As soon as the summer holidays are over, summer returns. While the days are now too short for record temperatures, heat exhaustion and heat strokes can still happen - especially in hutches, on the lawn and in small south-facing rooms.
You can find the most comprehensive list of measures on how to protect your piggies (just one or two may not be enough) and also a list of low-impact easy measures on how to keep your own rooms cooler. It is the combination of lots of little things that can be surprisingly effective and help to keep the need of fans or air cons low.
At risk are especially the older and frailer piggies with underlying issues, the ill, pregnant and nursing sows and the young whose immune system and body mass are still under construction. If in any doubt, please bring them indoors into the coolest room for the coming week.
Any piggies out on the lawn should be in double shade at all times and ideally out in moderate temperatures under 25 C. Please keep in mind that a hot strong breeze can reach into deep shade and can kill.
If you are out all day and struggle with keeping your accommodation cool, please make sure that you add ice to your water bottles and leave a large piece of cucumber for your piggies to nibble on - the cucumber centre stays cool for longer and your piggies can nibble their fluid. Cucumber is more efficient than watermelon and much lower in sugar.
If your piggies don't plaster themselves to any water bottles or fridge cooled snugglesafes/micriwaveable pads, then you are doing your job well. They are not feeling overheated.
Please keep in mind that the first couple of days of a heatwave are the easy ones. The longer it lasts, the less natural cooling down overnight there is so you will start with a higher temperature in the morning with each passing day. The cooler the living space in the morning, the less the hot it is indoors in the evenings. Keeping the sun especially off your south-facing windows will make the biggest difference.
The worst and potentially fatal mistake is to open the windows to the heat and use the fans to blow the sun-heated air of 50 C or higher into your piggy room.
All our very practical and helpful tips plus information on heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be found in this link here: Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
Helpful practical experiences and feedback with a variety of these measures can be found in this link here: Hot weather warning for the UK - plan now to keep your piggies safe!
All the best for you and your piggies. Please keep in mind that when you are starting to feel ratehr warm, your piggies are already overheating. Guinea pigs can adapt to hotter temperatures over the course of several days but not quickly; their cooling system (increased blood flow through the ears) is not the most effecient design. They are wired to spend the hottest and coldest parts of the day well insulated in little nooks and crannies in the thick undergrowth.
You can find the most comprehensive list of measures on how to protect your piggies (just one or two may not be enough) and also a list of low-impact easy measures on how to keep your own rooms cooler. It is the combination of lots of little things that can be surprisingly effective and help to keep the need of fans or air cons low.
At risk are especially the older and frailer piggies with underlying issues, the ill, pregnant and nursing sows and the young whose immune system and body mass are still under construction. If in any doubt, please bring them indoors into the coolest room for the coming week.
Any piggies out on the lawn should be in double shade at all times and ideally out in moderate temperatures under 25 C. Please keep in mind that a hot strong breeze can reach into deep shade and can kill.
If you are out all day and struggle with keeping your accommodation cool, please make sure that you add ice to your water bottles and leave a large piece of cucumber for your piggies to nibble on - the cucumber centre stays cool for longer and your piggies can nibble their fluid. Cucumber is more efficient than watermelon and much lower in sugar.
If your piggies don't plaster themselves to any water bottles or fridge cooled snugglesafes/micriwaveable pads, then you are doing your job well. They are not feeling overheated.
Please keep in mind that the first couple of days of a heatwave are the easy ones. The longer it lasts, the less natural cooling down overnight there is so you will start with a higher temperature in the morning with each passing day. The cooler the living space in the morning, the less the hot it is indoors in the evenings. Keeping the sun especially off your south-facing windows will make the biggest difference.
The worst and potentially fatal mistake is to open the windows to the heat and use the fans to blow the sun-heated air of 50 C or higher into your piggy room.
All our very practical and helpful tips plus information on heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be found in this link here: Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
Helpful practical experiences and feedback with a variety of these measures can be found in this link here: Hot weather warning for the UK - plan now to keep your piggies safe!
All the best for you and your piggies. Please keep in mind that when you are starting to feel ratehr warm, your piggies are already overheating. Guinea pigs can adapt to hotter temperatures over the course of several days but not quickly; their cooling system (increased blood flow through the ears) is not the most effecient design. They are wired to spend the hottest and coldest parts of the day well insulated in little nooks and crannies in the thick undergrowth.