At my son’s requests we’ve got the nursery school guinea pigs staying with us for half term. They usually live in their box/pen in the classroom. Our plan was to keep them in our conservatory. BUT, its not heated and is bloody cold on a winter night. How best to keep the buggers warm (apart from a Peruvian vat of hot oil).?

We brought them into the kitchen last night, but the smell is driving my wife nuts.

We had guinea pigs and there was barely any odours. Is the cage/bedding clean?

It was clean. More the fact my missus doesn’t like the general smell of hay/feed etc in the kitchen.

I’m all for this:

Lots of bedding in the cage.. And maybe some old carpet off cuts or blankets over tth top for insulation?

It’s the weekend ,treat yourself.

Yay…..

Ours live in an unheated shed. Old piece of carpet under the cage, couple of old blankets/towels over the top.

To be fair, they come from the Andes and are probably hardier than we think.

If the school asks why they gave you a beige guinea pig, and get a black and white one back.. Just explain that they shed thier coats and the fur doesn’t always grow back tth same colour. 🙂

Our Guinea Pigs live outside in a hutch. They’ll be fine in a cage with a bit of bedding.

My wife’s a teacher, when she taught in Bristol they had a class hamster. After one break the kids had to write a ‘what I did on my holidays’ story.

The kid who’d had the hamster and who’s mother had dutifully returned it that morning wrote how he’d become ‘a murderer’ during the holidays.

He’d been crouched down holding the hamster when it jumped off his lap. He’d leaned forward to catch it and had lost his balance. The hamster was under his knee when all his weight landed on it.

Have a good week!

It was clean. More the fact my missus doesn’t like the general smell of hay/feed etc in the kitchen.

Well as long as she is ok about explaining to the kids why the things dead then just chuck them back in the conservatory ;0). Or you can just least keep the food in there, they don’t need it constantly, feed them more veg instead.

Try to strike-up a conversation, you know, build bridges.

“Weeeeek eeeek weeeek weeek weeeeee”

Smell??
They don’t really smell.. If they are eating hay that can be a bit sweet smelling but nothing horrid. Are they in a hutch/box full of hay, or is it fleece type material? If it’s fleece that might need a wash.. They really need cleaning out daily

If they are indoor pigs I’d not put them somewhere really cold overnight. They won’t be used to it. Plenty of hay, fresh veg (not onions or potatoes) cucumber, pepper, carrot always seems to go down well, and plenty of fresh water.

I’m sure your counting the days until they go back!!!

Can you put them in the conservatory during the day and bring them in at night, or is that far too logical an idea?

Surprised they smell (though I’ve only got experience of dwarf hamsters). Our Cav’s cage only smells when the bedding’s overdue being cleaned out.

(Yes, we have a hamster named after Mark Cavendish, I’m sure he’d be very proud.)

There really shouldn’t be a smell at all if they’ve been cleaned properly and if she really doesn’t like the faint smell of hay then you are a more tolerant man than me!

If they can snuggle up to each other in a big pile of hay (eg football size per guinea), more preferably in hay in a draught-free guinea house in their cage they should be OK, as long as they are acclimatised and have a lot of warm bedding they can survive outside temperatures. Draught and damp not good though.

As a guinea lover I do cringe a bit imagining what school guineas go through, send them here and I’ll rescue them!

Ours survive outside in upto -5.

They will be fine.