Guinea Pigs Outside In May

[MemesMemes]

Hi all,
My 2 guinea pigs live in an indoor cage in Winter, but now Winter's gone, I was wondering:

1) Is it okay to move them outside in May?
2) If so, what should I do to keep them as warm as possible? Their hutch looks similar to this (if it matters):

I already cover the hutch with tarpaulin at night, and provide 4 blankets and 2 beds for them. Just wondering if there's anything else I can do

Edit: Oh yeah, what's the best way to encourage them to use the bottom floor of the hutch? I've never seem them use it.

Thanks

 

[Maisy and Poppy]

Hi and !
I have a snuggle safe microwaveable heat pad, you can get thermal hutch covers, if you know anyone who is a builder you could ask if they have some house insulation. ( My parents were doing a house project at the time so our builder measured the hutch for insulation ! ) I put bubble wrap over the doors to block out draughts with a couple of air holes poked in. You can also get emergency heat blankets that are like foil and reflect heat so you can out them on the sides of the hutch, the front, the top... Also if you have a shed or garage that you can put them in please do as long as they do not have cars in as car fumes are dangerous to guinea pigs.
A useful video is how to insulate a guinea pig hutch by guineapigsecretsuk I think.
If you have just two guinea pigs then you could just use the bottom level.
C and e cosies sell ramp tunnels but maybe you could put their food on the bottom level and there water too and that might encourage them!

Hope this is useful!

Oh, is it the rose cottage you have? If it is would you be able to tell me what you think about it as I am trying to convince my parents to buy one!

 

[MemesMemes]

Hi and !
I have a snuggle safe microwaveable heat pad, you can get thermal hutch covers, if you know anyone who is a builder you could ask if they have some house insulation. ( My parents were doing a house project at the time so our builder measured the hutch for insulation ! ) I put bubble wrap over the doors to block out draughts with a couple of air holes poked in. You can also get emergency heat blankets that are like foil and reflect heat so you can out them on the sides of the hutch, the front, the top... Also if you have a shed or garage that you can put them in please do as long as they do not have cars in as car fumes are dangerous to guinea pigs.
A useful video is how to insulate a guinea pig hutch by guineapigsecretsuk I think.
If you have just two guinea pigs then you could just use the bottom level.
C and e cosies sell ramp tunnels but maybe you could put their food on the bottom level and there water too and that might encourage them!

Hope this is useful!

Oh, is it the rose cottage you have? If it is would you be able to tell me what you think about it as I am trying to convince my parents to buy one!

Thanks for the help, I have something similar to a snuggle safe, which works well for them. The draughts don't seem to be an issue, they never feel cold when I handle them in the morning.

As for the hutch, I've had it for about 3 years now. Lots of people jump at the chance to speak bad of P@H, but this hutch has held up through the winter and the summer. It's even blown over once (luckily the guinea pigs weren't it in) and there was no damage. As for the tray, it's pretty useless, I hardly find myself using it. I'm sure they have another model without the tray that's about £50 cheaper (this one), and sometimes they have prebuilt hutches in store at a discount of even more. Not sure what it would be like without some sort of cover though (waterproof wise) since we've had tarpaulin on it since we purchased it. I'd save yourself the £50, buy the one without the tray and use the money saved to pimp it out.

Hope this helps

 

[sophieandhoney]

It certainly helps me, thanks Memesmemes

 

[Maisy and Poppy]

Thanks!