Winter proofing my hutch

[Swan&Honey]

Good evening, I have 2 female guinea pigs in a pets@home XL chartwell 6ft double storey hutch. I am getting seriously anxious over the cold weather and making sure they are comfortable. Please could you guys help me! The hutch is in a sheltered corner backing onto our lounge wall, we are adding a hutch hugger and a hutch snuggle and a doubled over blanket under the cover at night. I am using newspaper, then vet bedding in the whole hutch and have 2 fleecy hides and 2 snuggle mats for the 2 bedroom areas(one GP won’t go up or down the ramp so they tend to stick to their own sleeping compartments!) I plan to make a cardboard hide to go over these fleece hides and stuff with hay and around it(should I cover this with insulation as listed below?)They are alpaca GPs so not sure it the extra fur keeps them warmer?!
Questions for you are:
Do I completely fill the whole hutch with hay in the winter or just stuff the sleeping compartment?
Should I line the inside of the hutch with this too?ThermaWrap Self-Adhesive Pet House Insulation 1000mm x 7m
Where do I put the GPs when I need to clean out the hutch as I know it’ll be too cold for the run and we shouldn’t bring them inside due to the temperature change.
Can we not hold them in winter or give them any extra exercise?
I guess we take the blanket off during the day but keep the hutch cover on?
I'm thinking of a plastic greenhouse to go over the hutch as a bit more protection from wind/rain - anyone done this? They seem to be about £50 from Argos?
I’m going to get a thermometer for the hutch too but so worried I won’t be able to keep it warm enough or have any interaction with my babies?
Lastly, I keep topping up the hay each day to make it snuggly but how often should I change it all?
Thanks for your help from a very anxious GP owner.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

My boys live in a hutch in my shed.

15 degrees or less is too cold for piggies - their comfort range is 18-22 degrees - so while keeping them outside is possible, it takes a lot of work. As the nights are consistently below 15 degrees (getting down to 5 degrees in my area next week), then it is essential lots of measures are taken

First important thing to note is that fabric and fleece beds/bedding is not advisable to use outside from Autumn onwards (it can also be a problem in a damp summer). When its colder they will not dry properly and the piggies will always be on wet bedding. Fleece can also wick moisture from the air and stay wet. Its best for outdoor piggies to just be bedded with an absorbent layer underneath - newspaper, shavings, aubiose, megazorb and then completely stuff the entire hutch full of hay.

You will also need snuggle safe microwaveable heat pads. They are essential for outdoor piggies to provide a heat source. I have four of them between my two piggies. They have one in each hide and then the other two elsewhere in the hutch so they always have somewhere to do. They also do slightly help heat the air around them.

Do I completely fill the whole hutch with hay in the winter or just stuff the sleeping compartment?

Fill the entire hutch.

Should I line the inside of the hutch with this too?ThermaWrap Self-Adhesive Pet House Insulation 1000mm x 7m

Yes, layers of insulation is important.

Where do I put the GPs when I need to clean out the hutch as I know it’ll be too cold for the run and we shouldn’t bring them inside due to the temperature change. Can we not hold them in winter or give them any extra exercise?

You will need to just clean out around them while they are still in the hutch. They will move to the opposite end of the hutch while you do the other side.

They cannot be put into a run on the grass when it is cold/damp (so from now really). They also cannot be brought inside so any exercise for outdoor Piggies is rather tricky. However, your two have a good sized hutch (t is only the single level that counts though as upper levels are bonus spaces only - piggies are ground roaming creatures so need a single level living space as some, as you are finding, wont use ramps), so they do have a nice amount of space to run around in

I guess we take the blanket off during the day but keep the hutch cover on?

Allowing them light is a good thing, you just dont want them to get cold. You can always just remove the blanket from the mesh part of the hutch and keep it over the bedroom part.

I'm thinking of a plastic greenhouse to go over the hutch as a bit more protection from wind/rain - anyone done this? They seem to be about £50 from Argos?

You can certainly try it. Just want to make sure it is ventilating on sunny winter days so that it doesnt get too warm inside
It might be that it flaps too much in wind so allows draughts anyway, but you would have to see how it works.

I’m going to get a thermometer for the hutch too but so worried I won’t be able to keep it warm enough or have any interaction with my babies?

It is not always easy keeping them warm enough and it may be you need to add extra measures, change plans as the winter goes on.

Lastly, I keep topping up the hay each day to make it snuggly but how often should I change it all?

Any wet hay and areas of bedding need to be removed every day (I tend to do it in the evening before tucking them in).
A full hutch clean will depend on the piggies but 1-2 times a week would be sufficient.


I would personally close the ramp off for over winter, particularly if one is not using it.
I have a double storey hutch but I dont use it as such. I find it so much easier to just keep the one upper level of the hutch warm (I do have the benefit that my boys are in a shed, so it is always at least 5 degrees warmer than outside temperatures anyway). It also saves on hay for bedding if I am only filling one level and I can spread the four snuggle safes across the 6ft span of the hutch so it is warm wherever they go.

 

[Swan&Honey]

Thanks so much for your advice, I’ve just spent a fortune on vet bedding and all the review were really good and told it was suitable for outside hutch?!
Last question is can we not have any cuddle time, we’ve had the GPs since July and worked really hard to take them by having cuddles each day. Seems sad for them and us if they can’t have cuddles for months now :-(

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks so much for your advice, I’ve just spent a fortune on vet bedding and all the review were really good and told it was suitable for outside hutch?!
Last question is can we not have any cuddle time, we’ve had the GPs since July and worked really hard to take them by having cuddles each day. Seems sad for them and us if they can’t have cuddles for months now :-(

Vetbed is very nice, you can certainly use it in a good summer. It’s just that the experience is that fabric beddings outside in a UK damp winter are problematic.
Vetbed might keep liquids locked away better than fleece would do in winter but you’d still want to be very sure they the top layer is staying dry and that the colder conditions aren’t reducing its ability to wick properly. It’s just not something I’d personally risk with fully outdoor piggies in the depths of winter. A shed or garage offers different protection which can make it a bit easier as it is that much warmer and can dry quicker - having said that, even with my shed dwelling piggies I still won’t use fabric bedding in winter
If you do decide to try to use it, you will still need to fill the hutch full with hay so they can snuggle into it and fill the air space

You might be able to lift them out for a quick cuddle in the warmer part of a warmer day but you don’t want them to get cold. It’s going to depend on the winter weather and temperatures as to what is possible. You can still interact with them - offering food from your hand, chin scratches but you don’t want to allow too much draught to get into the hutch.
Mine do come out into the shed floor to play in winter and I can interact with them then but on the colder days, it may only be a very brief time and sometimes they may not get out of their hutch at all

 

[Piggies&buns]

Just seen you mention putting layers of insulation on the inside (I must’ve misread). You don’t want to put anything inside if they are going to be able to chew it

 

[Swan&Honey]

the roof should be fine. They don’t seem to chew much anyway!