New And With Questions!

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Cathy2157

New Born Pup
Joined
May 17, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
1
Points
35
Hi

Am new to the forum and soon to be a new guinea pig owner. Have two female piggies booked and a hutch with run ordered but having skimmed through these boards last night, am having doubts about the hitch. Mainly build quality. It's a brand called Cheeko which is the only one stocked local to us. It gets one review on Amazon with one star ... poor build quality, plastic tray which revewer reckons won't last. Haven't seen the specific hutch but have seen others built in same brand and to be honest, the plastic tray worries me. That said, all the hutches from that brand are the same! Any opinions appreciated.

Pigs will be outdoor, on grass, weather permitting. Have now been looking at hutches on Home and Roost and Pets at Home - all seem to have solid floors, some sliding out. So, should I cancel the hutch on order and look at something else - if so, what?

Must be child friendly as pigs are for 8 year old child. All advice much appreciated.

Thanks.
 
I have seen the Cheeko hutches at Jolleys before and they did seam really flimsy.
I had the Pets at Home bluebell hutch in my conservatory over the winter so the pigs could be inside and I wasnt impressed with that either. The floor is solid, however is made from thin wood, as is the back and i found there were large gaps between the joins.
Originally I made a hutch for my pigs to live outside, however due to a bad back I have just brought a Great and Small hutch to replace it.
It is made from solid wood and is very sturdy. (I have 2 terriers so it has to be strong and we live in the country with foxes nearby)
It is currently being painted before it goes outside, but this is what it looked like before painting:
20170513_141836.webp
 
Hello, welcome to the forum. Lovely to have you join TGPF

One thing I will say is don't buy a substandard hutch, A good quality one is vital for your piggies welfare both for weather and also making sure it is predator proof. Foxes will be into a substandard hutch within seconds.

@Claire W @Lady Kelly @BossHogg @eileen @flowerfairy @Tim any recommendations?

Have started a search for you also so have a read through these threads Search Results for Query: hutch | The Guinea Pig Forum for research
 
My piggies are have been indoor pigs for the last few years but when I housed outdoors, they were living free range in a shed with two small open hitches filled with hay that they could access 24:7

My advise for buying a hitch would be to go for the most expensive you can afford that's heavy and sturdy. Also, don't go for plywood as it's thin and cheep. Tonge and groove is much better and much more solid.

Also try and go for a hutch where you can buy a thermal hutch cover to cover it x
 
Thank you all for the welcome and such good advice! Shall have a read of the threads linked to above. DH has said to stick to what's on order but .... reading your replies, maybe not. Love Apollo's hutch - it looks soo sturdy but might be too £££ by the time we put a run on it ... unless my chicken run (no longer used) can be rigged to it safely!

One more question then ... how big for 2 little ones ... 4/5/6' and single or double storey?

Thanks once again.
 
The larger the better, single storey is better in my opinion as many piggies do not like ramps. I think 4ft x 2ft is minimum for two piggies

I can't emphasize how important a good hutch is, I lost a rabbit to a fox attack as a kid.... not nice. So please try and persuade DH to reconsider buying the 1 star hutch from amazon.
 
Cathy2157 said:
Thank you all for the welcome and such good advice! Shall have a read of the threads linked to above. DH has said to stick to what's on order but .... reading your replies, maybe not. Love Apollo's hutch - it looks soo sturdy but might be too £££ by the time we put a run on it ... unless my chicken run (no longer used) can be rigged to it safely!

One more question then ... how big for 2 little ones ... 4/5/6' and single or double storey?

Thanks once again.
Click to expand...

The hutch was on offer at £170.99, so it is more than others out there. The hutch hugger and snuggle set me back another £82.49 from scratch and newton.
I chose that one as it is double height, however can be used as 2 separate hutches or 1 bigger one.
It is 135 x 65 per level. My piggies love zooming up and down ramps.
 
I just need to find an alternative! Home and Roost don't ship to us amd Great and Small ... can't find number on webiste so have emailed. Agree re foxes ... they took my hens so will be paying extra attention to fox-proofing!

Thanks again
 
Pets Corner sell the Great and Small hutches. Thats where i got mine from. ( after spending ages poking, prodding, trying to rock the hutch)
There is a really good video on the pets corner website that shows the sturdyness of the hutches compared to a pets at home one.
 
Can I ask which Cheeko hutch you've gone for? Most of the ones I've seen use good hutch quality tongue and groove. Also they haven't got mesh, but instead use a more sturdy grid. However, I would still be inclined to add extra beading around the inside to prevent the grid from being pushed in. Also, the door latched were awful. From memory there are little heart shaped plastic latches which would take a fox seconds to get in. These need replacing with a metal sliding latch. Possibly put another one downwards to prevent the plastic tray from sliding out. The hutch when built up with all the provided things does feel quite flimsy, I would probably also use double the amount of screws assembling the hutch. Best get to a Screwfix to buy some more screws and latches, less than £10 for everything you'll need I guesstimate. I hope this helps and your other half is handy with a screwdriver :)
 
Thanks all. Waitng for the manufacturers of Apollo's hutch to call me back and tell me whether the hitch on top of this run could be rotated 180 degrees before being attached to the run. If so, then I can put my chicken run onto the door of the run yet still have access to the hutch from the back. Does that make any sense? Just looking at photo again, would need easy way to close them inside the hutch at night. Hmmm.
Great&Small Guinea Pig and Rabbit Hutch & Run Under


This is the Cheeko hutch. Really not happy and need to cancel it asap but need alternative as child's birthday is Monday and would love to have it sorted for then!
 
Wow! What a video! Am surprised the competitor in question hasn't something to say about that!

Should have said, am in N Ireland so no Pet's Corner stores and ridiculous delivery charges!
 
Cathy2157 said:
Thanks all. Waitng for the manufacturers of Apollo's hutch to call me back and tell me whether the hitch on top of this run could be rotated 180 degrees before being attached to the run. If so, then I can put my chicken run onto the door of the run yet still have access to the hutch from the back. Does that make any sense? Just looking at photo again, would need easy way to close them inside the hutch at night. Hmmm.
Great&Small Guinea Pig and Rabbit Hutch & Run Under


This is the Cheeko hutch. Really not happy and need to cancel it asap but need alternative as child's birthday is Monday and would love to have it sorted for then!
Click to expand...
Can you post a link or a photo of the apollo hutch? I did a mod on an old hutch of ours (name not known) where I did what you mentioned, I rotated the bottom to make the run fit easily. I'll have a rummage to try and find some photos
 
I sadly can't find any of the photos we had of the setup, but the hutch was nearly identical to this one
IMG_3487.webp
The ramp was the other way round and so was the door at the bottom. But I altered it anyway by removing the door and putting the opening on the left hand side towards the front and secured the run to it.
I found a video though and tried to get a the best snapshot I could
IMG_3486.webp The gap is where the purple and turquoise tube is, there was a sliding door on the run. Chip n Dale in the foreground having a bit of a free roam :))

IMG_0528.webp
This was after a week! :))
 
Last edited:
Thanks for posting the photos Tim. Fantastic set-up and lovely piggies! Am thinking the Home and Roost hutch probably can be turned ... will ring a Pets Corner store in the morning and ask their advice. Think tomorrow will be last chance to cancel the Cheeko hutch .... decisions!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tim
@Tim at least you had grass left after a week... I had soil and poops!

I got the Chartwell hutch from home and roost but I don't think it represents good value for money. It was around £200 for the two storey 6ft hutch and I've brought both the insulating cover and the weatherproof cover. What I do like about this hutch is that it doesn't sit directly on the ground so it has 2 full 6ft levels that the piggies can yomp around in even when the weather is bloody naff. However, despite the look of tongue and groove, the back piece is just plywood and I am keeping an eye on mine as I'm sure it is starting to crack (luckily high enough that if there were a hole the piggies couldn't escape and I have a very handy OH who can fix it in a second).

I was going to recommend welfarehutches.co.uk but it seems that they aren't presently accepting orders (posted on 10th May).

Manor Pet Housing seem to do excellent quality but the price tag also matches and this is their cheapest hutch The Hutch | Hutches & Sheds | Rabbit Enrichment Hides | Manor Pet Housing.

http://www.rehutches.com/ also look like good quality.

As you can prob see from some of my sites I ended up looking for rabbit hutches as I have 4 piggies and no "guinea pig" hutches offered enough space for them lol
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top