What To Do About Floor Time?

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CarnivalPiggy

CarnivalPiggy

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Hello! It was thirty three degrees a little while ago, not sure what it is now. I have the piggies out for floor time and was using the kitchen for two hours, but people passing throughout will probably step on one of them. They're in the bathroom now with full supervision and all harmful bits taken away, but it's not even with the windows open and it's even hotter in my bedroom. I'm not sure what to do about making it cooler etc. Any advice?

Also, since it's much hotter in my bedroom than the other rooms nd they need to go back in soon, any ideas on what to do to make it cooler? I have the window open slightly but trying to prevent flies or any bugs getting in to prevent anything like fly strike happening. Haven't got a fan and the shops have closed by now. I don't like the atmosphere in my room either, feels too stuffy and think one of the only things I can do is clean them out fully but just did so a few days ago. Sorry for chattering on! Thanks :)
 
have you seen this thread ?

https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/hot-weather-management-and-heat-strokes.105317/

This is a section of it ...


What you can do during a heat wave:
- keep your piggies out of full sun at all times. If they are on the lawn (preferably not during the hottest hours) or in a hot indoors room, place wet towels or fleece over the run or cage and keep these damp. The evaporating water will cool the surrounding air.

- move your indoors guinea pigs to the coolest room in your house. Air this room as much as safely possible during the cooler hours between late afternoon/evening until early morning, so you can get it as cool as possible; run a fan near window to help bring the cooler air inside.
During the hottest hours of the day, please close any windows and draw your curtains where the sun is going to shine on to keep the room cooler than outdoors. If you are at home, you can close and open windows as the sun moves round; if you are out working, please consider which windows are impacted.
If you can, turn on your air conditioning or a fan, but please do not blast your guinea pigs with it directly.
Do not open all your windows wide with a fan running on full on very hot day - all you do, is to encourage the even hotter outdoors air inside!

- move the hutch away from full sun and hot patios that throw the heat around. If that is not possible, move the piggies out of a hutch or hot shed to a cooler place for the duration of the heat wave.

- wrap a frozen bottle of water in a towel or a sock or use freezable gel cool bags or pods instead.
You can also improvise with cool bag freezer blocs if you have those or even by putting your microwaveable snugglesafe heat pads in the fridge (NOT the freezer!).
Please remember to leave room for the ice to expand when putting a water filled plastic bottle into the freezer, or you will get soaked bedding!

- place a ceramic tile in their cage/hutch for them to suck heat from their body.

- Wiping your piggies gently down with a cool but not ice cold damp rag can also help to lower the temperature in a guinea pig that is suffering in the heat. Don't cold-shock overheated animals to prevent cardiac arrest.

- feed more watery veg like cucumber, chopped celery sticks, lettuce or melon, but please don't overdo it; too much can cause diarrhea!

- make sure that they have access to fresh, cool water at all times. You can use ice cubes or crushed ice if you are away during the heat of the day and need the water to stay cool for as long as possible. Sippy water bottles that open at the top will allow that.
Otherwise, please refresh the water regularly. Keep any water bottles out of full sun.

- Please DO NOT feed frozen treats! Piggies can badly injure their lips and tongues when nibbling to eagerly!

- give long-haired pet piggies a short haircut or at least cut the back and sides short and only leave a thin long top layer for show! They will feel a lot perkier without wearing the equivalent of skiing gear on a tropical beach. Their coats will grow back again for the cooler autumn and winter!
 
Yep! I'll read it again. It says to move your guinea pigs to the coolest room, does that mean the cage or for floor time? Also, if it's really hot in the room their cage is in and isn't getting any better into the night, what should I do?
 
It's so difficult this. Obviously , the best thing is to keep them in an area where the air temperature does not go above 25 degrees celcius. If you can't move the whole cage, then , floor time, or a temporary cage is the best option. My guinea pigs are in a run on the kitchen floor at the moment.

Wiebke has put some good ideas to help keep them cool i.e. wet towels over cages & windows, using a fan ( sorry - I know you don't have one) , ice blocks or water frozen in bottles.
 
Would I be better off putting them in the cage for now and making a run for tonight? Had a big thunder/lightning storm yesterday (somehow the guinea pigs didn't seem affected in the slightest. I was the one panicking after being woken up at 3am), and will be having one again tonight so does it make a difference where they are at night and if they're in a cage or run then?
 
Oh gosh - are we going to have more thunderstorms? I think you need to put them in whichever situation will be cooler for them.
 
From what someone told me, probably. I'm not entirely sure though so I might be completely wrong. I think I will put them in the kitchen tonight in a pen, but I've got to worry about my dog, Zeb. She goes through the kitchen to lay on the tiles and keep cool or to get to the puppy pads in the utility room. She doesn't really care about the piggies, but I'll probably spend my night staying up. The problem is two members of my family don't take heat stroke in piggies seriously enough because they don't show many symptoms at times :(

@Wiebke any tips for runs in kitchens for heat management? I've gone through most of your threads that I can see about it but I saw you've been taking care of the elder piggies and they survived, so I hope it's okay to tag you about this.
 
I'm sorry other people in your house don't understand the problem. My OH is the same - he's gone away for the weekend so I was able to set up a run in the kitchen . runaround run.webp

My run has a lid to it . Are you able to cover your run with something ?

I also put some bricks at the sides just in case something got into the house which could try to lift a side of the run up.

I have a metal wire tied to the brick and I attach the brick with a carabiner clip .

today 003.webp
 
I have the type of pen with the tall gates with the thin poles to sort of lock the gates together. If you don't know what I mean, I'll find a link to it :)

I should be able to find the green net that goes over it if that'll suffice? I think I have a few bricks somewhere but I don't think I have a clip or wire. Would a cable tie be okay or should I find something else? Sorry for the questions, I've just seen so many piggies dying online and can't risk my three leaving me to be honest.
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
I have the type of pen with the tall gates with the thin poles to sort of lock the gates together. If you don't know what I mean, I'll find a link to it :)

I should be able to find the green net that goes over it if that'll suffice? I think I have a few bricks somewhere but I don't think I have a clip or wire. Would a cable tie be okay or should I find something else? Sorry for the questions, I've just seen so many piggies dying online and can't risk my three leaving me to be honest.
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Have you got a thermometer to check your room temperatures?
 
I have a thermometer for things like checking humans temps if that's okay? I wasn't prepared for this honestly, heat never hits my part except for the odd nineteen or so degrees in the summer.
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
I have a thermometer for things like checking humans temps if that's okay? I wasn't prepared for this honestly, heat never hits my part except for the odd nineteen or so degrees in the summer.
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It would be handy to have a room thermometer . I was just wondering what sort of temperatures you are getting indoors . Whichever way we look at it - it's hot at the moment and the coolest room will be downstairs .
 
PiggyOwner said:
It would be handy to have a room thermometer . I was just wondering what sort of temperatures you are getting indoors . Whichever way we look at it - it's hot at the moment and the coolest room will be downstairs .
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That's true. Could I get one from tesco? Also, just went into my room and my mum very kindly changed the bedding so it's more fresher, but it still feels hotter in my room than in the kitchen.
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
That's true. Could I get one from tesco? Also, just went into my room and my mum very kindly changed the bedding so it's more fresher, but it still feels hotter in my room than in the kitchen.
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You should be able to get one from an big Tesco Store - if your Mum is happy to take you.
 
I think my mum had something to drink so she can't drive now :( Either way, she said she wasn't going out anymore tonight as she's been driving around all day and lost of a lot of petrol money from it. I know it isn't convenient today, but could I get it tomorrow?

edit; also any alternatives to fleece covering some of the floor? Only have a small towel and a old bedcoat, would puppy pads be okay?
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
I think my mum had something to drink so she can't drive now :( Either way, she said she wasn't going out anymore tonight as she's been driving around all day and lost of a lot of petrol money from it. I know it isn't convenient today, but could I get it tomorrow?

edit; also any alternatives to fleece covering some of the floor? Only have a small towel and a old bedcoat, would puppy pads be okay?
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puppy pads are really good as a base layer. I like to cover y puppy pads with a layer of fleece as my guinea pigs chew the puppy pads otherwise. If they are going to be on that surface all day , I also put some old towels down on top of the puppy pads and under the fleece - for more absorbency.
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
I think my mum had something to drink so she can't drive now :( Either way, she said she wasn't going out anymore tonight as she's been driving around all day and lost of a lot of petrol money from it. I know it isn't convenient today, but could I get it tomorrow?

edit; also any alternatives to fleece covering some of the floor? Only have a small towel and a old bedcoat, would puppy pads be okay?
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If you haven't got a thermometer - you're best relying on your own instincts. Guinea pig like the sort of temperatures humans like so, if you feel hot, your guinea pigs will feel hot.

I am going to post a separate thread about thermometers to see what other forum members think.
 
Mum's gone to look for some blankets in the shed but I don't think she found any. I have a small towel that's probably a little under or just a meter length wise and a bedcoat as well as the puppy pads. If I can't find anything else, I'm guessing a few shown puppy pads would be okay? One or two hay trays/litter trays will be covering some of it anyway.

I'll check my room and the kitchen again now and do a rough comparison :)
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
Mum's gone to look for some blankets in the shed but I don't think she found any. I have a small towel that's probably a little under or just a meter length wise and a bedcoat as well as the puppy pads. If I can't find anything else, I'm guessing a few shown puppy pads would be okay? One or two hay trays/litter trays will be covering some of it anyway.

I'll check my room and the kitchen again now and do a rough comparison :)
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It's looking like your Mum is helping you - which is really great . I'm sure you will be fine with puppy pads.
 
It is :D She's really good with the guinea pigs. My kitchen is still cooler than my bedroom so when the other two have gone to bed, I'll quickly do the pen. I'm sweating myself from just walking.

Poor piggies are getting snappy at each other now so I'll have to do something.
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
It is :D She's really good with the guinea pigs. My kitchen is still cooler than my bedroom so when the other two have gone to bed, I'll quickly do the pen. I'm sweating myself from just walking.

Poor piggies are getting snappy at each other now so I'll have to do something.
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You are a true Guinea Pig Slave - I'm proud of you.
 
Just remembered, how are windows with lightening? Their normal cage is close to the window but they've been fine, just unsure with how faraway you should be from windows in storms.
 
Also, small change of plans. I'm going to have them in the utility room but the washing machine will be off so I'm guessing it's ok.
 
CarnivalPiggy said:
Just remembered, how are windows with lightening? Their normal cage is close to the window but they've been fine, just unsure with how faraway you should be from windows in storms.
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Lightning can strike windows, resulting in the window being shattered. Our cage is near a window too.
 
They were fine, thankfully! I kept going over them with a small slightly damp towel. Thanks a lot for the help with this and I'll be sure to buy a thermometer soon :D

No lightning or thunder for me, anyone else? The weather is rather dark right now, but it should be sunny pretty soon so hopefully I can get the piggies on the grass! It's been ages since they've been on. Is the grass thread in the food bit? iPads playing up.
 
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