We bought DSS 2 guinea pigs for his birthday. We are keeping them here at the moment and TBH I want to keep them here forever (I'm in love!!) but my concern is this: We have their hutch currently in the garage. We don't have a car in there, it's just like an extra junk room, but my concern is there is no natural light in there unless we have the garage door open.
The problem with keeping the garage door open is that I have to then keep the door to the house closed, so my cat can't get out the front, but then anyone could steal stuff from the garage and I wouldn't hear them..
Also what if we were to be out all day, the guinea pigs would be in the dark all day. We could leave the light on, but it's not the same..
We do get them out of their hutch and play with them on our laps etc, but is that enough exposure to natural light? How much natural light do guinea pigs need?
We could, but there are lots of cats in our complex and I don't want them to get stalked all day. I have introduced them to my cat, my cat was fine, sniffed and walked away, but the guinea pigs were terrified. They do have a spot in their hutch they can hide though. I just didn't want them to be stressed out.
I've always kept my guinea pigs outside (owned a whole 3 in my life =P one when i was little so was a family pet, had Sega for 5+ years and Snes who only lasted a year =( )
but they were always outside, i would raise the cage a bit so it wasnt on the ground with the frost, and sometimes just put a tarp over the cage. I guess i never thought about the light cause they were outside. but i guess aslong as they get a good few hours of outside timeduring the day you can always bring them back in at night.
my family pet guinea pig Oliver got attacked by dogs one night and they didnt get through the cage, they bent it and cut themselves on it, but he was fine cause he could just hide. obviously not all pigs and dogs and cats are the same... but if you had them out while you were home you would hear if something was attacking them
Problem is the hutch is too big to move around all the time otherwise we would. DF can move it, but I can't see him moving it in and out every day. So we either want it in, or out. I'm thinking maybe they would be ok outside. We have a nice shady spot and they can hide so they should be ok. We could just cover them with a tarp at night I guess. I know nothing would be able to get them, I just wouldn't want them frightened all the time.
Thanks for your advice I'll chat to DF and see what he thinks. I think DSS mother was going to keep them in a shed anyway though, they have a dog outside.. Not sure if their garage/shed has natural light.
I can't help with your question but is it possible for you to get a smaller cage for outside use for when you are at home? Do you have your own yard and any grass? We have 6 piggies (all non pregnant females) and keep them in a very large bird avery with a cement floor but we do put them in 2 smaller cages a few times a week for them to sun bake and eat the fresh grass which they love. In summer because of the heat we freeze bottles of water so they lie against the ice to keep them cool. I know they don't store VitC so you can give them a supliment but I don't know about VitD which comes from sun. Most piggies in other countries aren't kept outside (due to the weather) so I assume no sun must be ok for them. I joined a cavy forum years ago and got my head bitten off from almost every member from having mine outside.
We had lots of guinea pigs when I was younger and they lived outside all year round and this was in UK. They were 'free range' in that they could roam the garden freely and had a hutch they could go into whenever. There were cats around who were curious about them but we never had any issues with cats (one of the guinea pigs would chase the cat) but did with a hawk or something taking some babies. To me living outside seems a better idea than in a very dark environment.
With regards to free ranging - Don't they go away?? I just took them outside and they had a nibble on the grass but I was watching them closely and I caught them when they bolted because I was scared if i let them they'd just disappear and I wouldn't be able to catch them. DSS (and I) would have been very upset if i'd lost his guinea pigs
Anyone got guinea pigs? I have a question
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I'll chat to DF and see what he thinks. I think DSS mother was going to keep them in a shed anyway though, they have a dog outside.. Not sure if their garage/shed has natural light.
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