squeakysmallpaws
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi,
I was hoping for some advice.
I moved a few months ago back to London with work. My guinea pigs were previously kept indoors but as I've moved from a house to a flat with much less space I bought a hutch for the garden for them.
The hutch itself was a pretty basic one in terms of wood quality but I decided to buy a "cheaper" hutch and spend a couple of hundred pounds insulating it myself. The hutch has loft insulation all around it - even underneath. I used a mixture of different things, the bubble wrap style insulation and the foil type insulation (all designed for keeping houses insulated and purchased from B&Q). The entire hutch was then felted. On top of that I bought a thermal cover to put over the whole thing.
I also screwed in a wireless thermometer which has a small neat base station in the house. It's a really handy little thing as it tells me what the temperature is in the hutch. (For anyone interested I got it from Amazon - it's called ClimeMet wireless thermometer - it wasn't very expensive, about £20).
It's the bank holiday so I've used the time to start getting the guinea pigs winter ready and have moved them into the shed.
I've placed carpet underneath the hutch around the back and blankets on top. The weather has certainly turned cooler although I wouldn't necessarily call it cold.
I'm noticing around 2am that the hutch is still dropping to 15 degrees. Which is ok (the high temperature during the day has been 19 degrees - so not a big sudden drop and it decreases slowly - for example right now at 7pm the hutch is still 18 degrees - the same temperature as my flat!) and they have lots of fleecy cosies to snuggles into), but I'm worried about when the weather really starts getting chilly. There's not much more I can think of in terms of insulation.
The shed doesn't have electric and there's no way to get electricity to the shed. I'm in a flat and not on the ground floor. While I understand that insulation prevents heat from escaping it doesn't do anything to generate heat and that's where I'm looking for some help.
The hutch is raised off the ground. I wondered about buying some water bottles and placing these underneath the hutch (obviously not inside the hutch) hoping that the heat from them will keep the floor warm and help to generate some heat.
I will buy some snuggle safe heat pads aswell to put inside.
I really would like to get some sort of heater in there but I hear gas fires can be potentially dangerous because of the Co2 emissions. Also, if I got a gas fire and just switched it on for an hour or two in an evening I'm worried that turning off will cause a "sudden drop" in temperature which I know is dangerous.
So I guess my overall question is, does anyone here have any ideas how I can keep the shed nice and cosy during the really cold weather when there is no access to electricity in a shed?
If people have used Gas fires and find that, that works - that would be good to hear. I just had some worries about them.
This will be their first winter outside but they have been outside since May of this year.
I'd prefer to try and keep them outside because they have much more space in the hutch then they would have indoors, but of course if I really can't find a way to keep the temperature nice and stable for them they will have to come indoors. Just thought would ask for some hints and tips from people who may have effectively dealt with the same situation.
Thanks
I was hoping for some advice.
I moved a few months ago back to London with work. My guinea pigs were previously kept indoors but as I've moved from a house to a flat with much less space I bought a hutch for the garden for them.
The hutch itself was a pretty basic one in terms of wood quality but I decided to buy a "cheaper" hutch and spend a couple of hundred pounds insulating it myself. The hutch has loft insulation all around it - even underneath. I used a mixture of different things, the bubble wrap style insulation and the foil type insulation (all designed for keeping houses insulated and purchased from B&Q). The entire hutch was then felted. On top of that I bought a thermal cover to put over the whole thing.
I also screwed in a wireless thermometer which has a small neat base station in the house. It's a really handy little thing as it tells me what the temperature is in the hutch. (For anyone interested I got it from Amazon - it's called ClimeMet wireless thermometer - it wasn't very expensive, about £20).
It's the bank holiday so I've used the time to start getting the guinea pigs winter ready and have moved them into the shed.
I've placed carpet underneath the hutch around the back and blankets on top. The weather has certainly turned cooler although I wouldn't necessarily call it cold.
I'm noticing around 2am that the hutch is still dropping to 15 degrees. Which is ok (the high temperature during the day has been 19 degrees - so not a big sudden drop and it decreases slowly - for example right now at 7pm the hutch is still 18 degrees - the same temperature as my flat!) and they have lots of fleecy cosies to snuggles into), but I'm worried about when the weather really starts getting chilly. There's not much more I can think of in terms of insulation.
The shed doesn't have electric and there's no way to get electricity to the shed. I'm in a flat and not on the ground floor. While I understand that insulation prevents heat from escaping it doesn't do anything to generate heat and that's where I'm looking for some help.
The hutch is raised off the ground. I wondered about buying some water bottles and placing these underneath the hutch (obviously not inside the hutch) hoping that the heat from them will keep the floor warm and help to generate some heat.
I will buy some snuggle safe heat pads aswell to put inside.
I really would like to get some sort of heater in there but I hear gas fires can be potentially dangerous because of the Co2 emissions. Also, if I got a gas fire and just switched it on for an hour or two in an evening I'm worried that turning off will cause a "sudden drop" in temperature which I know is dangerous.
So I guess my overall question is, does anyone here have any ideas how I can keep the shed nice and cosy during the really cold weather when there is no access to electricity in a shed?
If people have used Gas fires and find that, that works - that would be good to hear. I just had some worries about them.
This will be their first winter outside but they have been outside since May of this year.
I'd prefer to try and keep them outside because they have much more space in the hutch then they would have indoors, but of course if I really can't find a way to keep the temperature nice and stable for them they will have to come indoors. Just thought would ask for some hints and tips from people who may have effectively dealt with the same situation.
Thanks
