Hi Everyone. i haven't posted on this forum before, but i wanted to ask your advice on something. I have five guinea pigs, and one rabbit. My pets mean the world to me. Last winter, to stop them being cold at night, I brought them into the house (we had a sort of run inside). However, I have since noticed and thought of a couple of problems:
1) The temperature difference might effect them quite a lot
2) It did begin to smell after a while. Obviously, they are more important than the smell...
I saw an advert for 'snuggle hutches' (Can't remember the exact name), and wondered if anyone had used them.
Sorry for the length of this. If anyone has any advice at all, please help. Many thanks, Amy

Anyone?

sorry amy mine are strictly indoor piggies all 5 of them i couldn't bear to lock them outside

We used to have a guinea pig that we kept outside, we lived on a hill so the back yard was well enclosed from the elements though, and it always had loads of straw in the hutch to keep it warm. We'd let it have the run of the yard in the daytime and close the door at night to stop cats etc trying to get it.

As far as your guinea pigs go, I don't know how fair it is to put them back outside once they've been inside for so long.

Thanks for your posts. I share the same worries, barclays bank. Sally, I feel bad locking them outside too. When I brought them in for a couple of days, I cleaned them out every day, and they still smelt. Do you have this problem? Anyway, thanks. Amy

Guinea pigs don't smell. I have indoor guinea pigs and they definitely don't smell, and I only clean my current one out once a week because his cage is HUGE.

And if you have brought your piggies inside you cannot then turf them outside into the cold.

If you have them in an outside hutch with lots of hay and a cover over the wire mesh during the night they'd be fine, but you can't keep putting them in the warm and then in the cold.

They are okay if in a warm hutch with plenty of straw, but we used to move ours into a shed at night when it was extremely cold.

Hi. Thanks all. I agree with you, and I'm sure they'd be fine outside. If I had my way, they'd live indoors all year round. I think the general census is outside, so outside they shall stay. Amy

You are not supposed to use straw with guinea pigs as it can damage their eyes.

All the GPs I had have been indoors and have loved it. Apparently they live longer if you keep them indoors.

We kept our guinea's outside all of the time. They lived over 8 years.

We were told that to bring them and then take them back outside to early can be dangerous for them, as they can become use to the warmth inside and then a cold snap or frost can kill them.

We use to place an old carpet over the top of the hutch and have the hutch against the house wall.

I've been keeping guinea pigs for years. Always indoors or at least in a large, well insulated brick-built shed when I first started. Once a guinea pig has been used to being indoors, they shouldn't be put outside again if the temperature is below 60f/15c. I have two now who live indoors, three foot plastic cage with wire top. They are cleaned out every 5 days and don't smell. All mine have lived to be 6 or 7 years of age. People I know who kept theirs outdoors say they only live to be 3 or 4. I wouldn't entertain the idea of keeping them outside.

We always keep our guinea pigs outside. They have a large hutch and also a run and enjoy being outside on the lawn all summer. They graze constantly and we have to keep moving it around or the grass gets nibbled away to nothing! In winter we make sure they have plenty hay to keep warm and cover over the front of the hutch to exclude draughts. If extreme winter weather is expected we'll bring them in overnight but if you put your hand in their sleeping area, where they are cosied up together in their hay, they actually feel warm as toast in there.