keeping guinea pigs outside in outer building

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Please help - I have bought my son two guinea pigs and they have been living in a bedroom in an indoor cage. Unfortunately I have now found that I am allergic to them. The guinea pigs are eight weeks old. We still want the guinea pigs but I cannot keep them indoors. We have a brick outer building which I was thinking of putting them in but I am obviously worried about the cold weather. Someone I have spoken to who breeds guinea pigs has said they will be fine out there providing they have plenty of straw to keep warm. I was also thinking of buying a snuggle warm pillow to keep them warm. The other alternative is not to keep them any longer but we really want to keep them. I would be grateful for any advice. Thanks.
 
Lya - I keep my guinea pigs in a wooden shed outside, even at this time of year - you are right, if you give them plenty of warm hidy places crammed with hay, you should be fine - guinea pigs will get most of their heat from eachother. yknow your piggies will be fine because mines only a thin wooden shed and my piggies are fine....a brick building?! now that is luxury O0
 
mine are also in a shed and they seem fine as long as you give them extra hay at night they will be fine,like Merry_and_Rosie said they get most of there heat from one er another
 
mine are out in a shed plastic! with extra heating on colder nights but brick building with extra beding will be fine!they are tough guys! ;)
 
Mine live in a shed outside but are used to this cold weather and the shed is insulated. If they are going out into a outter building with no heat make sure you put plenty of hay (not straw as it can eye injuries and hay they munch on ;) ) also get a old blanket or maybe a duvet over the top of the cage at night to keep extra warm. You could buy them a snuggle safe for night times. Are they going into a wooden cage or a indoor cage? If they are going out in a indoor cage you will need to put extra hidy holes filled with hay and pop something around them and on top to keep the draughts out like a blanket.
 
Mine all live outside, some in a plastic type lean to and others outside of this under a plastic roof. I put cardboard boxes in all of the hutches which I find do keep them much warmer. Cardboard is a great insulator. I do have to change the boxes quite often as alot of the piggies like to wee in them (they eat them as well) and I stuff them full of hay at night.
 
Mine live outside, and have never had a prob, the only thing i will say is, make sure you clematis's them, don't just pop them straight out for the night, try putting them out during the day, bring them in later at night, perhaps do this for a couple of days before jumping straight into keeping them out all the time,


good luck i hope your allergies don't get you down for to much longer, hang in there though they really make great pets
 
As they are only 8 weeks my advice would be to put up with the allergy for as long as possible until the weather is better and they are older.

I know it's not easy but this really is the worse time of the year to put previously indoor pigs outside, no matter what bedding etc they have.

In addition they will be tamer living with you as inevitably they get more handling. Could you get someone else in the family to take care of them, have you tried Petal Cleanse?.

Try asking how other people manage their allergies, they may give you some tips.

This must be awful for you as it's something that can't be planned for, I hope you find a solution.

However, I can email you tips on winter care if you choose in the end to put them outside. Please just email me. Good luck. O0
 
Oh i wouldnt use straw as the breeder said as it can poke the lil one eyes and cause injuries to them O0
 
Keeping the pigs outside is fine like everyone said but I'd really think hard about putting such young pigs out that have been used to living indoors at this time of year. They would have to deal with quite a large drop in temperature no matter how much bedding they were given. Personally, I would keep them indoors as long as possible. What kind of allergy is it? Maybe someone can come up with a suggestion to help you keep it under control. My bf suffers with the hay so I keep it all in airtight containers and keep the door to their room closed when I'm giving them their hay.
 
my sister has allergies to animals so smothers herself in anti allergy cream (don't know the name of it!) and takes plently of anti histamines before going near them or handling them.
I would suggest try keeping them indoors until march if you can. after that they can go in an outside building and can stay in there for remaining winters. a sudden temp change from warm to cold could kill them :(
 
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