Keeping warm in cold weather

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Rebecca01

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all
My piggies live indoors in our living room but the flat does get very cold- the heating doesn’t work well anyway and I have a bit of PTSD from the neighbours heater blowing up and starting a fire a couple years back so we tend to just wrap ourselves up.

We have dehumidifiers stocked up ready for when the windows get extremely bad condensation and damp, and I am going to put one at each window in the front room to hopefully reduce this issue for the pigs.

With regards to the cold, my outdoor piggies growing up we’re always ok over the winter even outside BuT I am paranoid about my babies now I’m older! They are on shavings and hay, so I am trying to top up hay every night and when I get their new hide house will do the same with this one. I am looking for other ways to keep them warm

Are the heat pads at pets at home sell any good? Thinking of using these in the cage, as well as getting a couple of snuggle sacks. I’m happy to Chuck a couple of blankets in there too for them to burrow, but they do tend to chew (especially labels!) and the shavings do awfully stick.
Is it worth covering the cage with a furry blanket on cold nights as an extra layer of insulation?

My feet are just starting to get cold of a night so I want to order everything asap. Soon, I will have a 6x2 for the 4 sows so I want to make sure I have enough to keep them all warm too.
 
A nice furry blanket or an old duvet over the cage would be good at night to keep the heat in. Snuggle safe heat pads are good and they keep warm for up to 10 hours. Your piggies will need 1 each. Snuggle sacks and fleecy tunnels are good for keeping piggies warm too but you have to change them often cos they will get covered in wee so you'll need at least 8 of these for your 4 piggies so you can have some in the wash and some in the cage. A digital thermometer is a good idea too so that you know at a glance how warm it is. Some members use noodle bath mats in the cage too.
 
I'm not sure but trying to think cost too so any local shops etc have cardboard boxes you could use as hideys? Or even use then to open up and put around their cage to stop draughts? Like a cardboard wall if that makes sense 🤔
 
We tend to have a cooler house over winter- our piggies have been fine, with it too! ( It’s also quite old & draughty.)

I add in a snugglesafe heat pad each, overnight & occasionally a new one in the morning(I was lucky to be given a 3rd pad)They have to be 100%cold before reheating.

We put a blanket over the CC over night- held on with pegs. There is fleece(we can move at the front) or cardboard(on the wall side) around the outside already.

I stuff a couple of wooden homes with hay, or a cardboard house.

Our Hamish RB, loved a floppy fleece tunnel over winter- which had to be removed during the day occasionally as he would have hibernated in it all day otherwise.

I have the fleece & cardboard around the outside already, and we are putting the blanket over the top, I am saving snugglesafe heat pads for when it’s a lot cooler.

The dehumidifier is already on some of the day in the kitchen, partly due to the extremely wet weather we have had where we live.
The dehumidifier does pump out warm air- and is helpful when you are drying washing inside too!


Also as Betsy says- a thermometer is very helpful- I feel the cold more than my partner & looking at the thermometer to see what the actual temperature is very useful.

I hope a few of these ideas can help you keep your piggies warm.


Edited to add: It’s worth shopping around for the snugglesafe heat pads as they are quite pricey, it was cheaper on Zooplus(online) when I brought ours.
 
I completely agree with everything said so far.
Mine are out in my shed. Various recent circumstances have meant they are in cages (which I’m not happy about but needs must) rather than hutches now. I wrap most of the sides of the cage with silver foil insulation, another partial layer (not fully over the top) of silver over the top and then a blanket over the top. Lots of hay in the cage and in hides and plenty of snugglesafes in the cage.
They tend to cope better being a little cooler than being too hot.
 
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