How cold can guineas cope with

[Christo]

New to this forum so apologies if this question has been asked and answered 100 times already!

We have 3 pigs, mother and her two daughters. You can see them on Instagram @theginpigs. Mother rescued when pregnant so no idea age...guess 2, maybe 3. She had a bit of a hard life before we took her in but is very healthy and happy now. She is an Abyssinian. Her daughter's are now 1 year old exactly. One looks like a crested smooth haired and the other looks like a Peruvian long-haired...but all have the same colouring! Bizarre.

Anyway. They have all lived outside in a wooden hutch that is a foot or so off the ground since April this year. We are in Sussex, up on the Downs so it gets colder than the surrounding area. They get oodles of fresh hay, topped up on a daily basis.

How cold can they cope with? I have a remote censor in their sleeping area which tells me it is currently 0.5 degrees c. Due to go colder tonight.

All three have thick healthy coats and are a good size and weight. All seem very happy, often out grazing when there is frost!

Any help or advice would be really appreciated. I asked Google who told me anything below 15 c is dangerous...which sounds like nonsense to me.

 

[Betsy]

If the temperature outside feels cold to us it is cold for them. I used to have outside piggies until we moved around 6 weeks ago and they are now in the garage as there are foxes where we live now. When they were outside I had lots to keep them warm in winter. Lots and lots and more lots and more more lots of hay and more hay than that. Fleece lined snuggle sacks, fleece lined snuggle tubes, snugglesafes, an insulated hutch cover, a thermal hutch cover on top of that, a blanket over the front to keep the frost out ...... They are in the garage and the temperature in there is around 5 degrees tonight. They still have the same as they had outside except the blanket over the front of the hutch as there is no frost in the garage. The most important thing is that you have acclimatised your piggies to the cold. In August as the nights draw in their thick winter pyjamas are stimulated to grow so they lose their summer frocks (in the case of sows) and their T shirt and shorts (in the case of boars) in preparation for the winter. You must not just shove piggies outside if they have only lived inside in the winter as this will be too much of a shock for them. It's like you going from the tropical heat of the Caribbean to the frozen arctic with a summer frock on.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Piggies are not hardy, they are designed to be in warm temperatures of 18-23 degrees being their ideal range. So yes, temperatures below 15 degrees are too cold for them.
However, I do agree that being acclimated to it helps. It is actually the damp and draught combined with the which is much worse for them. You need to ensure enough hay, heat pads and hutch covers (thermal and water proof) are used if you can’t get them into a sheltered area such as garage or shed.
They should not go out on grass which is damp or cold. If you wouldn’t stand on it without shoes on, then they can’t go on it.

My two boys live in a hutch within in my shed (which unfortunately cannot be heated) but sits around 5 degrees warmer inside than the outside temperature. To keep them warm enough, their hutch has absolutely loads of hay inside it. They have several hideys which get filled with hay and each one of them has a snuggle safe heat pad in (I use four heat pads in total). Their hutch is then covered with two blankets, a thermal hutch cover and then I pull a duvet over all of it. This helps keep them around a further five degrees warmer, so generally 10 degrees warmer than the outside air temperature. They only come out into the shed floor to play when it is above 15 degrees in the shed.

Cold Weather Care For Guinea Pigs

 

[Robbie049]

Piggies are not hardy, they are designed to be in warm temperatures of 18-23 degrees being their ideal range. So yes, temperatures below 15 degrees are too cold for them.
However, I do agree that being acclimated to it helps. It is actually the damp and draught which is much worse for them. You need to ensure enough hay, heat pads and hutch covers (thermal and water proof) are used if you can’t get them into a sheltered area such as garage or shed.
They should not go out on grass which is damp or cold. If you wouldn’t stand on it without shoes on, then they can’t go on it.

My two boys live in a hutch within in my shed (which unfortunately cannot be heated) but sits around 5 degrees warmer inside than the outside temperature. To keep them warm enough, their hutch has absolutely loads of hay inside it. They have several hideys which get filled with hay and each one of them has a snuggle safe heat pad in (I use four heat pads in total). Their hutch is then covered with two blankets, a thermal hutch cover and then I pull a duvet over all of it. This helps keep them around a further five degrees warmer, so generally 10 degrees warmer than the outside air temperature. They only come out into the shed floor to play when it is above 15 degrees in the shed.

Cold Weather Care For Guinea Pigs

Apologies if this reply isn't in the correct place. I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Tuesday the outside temperature was mid 30s (my cellphone inside the house read 37) and yesterday we woke up to rain and less than 15 degrees, set to last until the weekend. Poor piggies - from one extreme to another.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Apologies if this reply isn't in the correct place. I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Tuesday the outside temperature was mid 30s (my cellphone inside the house read 37) and yesterday we woke up to rain and less than 15 degrees, set to last until the weekend. Poor piggies - from one extreme to another.

Yes, large fluctuations in temperature are difficult for them to cope with as well.
Temperatures above 25 degrees can cause heat stroke, keep them in the coolest part of the room.

 

[Pigwhisperer]

Realistically they are ok with lots of hay down to freezing but once it gets below think about bringing them indoors.

This thing about 15c is an American idea and it's just confusing when in the UK most people keep their pigs outdoors and it only gets above 15c in high summer!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I wouldn’t say the temperature guide is an American idea - it’s their temperature tolerance range - piggies are most comfortable between 18 and 23 degrees. The RSPCA state that below 15 degrees they are more prone to getting chilled. That’s not to say that you can’t keep them outside, they just needs a lot of extra attention paid to ensuring they stay warm enough and are protected from draughts and damp.

 

[PigglePuggle]

I think there's a big difference between what they can cope with temporarily from a physiological perspective, and what is comfortable- just like with hoomans! Prolonged uncomfortable cold can cause stress that impacts the immune system even if nobody and no pig immediately freezes to death and gets hypothermia.
Last winter my cold drafty house temperature sometimes dropped to about 10 degrees overnight on very cold nights but my furry puggies were ok as they became acclimatised to it over the autumn nights and grew impressive shaggy winter coats and had lots of fleecy beds to snuggle in, and during the day it was warm enough they could remain active out in the open as usual.
This year as we have a skinny pig I am making sure the heating comes on enough that the minimum house temp on cold nights never drops below 16 degrees, if it ever does temporarily when someone opens a drafty door then Tallulah tells me about it! Mostly we aim for about 18-19 degrees for a skinny pig.
At 16 degrees Tallulah naked piggy wont immediately drop dead but she will be uncomfortable and need to eat more and use more energy to keep warm, but she wont want to get out of bed to do that- if it was colder she would survive but probably lose weight and body condition and start to get sick... and this year as we've had the heating on for Tallulah I am seeing much less winter fur cost growth in my furry piggies, so I wouldnt risk dropping the temperature now for them either!

 

[Christo]

Realistically they are ok with lots of hay down to freezing but once it gets below think about bringing them indoors.

This thing about 15c is an American idea and it's just confusing when in the UK most people keep their pigs outdoors and it only gets above 15c in high summer!

Thank you! I wondered if that was the case. Our three have been getting slowly fuzzier since autumn and now have very thick coats. They show no signs of noticing the cold, eating well, good weight, happily grazing in their run etc. And yes...if you take the 15 degree as fact then they simply couldn't live outside in Sussex, the average overnight temperature in Sussex is lower than that for every single month of the year. And is single-figures for 8 months a year.

They always have as much hay as is possible (leaving just enough room for them!). The hutch is angled away from wind, is off the ground and we have installed some extra lining so no draught.

It went down to freezing in the end last night. All seem fine and happy...

But...taking on board the helpful advice on this forum I will tomorrow be installing a small tube-heater with thermostat up high in the roof of their hutch. I will also put a guard around it but realistically it will be well above them and the hay and indeed there is a false ceiling we have installed between them and it. My hope is that the small amount of heat it produces will enable us to stop their hutch ever dropping below 5 or 6 degrees in the future.

 

[Wiebke]

New to this forum so apologies if this question has been asked and answered 100 times already!

We have 3 pigs, mother and her two daughters. You can see them on Instagram @theginpigs. Mother rescued when pregnant so no idea age...guess 2, maybe 3. She had a bit of a hard life before we took her in but is very healthy and happy now. She is an Abyssinian. Her daughter's are now 1 year old exactly. One looks like a crested smooth haired and the other looks like a Peruvian long-haired...but all have the same colouring! Bizarre.

Anyway. They have all lived outside in a wooden hutch that is a foot or so off the ground since April this year. We are in Sussex, up on the Downs so it gets colder than the surrounding area. They get oodles of fresh hay, topped up on a daily basis.

How cold can they cope with? I have a remote censor in their sleeping area which tells me it is currently 0.5 degrees c. Due to go colder tonight.

All three have thick healthy coats and are a good size and weight. All seem very happy, often out grazing when there is frost!

Any help or advice would be really appreciated. I asked Google who told me anything below 15 c is dangerous...which sounds like nonsense to me.

Hi!

Guinea pigs should be kept in stable surroundings ideally between 15-25 C.

They can die from cold/damp (including wind chill) and from heat strokes. Ideally you bring them indoors or at cover aways from wind and weather in the winter or at least insulate the huch well and get it off a frozen ground.

You may find these two guides here helpful as they contain many practical tips on how deal with a variety of situations:
Cold Weather Care For Guinea Pigs
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike