies to the outdoors
The first warm Spring day is so tempting - and sadly far too often fatal for your unprepared guinea pigs.
Avoiding the risk of UTI or URI
Please treat your indoors guinea pigs like tender plants and never put them onto any ground that feels cold to your own naked feet after 5 minutes.
Just a bit of sunshine will not warm the ground through enough after a cold night, nor is the cold breeze whenever the sun disappears or the shade comes in good for your piggies on their very first outings from a warm, protected atmosphere. Your piggies are much lower to the ground than you.
Urinary or respiratory infections can result from them being left outside for too long. Give your piggies time to getting used to the outdoors and all the noises and scents that come with it. Start with an open window to make the outdoors less scary and peg a towel or sheet over the top (or at least part of) any cage you use to accustom them to the outdoors as a protection as well as a place to get out of the sun if gets too strong.
Avoiding the risk of big temperatures swings and overheating
The big no-no: Greenhouses and conservatories that are not well insulated and have specially treated glass and will not overheat in full sun are potential death traps - they are basically oversized cars. The large temperature difference between day and night can be difficult to cope with for your guinea pigs and they are at risk of overheating even in comparatively mild temperatures.
Have a look at the temperatures in various piggy houses or on the surface of a lawn in moderate weather - you may be shocked!
See chapter 1 of this link here: Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
2 Accustom your piggies slowly to fresh growing Spring grass
Please also accustom your piggies slowly and gradually to fresh grass after any break in order to allow the specialist digestive bacteria to multiply at pace and to avoid potentially fatal diarrhea or bloating. We are sadly confronted with cases, including fatal ones, every Spring. Hindsight is always a bitter perspective.
How to accustom piggies to fresh rich growing grass
- Give only a little at first, not more than a pinch to a child's finger.
- On the second day (if the first has gone well), give about 2 adult fingers to half a handful. You can give it as part of their veg mix or in smaller lots on its own.
- Then switch to a handful - on its own now - and then a small heap. Then half an hour on the lawn.
Which grass not to feed
- No mowed clippings. They start fermenting as soon as they are cut and can cause fatal bloat. Best is to rip off any grass blades; this causes the least instant fermentation.
- No newly treated grass that has not been mowed 3-4 times so the chemicals have had time to grow out.
- Dog pee is poisonous. Please keep your piggies and dogs strictly apart and fence off an area for the guinea pigs.
Fresh dog pee can and does kill. We have sadly seen first-hand cases on here.
3 Highly poisonous garden plants
- Beware of creeping buttercup (ranunculus repens) in your lawn. Like all members of the ranunculae family, it is poisonous to piggies.
Check any wildflower meadow mixes whether they are safe for piggies and rip it out of your lawn if at all possible. It grows along the ground like strawberries (which piggies can eat) but it has got the characteristic yellow buttercup flowers.
Daisies and moss are also common poisonous lawn plants but only in larger quantities or regular feeds; a few in the run won't do any harm - they are often ignored. Moss doesn't taste good to piggies and won't be touched but please don't put your piggies on patches that have lots of any of these plants.
- Make sure that you haven't got any foxgloves anywhere near your lawn, hutch or run - or ideally in your garden at all. All parts are toxic and even a rather small bit of a leaf can be fatal. Foxgloves are the biggest killer garden plant of guinea pigs in our experience on this UK based forum, apart from fresh grass when fed to unprepared guinea pigs.
A helpful list of poisonous UK plants: Poisonous food and plants for guinea pigs
4 Predation
Please make sure that any cage hutch or run is safe from foxes (who can climb over 6 ft fences), dogs, cats, birds of prey or rats. Any run should be secured to the ground with no dips where piggies can slip out or other animals in. There should also be a firm lid that a fox or dog cannot rip off.
5 Avoiding escapes
Always carry your piggies around in a container of some sort that they cannot jump out of and not on your arm.
The new outdoors environment and sudden noises or smells can easily spook them.
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos) (see pictures in the guide for inspiration)
Please don't leave your piggies outside unsupervised for longer spells of time and always take into account that the sun moves on while you are away and could leave your piggies exposed to full sun or cold shade.
If you have an escapee, especially with new piggies who are terrified and who are not yet as strongly bonded that they want to just explore and then come back to their mates, this link here contains helpful tips:
Outdoors Time: Tips for keeping cavies safe and luring escapees back
- Avoiding the risk of UTI or URI
- Avoiding the risk of big temperatures swings and overheating
2 Accustom your piggies slowly to fresh growing Spring grass
- How to accustom piggies to fresh rich growing grass
- Which grass not to feed
3 Highly poisonous garden plants
4 Predation
5 Avoiding escapes and lost piggies
It is this time of the year again. Here are lots of practical tips on how to avoid the most common dangers and - sadly - seasonal Spring deaths.
1 Gradually accustom indoors and shed piggies to the outdoors
The first warm Spring day is so tempting - and sadly far too often fatal for your unprepared guinea pigs.
Avoiding the risk of UTI or URI
Please treat your indoors guinea pigs like tender plants and never put them onto any ground that feels cold to your own naked feet after 5 minutes.
Just a bit of sunshine will not warm the ground through enough after a cold night, nor is the cold breeze whenever the sun disappears or the shade comes in good for your piggies on their very first outings from a warm, protected atmosphere. Your piggies are much lower to the ground than you.
Urinary or respiratory infections can result from them being left outside for too long. Give your piggies time to getting used to the outdoors and all the noises and scents that come with it. Start with an open window to make the outdoors less scary and peg a towel or sheet over the top (or at least part of) any cage you use to accustom them to the outdoors as a protection as well as a place to get out of the sun if gets too strong.
Avoiding the risk of big temperatures swings and overheating
The big no-no: Greenhouses and conservatories that are not well insulated and have specially treated glass and will not overheat in full sun are potential death traps - they are basically oversized cars. The large temperature difference between day and night can be difficult to cope with for your guinea pigs and they are at risk of overheating even in comparatively mild temperatures.
Have a look at the temperatures in various piggy houses or on the surface of a lawn in moderate weather - you may be shocked!
See chapter 1 of this link here: Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
2 Accustom your piggies slowly to fresh growing Spring grass
Please also accustom your piggies slowly and gradually to fresh grass after any break in order to allow the specialist digestive bacteria to multiply at pace and to avoid potentially fatal diarrhea or bloating. We are sadly confronted with cases, including fatal ones, every Spring. Hindsight is always a bitter perspective.
How to accustom piggies to fresh rich growing grass
- Give only a little at first, not more than a pinch to a child's finger.
- On the second day (if the first has gone well), give about 2 adult fingers to half a handful. You can give it as part of their veg mix or in smaller lots on its own.
- Then switch to a handful - on its own now - and then a small heap. Then half an hour on the lawn.
Which grass not to feed
- No mowed clippings. They start fermenting as soon as they are cut and can cause fatal bloat. Best is to rip off any grass blades; this causes the least instant fermentation.
- No newly treated grass that has not been mowed 3-4 times so the chemicals have had time to grow out.
- Dog pee is poisonous. Please keep your piggies and dogs strictly apart and fence off an area for the guinea pigs.
Fresh dog pee can and does kill. We have sadly seen first-hand cases on here.
3 Highly poisonous garden plants
- Beware of creeping buttercup (ranunculus repens) in your lawn. Like all members of the ranunculae family, it is poisonous to piggies.
Check any wildflower meadow mixes whether they are safe for piggies and rip it out of your lawn if at all possible. It grows along the ground like strawberries (which piggies can eat) but it has got the characteristic yellow buttercup flowers.
Daisies and moss are also common poisonous lawn plants but only in larger quantities or regular feeds; a few in the run won't do any harm - they are often ignored. Moss doesn't taste good to piggies and won't be touched but please don't put your piggies on patches that have lots of any of these plants.
- Make sure that you haven't got any foxgloves anywhere near your lawn, hutch or run - or ideally in your garden at all. All parts are toxic and even a rather small bit of a leaf can be fatal. Foxgloves are the biggest killer garden plant of guinea pigs in our experience on this UK based forum, apart from fresh grass when fed to unprepared guinea pigs.
A helpful list of poisonous UK plants: Poisonous food and plants for guinea pigs
4 Predation
Please make sure that any cage hutch or run is safe from foxes (who can climb over 6 ft fences), dogs, cats, birds of prey or rats. Any run should be secured to the ground with no dips where piggies can slip out or other animals in. There should also be a firm lid that a fox or dog cannot rip off.
5 Avoiding escapes
Always carry your piggies around in a container of some sort that they cannot jump out of and not on your arm.
The new outdoors environment and sudden noises or smells can easily spook them.
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos) (see pictures in the guide for inspiration)
Please don't leave your piggies outside unsupervised for longer spells of time and always take into account that the sun moves on while you are away and could leave your piggies exposed to full sun or cold shade.
If you have an escapee, especially with new piggies who are terrified and who are not yet as strongly bonded that they want to just explore and then come back to their mates, this link here contains helpful tips:
Outdoors Time: Tips for keeping cavies safe and luring escapees back