joanneswift813
New Born Pup
Hi all,
I have a question about the temperature of the room I keep my guinea pigs in, which is now starting to get a little chilly for a variety of reasons.
We moved house in July to a place in the country, and my 2 boys now have a room to themselves! In the old house, they were in our lounge, which was centrally heated to 18 degrees and usually sat around 20-21 in the summer. They have a C&C style cage.
In the new house in their own room, they are still within their C&C style cage within the room, but it's all theirs. It's not insulated (walls are breeze block) but there is a first floor room above (not just an external roof). The door and window to the outside are completely sealed. There is a wooden door into the garage which has small gaps around it, we have filled those as much as we can (the gap at the bottom is completely filled now). It's also North facing, so at this time of year no sun hits either of the windows.
We have an electric heater in there, which we have been using, but we've not been keeping the room at 18-22 degrees as I know is most comfortable for them because we would probably need it on most of the time and it would be so expensive! I also know that guinea pigs can adjust to cooler temperatures, but I want to make sure it's not too cold or severe changes for them!
So, this is the current routine. In the morning when I wake up and check on them, the temperature is generally at around 13-14 degrees, depending on how cold it's been outside. Outside overnight it's usually been 7-10 degrees for a 13-14 degrees inside. We then pop the heater on and get it up to 15-16 degrees before turning it off. Me and my husband work from home so are lucky that we can check on them throughout the day. If it drops below 14, the heater goes on for a bit (an hour or so) to heat it up again to 15-16. When it drops again to 14 or less, we pop it back on. Occasionally it has dropped just below 13 if it has been an exceptionally cold night.
I'll be adding a snugglesafe pad now overnight as well. They have 2 houses in the cage - one wood with an open upstairs they can get to and one cardboard (both with 2 doors), and always a very large, fresh supply of hay, in the houses as well as in racks. We regularly poop scoop too and fully clean out once a week.
So that's all the info I think! What are your thoughts on this routine/set up in terms of temperature and their best health given the situation? I would like to know if we are doing enough or if there is more we can do to ensure they stay safe, well and healthy
or if there are lower temperatures that they would be safe at. Our priority is obviously to ensure their best health, but if there is a safe option to have a slightly lower temperature to save us a bit of money (like, 12-14 degrees instead of 14-16 degrees for example) then we may choose that too.
Sorry for the ultra long post but hopefully the detail helps with the answers! Thanks in advance!
I have a question about the temperature of the room I keep my guinea pigs in, which is now starting to get a little chilly for a variety of reasons.
We moved house in July to a place in the country, and my 2 boys now have a room to themselves! In the old house, they were in our lounge, which was centrally heated to 18 degrees and usually sat around 20-21 in the summer. They have a C&C style cage.
In the new house in their own room, they are still within their C&C style cage within the room, but it's all theirs. It's not insulated (walls are breeze block) but there is a first floor room above (not just an external roof). The door and window to the outside are completely sealed. There is a wooden door into the garage which has small gaps around it, we have filled those as much as we can (the gap at the bottom is completely filled now). It's also North facing, so at this time of year no sun hits either of the windows.
We have an electric heater in there, which we have been using, but we've not been keeping the room at 18-22 degrees as I know is most comfortable for them because we would probably need it on most of the time and it would be so expensive! I also know that guinea pigs can adjust to cooler temperatures, but I want to make sure it's not too cold or severe changes for them!
So, this is the current routine. In the morning when I wake up and check on them, the temperature is generally at around 13-14 degrees, depending on how cold it's been outside. Outside overnight it's usually been 7-10 degrees for a 13-14 degrees inside. We then pop the heater on and get it up to 15-16 degrees before turning it off. Me and my husband work from home so are lucky that we can check on them throughout the day. If it drops below 14, the heater goes on for a bit (an hour or so) to heat it up again to 15-16. When it drops again to 14 or less, we pop it back on. Occasionally it has dropped just below 13 if it has been an exceptionally cold night.
I'll be adding a snugglesafe pad now overnight as well. They have 2 houses in the cage - one wood with an open upstairs they can get to and one cardboard (both with 2 doors), and always a very large, fresh supply of hay, in the houses as well as in racks. We regularly poop scoop too and fully clean out once a week.
So that's all the info I think! What are your thoughts on this routine/set up in terms of temperature and their best health given the situation? I would like to know if we are doing enough or if there is more we can do to ensure they stay safe, well and healthy
or if there are lower temperatures that they would be safe at. Our priority is obviously to ensure their best health, but if there is a safe option to have a slightly lower temperature to save us a bit of money (like, 12-14 degrees instead of 14-16 degrees for example) then we may choose that too.Sorry for the ultra long post but hopefully the detail helps with the answers! Thanks in advance!
however they seem to enjoy destroying it every time I pick it up off the floor and put it back in my make shift holder lol. I've got two of these, and there is a big pile on top of the house with upstairs access too.
