Beyond the Hutch

06/08/2020

🌞🌞 Heatwave in the UK 🌞🌞

Last week (not even on the hottest day) I recorded temperatures in these hideys in the sun. The results speak for themselves!

Temperature in the shed with air con unit was 25 degrees Celsius.

Outside in the shade was 24 degrees.

As you can see, inside a hutch, eglu or in a run was more than 10 degrees higher and in high risk category for guinea pigs and other small animals! Every year many Guinea pigs die of heatstroke, please please prepare now for the coming heatwave.

Indoor pigs should be moved to the coolest room (i.e one not facing the morning sun) and be offered ice packs, large tiles to cool down on, watery veg.

Outdoor pigs should be moved either indoors (anywhere temporary is better than being left out! The bath, a run indoors on a blanket, a dog crate... or find a shaded area that doesn’t get the sun.

These hideys are, quite literally, death traps. Piggies being prey animals will still hide in them as they feel safe, regardless of the temperature! A damp sheet over the run or a reflective sun cover will give them better protection.

Invest in a min / max thermometer, it is surprising how hot they get. Heatstroke is a killer, by the time you see the symptoms it’s usually too late.

I don’t wish to scaremonger but act now! Freeze some bottles of water ready to use, find the coolest spot you can move them to, and don’t let your pets become a very sad statistic.

Temperatures over the next few days are forecast to be much much higher than when I did this test!

19/07/2020

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

19/07/2020

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about cage size. I’ll try to formulate those thoughts into something useful, but in brief:

* Who decided that 4’ x 2’ was the minimum size for a pair of pigs?
* why does anybody sell 80cm cages - is there any purpose for them at all (not guinea pigs) - should we campaign to abolish them?
* how can we educate people to expand and enrich their piggies lives?
* if I were a guinea pig, what accommodation would I chose for myself and why?

06/02/2020

February Raffle!

Win a box of goodies from the ever-excellent Piggie Parcels!

Lots of lovely bags of forage to interest your piggies, all beautifully and sustainably packed.

£1 a slot, limit 3 slots per person. Comment with how many slots and paid, and I’ll allocate numbers randomly.

PayPal (friends / family please) to our neutering fund (we have 3-5 boars to neuter!)

https://paypal.me/pools/c/8lAUHWtg9F

Once the slots are filled we will choose the lucky winner with an online random number generator

Everyone who enters will also be given a unique code for a FREE bag of forage when you order from Piggie Parcels

1 Yvonne Scully
2 Mel Batson
3 Donna
4 Jo Waters
5 Charlotte Pepper
6 Leela Jane
7 Lucy Alice Nunn
8 Clair Missen
9 Charlotte Pepper
10 Rosemary Hall
11 Yvonne Scully
12 Leela Jane
13 Mel Batson
14 Clair Missen
15 Becky Williams
16 Becky Williams
17 Becky Williams
18 Lucy Alice Nunn
19 Jo Waters
20 Donna
21 Rosemary Hall
22 Donna
23 Leela Jane
24 Charlotte Pepper
25 Jo Waters
26 Clair Missen
27 Yvonne Scully
28 Mel Batson
29 Rosemary Hall
30 Lucy Alice Nunn

07/01/2020

Go to paypal.me/EAGPR and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.

05/01/2020

Indoors or Outdoors? Where to keep your guinea pigs sometimes divides opinion, but we have both indoors and out here at the rescue so I thought I'd write about our experiences https://beyondthehutch.blogspot.com/2020/01/indoors-or-outdoors-our-recent-piggy.html

We believe that guinea pigs deserve better than a hutch, and encourage pet owners to think beyond the hutch.

04/01/2020

See our new blog at

Beyondthehutch.blogspot.com

04/01/2020

A great visual and one that really makes you think. Added to this the double level hutches that people assume give double the space when in reality the ramps eat up most of it

Click on image for full poster...
This has taken a lot of work both in researching the larger, average, commercially available Pet shop provided Guinea pig/Rabbit size cages, and, then sizing according to actual 'walking on' floor space for comparisons. *Note some cages quote sizes that are taken from the widest point, some cages actually slope down to a smaller actual floor area. I chose to measure 'floor' as opposed to width of wire at the top of the plastic cages.
Hopefully it will help people realise that a Guinea pig likes to not only sit in their homes but they like to stretch out and have a bit of a play, run, occassional popcorn, etc. Now take a look at how much comparative space a sitting Guinea gets to have, and remember, those hutches usually are also sectioned off so even less movement is available for the odd popcorn. In my opinion, and I've built many over the years, the introduction of self built, size as you like, Correx and Cube cages is an upgrade that is essential for a better way of life for guineas. If you have to go the commercial root, and ironically that could prove more expensive, go large! The larger the better!
All example cages are from August 2019 and measurements were from actual cages on sale at that time. I spent a whole weekend confirming measurements to items along with scaling for diagrams. The cages shown may well no longer be for sale (as a discontinued line or newer design may now be available) but the first image, we actually own as a hamster home and the floor space or base is 'less' than the width of the cage description. I was interested in floor space so used the floor space measurements.
All measurements were correct and matched to the item at the time of creating this example poster, which clearly states floor space is the priority of the examples, as opposed to cage size, which sellers use the measurements of the cages widest points for area needed as a minimum when buying to fit spaces within a home.

04/01/2020

We have pigs both indoors and outdoors (in a heated shed), but unless you have a min / max thermometer (which are cheap as chips) you might not realise the extremes of temperatures your pets are enduring. Invest in one today, it could be a life saver!

How well do your pets cope with cold weather?

Guinea pigs really don’t like the cold and need to come inside during the winter. Create a quiet, cosy space for them in a porch or utility room. This sort of area of your home is ideal so your piggies don’t get too hot.

• How cold is too cold? Guinea pigs are sensitive to temperature changes. Temperatures above 26°C can cause heatstroke and below 15°C can cause them to become chilled. They should be housed indoors, away from direct heat sources (radiators/sunny windows) and draughts. Room temperatures of 17-20°C are ideal.

27/12/2019

Some lovely set ups here

27/12/2019

New decade, new improved living accommodation for small furries!
Join us in sharing ideas and educating pet owners