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Outdoor piggies UK advice (- 4c)

Mummybean

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi

We live in the uk and have outdoor piggies in a hutch. They are usually outside year round even in winter (very common in uk). However this last couple of weeks the temperature has been dropping to around -4c at night and -2c during the day and later in the week will drop to -6. So we made the decision to bring them into the house temporarily. They are in an indoor cage in our livingroom and living their best lives 🙈. However this cannot be a long term thing for us and next week when temp goes up to 10c we need to get them back out. I’m just worried about the shock of going from 20c indoors back outside. Will the shock harm them? How are other piggy owners in uk coping this week? We’ve had snow where we are and I honestly don’t know if I should have brought them in or not but I was worried the cold would kill them.
 
Hello. I think you have made the right decision to bring them in. My two piggies are in the garage and it’s still very cold in there. I would be so worried if they were in the garden. With regards to putting them back outside have you got a cool porch you could keep them in to lower their temperature a bit first?
 
You’ve done the right thing in bringing them indoors if you can’t maintain their warmth outside.
However you do need to try to avoid sudden temperature changes so suddenly putting them back out will be a shock for them. Anything more than a 5 degree change in one go is too much.
Managing the downward temperature change gradually is important but also think about the rest of winter and how best to manage it so they don’t need to keep coming in and out.

Is the hutch in a sheltered position?
has the hutch got plenty of insulation on it (foil insulation/bubblewrap/thermal hutch covers etc)?
 
As others have already said they can't go back outside fully after being in a fully heated room for more than a day or two..
A sheltered area in a porch or car free garage might work, but now they have got used to being in the warm, it would be dangerous to put them back out in the cold, with such a big temperature difference
It would be like expecting you to live in the house and then go out and about without a jacket.

Is there somewhere more sheltered that you could put them?
 
I remember when I had outdoor pigs and one year it was reaching -5 outside. We brought them inside but put them in a room with the heating off and the window open and had to have them in a large storage box as we didn’t have the room for a cage. We then put them back out on a mild day. Unfortunately, now your pigs have been in a heated house, it will be too cold to put them back out. Could you put them in an unused garage or shed until Spring if you can’t keep them in the house?
 
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