chooklady Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Thank you for your replies. I have just moved my guineas to a wooden hutch which we have lined with polystyrene and put a snuggle safe heat pad in (they are great and last about 10 hours) and they are so much warmer than in the eglu. I am not able to move them indoors so i have convinced my hubby that we need to build them new luxury accommodation with heating!! I got the idea from greenfields rabbit rescue (greenfieldrescue.co.uk)which has detailed instructions to convert a shed with an upstairs sleeping area and a run attached on the side accessable with a catflap. (It should cost no more the£200) We are going to heat it with a ceramic heater like you use in greenhouses. I wish omlet had said thet eglus may not be suitable for winter use when it is very cold and that guineas need to be bought inside. I feel i have wasted alot of money. Put it on e-bay, I'm sure you'll get more than enough to convert your shed. I have 2 guineas, they are in a cage inside the shed, but with this constant cold weather I'm not sure they are warm enough. also they have turned into a bit of a nightmare as my daugther that bought them has turned out to be allergic to them. The heaters look great and not expensive, I think we may have to do something like your set-up over the summer, they are such little darlings I love them. What's on the floor of the shed and is it easy to clean out, the cage we have is so fidly to clean I am really fed up with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanyajb Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 Thank you for your replies. I have just moved my guineas to a wooden hutch which we have lined with polystyrene and put a snuggle safe heat pad in (they are great and last about 10 hours) and they are so much warmer than in the eglu. I am not able to move them indoors so i have convinced my hubby that we need to build them new luxury accommodation with heating!! I got the idea from greenfields rabbit rescue (greenfieldrescue.co.uk)which has detailed instructions to convert a shed with an upstairs sleeping area and a run attached on the side accessable with a catflap. (It should cost no more the£200) We are going to heat it with a ceramic heater like you use in greenhouses. I wish omlet had said thet eglus may not be suitable for winter use when it is very cold and that guineas need to be bought inside. I feel i have wasted alot of money. Put it on e-bay, I'm sure you'll get more than enough to convert your shed. I have 2 guineas, they are in a cage inside the shed, but with this constant cold weather I'm not sure they are warm enough. also they have turned into a bit of a nightmare as my daugther that bought them has turned out to be allergic to them. The heaters look great and not expensive, I think we may have to do something like your set-up over the summer, they are such little darlings I love them. What's on the floor of the shed and is it easy to clean out, the cage we have is so fidly to clean I am really fed up with it! I use either vet bed with something like towels or megazorb underneath the top stays dry but you do have to sweep up the poos daily and wash the bedding about every 5 -7days. When the washing is getting too much and i'm really busy i use newspaper megazorb and hay! If you convert a shed and put levels in make sure they are high enough for you to get under to clean. but make sure the ramps are not steep! You will need to insulate the shed or it will still get very cold! The end result is so worth it my piggies are so happy,active and warm!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooklady Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I've just ordered a heat pad from Amazon, hope it comes quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooklady Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 The heat pad arrived this morning; cleaned the piggies out and sandwiched the heat pad between some newspaper and put it under the hay. I'm much happier now that they will be warmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanyajb Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 hi, what sort of heatpad is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooklady Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 It's called snugglesafe. Its stayed warm for 4 hours, it says it will stay warm for 10 hours although I suppose the temperatures are a bit extreme at the moment but I will not be getting up in the middle of the night to heat it up again.Tthe hours before dawn are nearly always the coldest so I guess it's not perfect, better than nothing though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happybunny Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I think guinea-pigs are much more hardy than we give them credit for. I used to bring mine into the shed for the winter and it was always a bit depressing to see them shut in together (ours are boys and they get on eachother's nerves at times). For the last few years they have been free-range outside during the day with a wooden hutch and one of those 'hutch snuggles' for the night. They seem so much happier now and it really pleases me to see them trotting round the garden and fighting the pekins for carrots! If they don't like the cold they stay in with loads of hay. My husband had a guinea-pig as a boy (he use to breed them) and it escaped and lived under the shed for 5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanyajb Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 I think guinea-pigs are much more hardy than we give them credit for. I used to bring mine into the shed for the winter and it was always a bit depressing to see them shut in together (ours are boys and they get on eachother's nerves at times). For the last few years they have been free-range outside during the day with a wooden hutch and one of those 'hutch snuggles' for the night. They seem so much happier now and it really pleases me to see them trotting round the garden and fighting the pekins for carrots! If they don't like the cold they stay in with loads of hay. My husband had a guinea-pig as a boy (he use to breed them) and it escaped and lived under the shed for 5 years. I 've never heard of guineas freeranging in the garden! sounds very nice for them but what about predators? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happybunny Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I 've never heard of guineas freeranging in the garden! sounds very nice for them but what about predators? Yes, the predators like it too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooklady Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I think they are fairly tough. I remember as a child that there was a guines pig living wild in a neighbours garden, the garden was very overgrown so "Ooops, word censored!"ody apart from me knew it was there, I was always trying to catch it but never managed to, too quick for me. It was there a few years and it seemed quite happy and healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hi, I've just joined the forum to see what other people have said about keeping guinea pigs outside in this cold weather. I had to take one of my piggies to the vet yesterday as I noticed she wasn't eating as well as usual. To my horror the vet has told me that she has frost bite on her feet, as do my others after checking. The vet has told me to bring them into the house / or a shed and to keep them indoors until the cold snap has eased off a bit. She said that piggies can live outside but that they should be off the ground i.e. not be on grass as it gets frosty / frozen. I too am very annoyed that Omlet does make their Eglu sound an ideal home for piggies both in the Summer and Winter, which is not so. I will now only use their Eglu during the warmer months and now have to invest in another hutch for the colder months. Omlet should be careful, as many owners may leave their piggies out like me and find they can get quite sick. It does clearly state that the Eglu is suitable for piggies in ALL weathers - it doesn't at any point say that piggies should be brought indoors or into a shed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAB Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Ah, maybe that is why mine have been OK outside - they are not on grass (as our grass sadly is likely to have some contamination due to previously being where the slag from mining); we have our eglu on slabs and with a large cover over run in winter the ground doesn't get frosty and we throw in some hemcore and dry leaves (which they love). We have kept an eye on their feet as one of them has long baldy ankles and feet which we always worry must get cold, but they seem fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
