Anyone got guinea pigs? I have a question

Hi,

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?

is there a reason you cant keep them outside?

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.

What would we cover the hutch with at night?

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.

Mildez, that's also something we could consider but the cages are so expensive! I might have a look on gumtree for a 2nd hand smaller cage and maybe we can do that..

I am leaning towards leaving their hutch outside permanently though. I think they would be ok.

If they were kept indoors in another room I wouldn't be worried because they still have natural light, but in our garage it is really dark, you need a light to see, and I wouldn't think they would like to be in the dark all the time, or in artificial light..

ATM I have the garage door open so if anything goes missing well, whoops :hide: .. I doubt it,we are in a complex but there is that possibility and I know DF would be more paranoid about it than me..

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 :(

yES They are expensive aren't they? I was luck my DH made one for me out of some scrap metal he had lying around.

We had guinea pigs when we were younger, they were always outside around our dogs and i'm sure the neighbours cats got into our yard but they seemed to survive.. the onyl time they died was when we left my uncle in charge of them when we went on a holiday and he forgot to feed them :(
I think they would be fine outside permanently, we were thinking of getting some for DD1 but weren't sure how they would go with our dogs but i think they would be fine.

ZF - I absolutely LOVE the guinea pigs and think they are the best pet ever for kids. they just sit on our laps for ages and talk to each other.

With regards to keeping them outside, I'm in QLD, it's spring so it's not like they would be cold. In the heat I'll just ensure they have plenty of shade and ice water to keep them cool..

Oh dear it sounds like I want to keep them permanently.. Hmm, they will be hard to give back to DSS.. Maybe we can just tell his Mum that they really smell, then she wont want them ;) DSS can play with them when he's here. Maybe he will want to visit more often then Lol

I am a guinea pig lover too. I had two that lived for 7 years!

They definitely need to be outside in natural light.

Enjoy them! :hug:

DF came home and told me I forgot to put the garage door down Lol. I told him that the lil piggy's need natural light so he is going to move their hutch outside. We are just going to peg a blanket to their hutch at night and hope it doesn't rain until we get a tarp..

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am sure they will be very happy guinea pigs :D

Have you seen what they do when they are happy?? Youll deff want to keep them forever after seeing them 'popcorn' hehe

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