House Size Question.

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Frost

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On saturday i got three 6 week old female guinea pigs. They are currently living in a 4 foot hutch. If i was to make a large run for the day time would the hutch be ok for then to sleep in at night. They are indoor piggies. Thank you in advance.
 
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Fab thank you. Ive asked my husband to make a big run for me.
 
Hi there

It depsnds on how your piggies get on - if they are well bonded they may be OK with that arrangement but if there are squabbles over territory/food bowls/hidey houses etc then you may have to extend their living area. A 4ft hutch is smaller than recommended for 3 piggies, but if they are placid girls who all get along they may be OK. Or could you permanently attach a run using those puppy pannels to the hutch to extend the living area?
You will just have to see how they all get along ;) 6 week old piggies will look tiny in a 4ft hutch but they may get really big as adults!
good luck - I would love to see pigtures!

Cassandra x
 
Thank you i think i will either eventually get a bigger hutch anyway. But my husband said he will make them a run as well. They are sisters and seem to be getting on well at the moment. Ohh i will do some photos later on of them.
 
Just a quick question when i eventually upgrade their hutch would a 4 foot double hutch be suitable for them? I'm just having a look around at different ideas for them.
 
A 4 ft double hutch should be totally fine! That will still give them enough reasonable ground space for each floor, as guinea pigs are mainly ground roamers and not climbers.

The RSPCA minimum recommendation for 3 guinea pigs is 2x5 ft, so with a double hutch you are providing plenty extra, which they will appreciate!
 
A 4 ft double hutch should be totally fine! That will still give them enough reasonable ground space for each floor, as guinea pigs are mainly ground roamers and not climbers.

The RSPCA minimum recommendation for 3 guinea pigs is 2x5 ft, so with a double hutch you are providing plenty extra, which they will appreciate!

Fab thank you, do you know how much time out of the hutch they need?
 
It varies between piggies @Frost as some do not really enjoy long periods of out of cage time and others do. Build up out of cage time slowly with babies as they're so nervous they're not likely to enjoy it at first but they will with time. They should be out everyday really IMHO but the time depends on the pigs for mine its about 30 minutes of "floortime" plus cuddles per day but my pigs are a 4 year old who does not like being out at all and a 7 month old who loves a good zoom but isnt confident unless the piggy who doesnt like floortime is out :-) If your cage is enormous (like room sized) then "floortime" isnt as important as they have so much space anyway.

George especially, RIP, loved floor time and he got the run of my spare bedroom every evening (14x12ft) for a few hours a night it was totally piggy safe so I didnt supervise them, once he'd had enough he would just jump back in the cage!
 
Floor time can be very individual! I have piggies who'd love to spend the whole day outside and others who hardly stir out of the cage if they have the choice. Subadult youngsters are usually most active, but even adults and old piggies often love a change of scenery, a chance at exploring something new and a run or good popcorn every now then! One of my 6 year old neutered bars would rattle the grids every afternoon reminding me that his turn on the floor had come!

If they can come and go, they will pop in and out throughout the day. I have always made sure that my living room roaming piggies are back in the cage for the night; and after while, they actually started to turn themselves in once they were used to the routine and started to anticipate it.
 
Well the piggies share the dining room with me as its also set up as a craft room so i think I'm going to build a pen for floor time and then get them the bigger hutch aswell, i can my piggies will be very spoilt eventually.
 
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