Is a Basement OK?

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R Dorothy

R Dorothy

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I finally moved out of a dumpy trailer and into a very nice house with a finished basement. I am a VERY light sleeper, so I decided that I wanted to have my bed downstairs to sleep in since every little thing wakes me up. It's also very warm and spacious, so I'm making it my "fun" area where I'm setting up my video games, computer, collections, and so in. In other words, I'm spending most of my time down here so it's not like they're being ignored and alone.

The washer and drier are down here, but not near where the girls' cage is. The buzzer for the drier is a little loud, but it's not like it's constant.

Since it's winter it gets dark early out and so it does get pitch black down here. If it's fine to have the girls in the basement should I have a light on for them when this happens until I go to bed or will they be OK in the dark?

They did get freaked out during the move but they're eating just fine, taking treats from me, and are starting to relax when I hold them.

I just know a lot of shelters/rescues have in their adoption guidelines that they won't let pigs go to a family that wants to keep them in a basement. I'm assuming it's because they think the pigs will be cold and neglected. Is how I have it fine, or should I move them upstairs?
 
If you spend a lot of time there and it's warm, it should be ok. I turn the light out when I go up to bed and my boys don't seem to mind. Probably best to keep a light on during the day as they have bad eyesight and might get scared if they can't see anything if there's noise. Good luck.
 
My pigs live in our finished basement, for the sole reason to protect them from the cats. It's not much different in temperature than our upstairs, but obviously is darker. We leave a light on for them during the day, and we spend a good amount of time down there with them. As long as you don't forget about them (out of sight out of mind type thing), and they have an appropriate temperature/atmosphere they should be fine :)
 
I would be worried about them.not getting natural light.Is there a bulb that mimics sunlight.
 
Guinea pigs need access to natural sunlight so they need to be in a room with a window.

My piggies live in a shed with a big window that's covered with a net curtain but I pull the curtain open during the day and leave the top part of the stable door open on warmer days.
 
I agree with all the Above. They need a natural light source, I think they'd been better off being upstairs in the proper house.
 
Their cage is directly under two windows that allow sunlight in so, like I said, it's only really dark when the sun starts to go down. I would think that would be plenty of sunlight.
 
sounds fine to me...as you say there are windows...so cant see it beeing a problem. :-) You can always givr a few hours upstairs each day if your worried :-)
 
As long as they have windows and access to day light, then they should be fine. You could think about augmenting that with a UV lamp for reptiles to help with the vitamin D. No need to leave the light on at night.
 
Thanks for all the replies; I will get a UV lamp to be safe.

My main concern was keeping them close to me. Sometimes Dahlia gets way too aggressive with trying to mount Iris when she's in heat, so I like to be within hearing distance of them so I can catch when this happens and put Dahlia in a different cage to chill out.
 
R Dorothy said:
Thanks for all the replies; I will get a UV lamp to be safe.

My main concern was keeping them close to me. Sometimes Dahlia gets way too aggressive with trying to mount Iris when she's in heat, so I like to be within hearing distance of them so I can catch when this happens and put Dahlia in a different cage to chill out.
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If necessary, get a baby monitor for "those" days, so you can keep an ear out?
 
Sorry,thinking no windows but they will be fine .They have company and heat and natural light.
 
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