Caring For Your Guinea Pig During Winter Months!
Winter is the time of year when a lot of guinea pigs seem to be forgotten due to the dark nights and cold frosts. We hope some of these tips and tricks will help you to save time and money!
Water bottles are likely to freeze overnight so it is always sensible to have a spare incase the ice causes the bottle to split. To save time in the morning it may be wise to have a bottle of water already made up that you can switch with the frozen bottle.
You will notice your guinea pigs eating more when it’s cold which is completely normal, always make sure they have access to hay at all times. Your guinea pig will benefit from lots of vegetables that are high vitamin C to help them strengthen their immune system.
A great tummy warmer for those cold nights is bran mash!
Ingredients
2 table spoons of ground oat bran
½ banana
Warm water
Add two table spoons of oat bran into a bowl with half a mashed banana. Pour over a covering of warm water and stir until you get a porridge like consistency.
As many of you already know our guinea pigs are kept outside. Although guinea pigs originate from warmer climates even their night temperatures do rapidly drop. Lucy and I have found that our guinea pigs do cope far better in the winter months than they do in the summer.
These are a few ways we keep our guinea pigs warm during the winter:
Regular clean outs: Wet bedding needs to be taken out daily to ensure it does not freeze.
Newspaper: When cleaning out put a thick layer of newspaper under your wood shavings or whatever bedding you use, it acts as an insulator and soaks up any urine.
Hutch covers: hutch covers are brilliant for blocking out drafts. Hutch covers can be quite pricey so alternatively you could use tarpaulin.
Cardboard boxes: Cardboard boxes with a hole cut in them make great hidey houses for you guinea pigs, they are cheap alternatives to plastic igloos and your guinea pig can retain body heat in them.
Hay and straw: Both hay and straw are great beddings to keep your guineapig warm
Snuggle safe: These are microwavable heat pads that your pigs can lay on and keep warm.
