Hi everyone, i started a Guinea pig rescue, i now have 60 piggies. I would like to buy them a shed and turn it into a home for them. I'm unsure what size of shed should i buy for them!? It’s between a 10*8 or a 8*6 any recommendations how big will i need for many piggies!? Thanks to everyone.
Housing for piggies
- Thread starter Jennvon
- Start date
Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
How are the 60 houses - pairs, herds etc? I think you’d need a significantly large shed in order to accommodate them all comfortably (providing the minimum space requirements). How and where are they currently housed?
Would they just be free roaming or living in hutches? You have to consider how you’d keep them in their separate living arrangements/groups/pairs then think about the size of floor space for each.
Would they just be free roaming or living in hutches? You have to consider how you’d keep them in their separate living arrangements/groups/pairs then think about the size of floor space for each.
I can tell you that a 10x8 or 8x6 is nowhere near big enough for 55 girls on the floor of a shed. I have a 8x6 foot shed with just four boys living in hutches in there.
2 girls need 10 square feet of space with an additional two square feet for each additional piggy.
If I’ve calculated correctly 55 girls would need around 166 square feet to themselves on the floor of the shed so that would be a 14 foot by 12 foot shed just for the girls. This doesn’t even yet include any space for the boys cages nor does it include any space for you to move around in there or any storage. You will be needing a shed bigger than 14x12 feet to come anywhere near enough for that many piggies.
I assume your boys live in pairs?
Each pair of boys needs a 5x2 c&c cage (which comes to a bit larger than 12 square feet per pair).
So you’d have to add that on, or stack each pair of boys cages (remembering that a single boar cannot be stacked and needs to be alongside others so as to not get lonely.
I may have miscalculated a bit somewhere (it’s early in the morning to be doing this kind of maths!) but I can tell you 10x8 or 8x6 is not enough.
2 girls need 10 square feet of space with an additional two square feet for each additional piggy.
If I’ve calculated correctly 55 girls would need around 166 square feet to themselves on the floor of the shed so that would be a 14 foot by 12 foot shed just for the girls. This doesn’t even yet include any space for the boys cages nor does it include any space for you to move around in there or any storage. You will be needing a shed bigger than 14x12 feet to come anywhere near enough for that many piggies.
I assume your boys live in pairs?
Each pair of boys needs a 5x2 c&c cage (which comes to a bit larger than 12 square feet per pair).
So you’d have to add that on, or stack each pair of boys cages (remembering that a single boar cannot be stacked and needs to be alongside others so as to not get lonely.
I may have miscalculated a bit somewhere (it’s early in the morning to be doing this kind of maths!) but I can tell you 10x8 or 8x6 is not enough.
This is our shed gallery link below. You will see that at page 7, post 139 @Pound Shilling & Pig has something very similar to that which you are going to need in a shed measuring 17 feet by 12 feet.
Member Gallery: Sheds
Member Gallery: Sheds
Pound Shilling & Pig
Adult Guinea Pig
Hi, it is very kind of you to rescue so many piggies. I agree with the above, however, that they will need a much bigger space than 10' x 8'
I think @Piggies&buns has slightly miscalculated but allowing 10' square for the first 2 pigs and 2' for each additional pig still comes to 116 square' for 55 pigs. That said, this space allowance is designed for smaller groups, so, for example 4 pigs would still have 3.5' each but with each additional pig the space per pig becomes less. For large number I think it is better to allow a minimum of 3' square for each piggy because over crowding could cause stress and health issues.
I think @Piggies&buns has slightly miscalculated but allowing 10' square for the first 2 pigs and 2' for each additional pig still comes to 116 square' for 55 pigs. That said, this space allowance is designed for smaller groups, so, for example 4 pigs would still have 3.5' each but with each additional pig the space per pig becomes less. For large number I think it is better to allow a minimum of 3' square for each piggy because over crowding could cause stress and health issues.
Oh yes I’ve typed 166 rather than 116!