Keeping Warm

[rjg]

Hello!
I am after come advice on keeping warm, not me personally but my two shelties.
They live outdoors in a big wendy house, but when it comes to below 5 degrees c, I move them into the garage. The garage is not insulted, so it is not that much warmer than outside. Temperature size is pretty much the same, maybe a degree warmer in the garage.

In the garage they have a puppy pen so's they have as much room as possible, otherwise they get nippy at each other. The pen is on top of a thick rug underneath it and around the sides has cardboard so keep some heat in / stop any drafts. I also put a big green house heater on, but that tends to be next to useless as the garage isn't insulated and is too big for the heater. The pen itself has a removable plastic floor, and I put fleeces on the floor, and hay in a tray for them. They have fleece igloos also which I put heated pads in.

Anyway, I am very much aware that the temperature is pretty much the same out door to inside the garage. The heater idea doesn't work. Does any one have any more suggestions? Would it be dangerous to put an electric blanket (on a timer) under their plastic floor? - So it would be - concrete floor, thick rug, electric blanket, fleece lining, then their plastic flooring, then the fleece lining which they'd be running around on.

Sorry if its a daft and dangerous idea, I'm just thinking out loud! Any more suggestions would be fab.

Thank you so much, I better go and move them into the garage now!
Rx

 

[Katherine]

Hi, if I was in your situation, I'd be inclined to go down the traditional wooden hutch route (as long as it was a nice large one), and really pack the sleeping compartment with hay in cold weather, perhaps with something like Fitch as a bottom layer, rather than newspaper (to keep them drier). I think you can't beat the insulating qualities of hay. You can still use heat pads, and fleece snugglies. Also, a hutch is raised off the ground, and has a roof to help keep the heat in. I think possibly a puppy pen is too open to be very warm, and it is colder right down at ground level.

Or it might help to keep the puppy pen warmer if you peg a fleece over part of it. You could try something like a pet carrier stuffed with hay as well.

Racking my brains here - is it possible to partition off part of the garage and make a little room in it, which would be cosier, and perhaps the greenhouse heater would be more effective in a smaller area.

Not too sure about the idea of an electric blanket - I've not heard of anyone using one with piggies. I don't think I'd risk it myself.

Oh well, just a few ideas, hopefully someone else will have some better ones!

 

[Wiebke]

Hello!
I am after come advice on keeping warm, not me personally but my two shelties.
They live outdoors in a big wendy house, but when it comes to below 5 degrees c, I move them into the garage. The garage is not insulted, so it is not that much warmer than outside. Temperature size is pretty much the same, maybe a degree warmer in the garage.

In the garage they have a puppy pen so's they have as much room as possible, otherwise they get nippy at each other. The pen is on top of a thick rug underneath it and around the sides has cardboard so keep some heat in / stop any drafts. I also put a big green house heater on, but that tends to be next to useless as the garage isn't insulated and is too big for the heater. The pen itself has a removable plastic floor, and I put fleeces on the floor, and hay in a tray for them. They have fleece igloos also which I put heated pads in.

Anyway, I am very much aware that the temperature is pretty much the same out door to inside the garage. The heater idea doesn't work. Does any one have any more suggestions? Would it be dangerous to put an electric blanket (on a timer) under their plastic floor? - So it would be - concrete floor, thick rug, electric blanket, fleece lining, then their plastic flooring, then the fleece lining which they'd be running around on.

Sorry if its a daft and dangerous idea, I'm just thinking out loud! Any more suggestions would be fab.

Thank you so much, I better go and move them into the garage now!
Rx

Personally, I would be wary of using an electric blanket. You can offer them microwaveable snugglesafes and make use of hay filled cardboard boxes to snuggle into. A small secondhand hutch may work as an off the ground apartment that can be kept warm more easily to retire to.

 

[Wiebke]

We have got tips for keeping piggies warm in this thread here: Cold Weather Care For Guinea Pigs