The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Rabbits => Topic started by: Bionic on June 02, 2016, 09:28:11 am
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Sorry I couldn't find a better place to put this so hope its ok here.
I would like a Guinea pig, (well 2 as I know they don't like being on their own)
Can anyone point me in the direction of a nice hutch. I don't want to go overboard with it but do want it to be big enough so that they have exercise.
I also intend to get them out to have a play and run about a bit.
Any info would be appreciated
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Oh we had guinea pigs for the kids - they're fab wee beasties ;D
The hutch we had was a two story one, the top had an open area and sleeping area and a long ramp ro the run below. Sleeping area was about 18" square, likewise the top open area and the run was about 4ft square, but you could easily have added an extension. We moved it every week or so to give them fresh grass and brought them in to a big plastic/wire indoor cage in winter (Scotland) :gloomy:
They've got bags of character and are quite chatty :thumbsup:
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Karen was your hutch like this?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confidence-Pet-Rabbit-Hutch/dp/B00H31XT7A/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1464855665&sr=8-9&keywords=guinea-pig+hutch (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confidence-Pet-Rabbit-Hutch/dp/B00H31XT7A/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1464855665&sr=8-9&keywords=guinea-pig+hutch)
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Yes, except the run stuck out at the front below to give more than double the house space as a (partially covered) run. Meant you didn't have to move it as often.
I can't do links from my phone to show you an exact image, sorry!
If yours will have a separate run too, something like this should be fine for them. :)
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Guinea pigs are great characters, we kept ours in simple hutches over winter in the garage and let them out to play in the garage (empty-ish) and in the summer they had runs outside and we always made sure they could get in some shade too during the hot months, we moved the runs every few days. As they don't dig no need to mesh the bottoms of the runs and they don't have to be too tall as they don't stand on their hind legs. They need fruit and veg as they can't produce their own vitamin C so they are good for clearing up peelings :)
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Guinea pigs are great characters, we kept ours in simple hutches over winter in the garage and let them out to play in the garage (empty-ish) and in the summer they had runs outside and we always made sure they could get in some shade too during the hot months, we moved the runs every few days. As they don't dig no need to mesh the bottoms of the runs and they don't have to be too tall as they don't stand on their hind legs. They need fruit and veg as they can't produce their own vitamin C so they are good for clearing up peelings :)
That's all very useful info, many thanks
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When I was a commercial small mammal farmer I had 18 outside guinea pig houses :-
30 inch x 30 inch x 15 inch high boxes with sloping to the rear felt covered roofs that could be easily lifted off .
The lids had a batten strip round the edges ( under the felt to make sure the lids sat fair & square on the box , they were weighted down with three house bricks on the roof.
There was no floor to the box . . There was a five inch wide & high train tunnel shape entrance to one side near the corner so the creatures could get inside out the sun , rain or wind etc. & nest up in four inches of hay and barley straw .
The boxes were set inside a 14 inch high wooden , four sided square 8 foot long pens made to exact width of the boxes & covered with 1/2 chiclken wire mesh ( stops babies getting out & usually ferrets /rats & pole cats getting in ) , we put wire tops on all the cages & future made cages when we realised that a fox had got in a pen and eaten one of the pregnant Chavvies..
The two parts of the cage ^ run were joined together with large stainless steel cup type hooks and large stainless steel eye screws the hooks being reshaped to be downward facing letter "L's".
In Spring , Summer & Autumn when there was no chance of frost they were outside on the lawns left with long grass .. very important as Chavvies must have fairly fresh green veg for their vitamin "C" production .
The pens & houses were moved around the lawns in designed patterns every seven days as it fitted with our work schedules very nicely , to ensure that they didn't arrive back on th same patches of lawns for eight weeks .....to allow the lawns to sweeten up & take advantage of th free fertilizers the chavvies gave them .
Vitamin "C" ..They get a nasty scabby , cracked skin with sores & weeping form of scurvy if it's missing from their diet
Our vet reckoned it was a mite attack on our purchased in breeding stock .. so I sent skin samples off for pathology examinations to see what mite it was .. scurvy was the lab test result & thus easily cured by giving them plenty of fresh green raw cabbage & half apples .
Though an Ivermectin dip wash is a very good mite killer on them if they do get mites .
In winter we moved the huts & pens inside and put them on a floated dead smooth concrete floor , again plenty of bedding and lots of fresh green veg as well as Russel Rabbit bagged dry feed and plenty of fresh water in a drinker bottle . We also put de natured de dusted wood shaving in nthe pens to give a bit of insulation from a cold floor
The water in the drinkers had a veterinary approved multivitamin & trace elements drops added to them to ensure that they ended up with all the vitamins & trace elements need for a long healthy life .
Do ensure that before you get your stock you know how to tell the sexes apart , for being overrun with 4 to 10 baby chavvies from a pair every few months can be depressing if you cannot house or sell them .
The spent bedding , poop and run sweep-up's / clean up's is a great Brown for hot composting & gives up a fantastic compost if done properly .
Chavvies have a delightful habit of learning when feed time is etc. , they make a high " Wheeeep " type noise , if you reply in kind they can become quite tame and easy to handle , some will also like to follow you around the lawn if you call to them so long as there are no dogs and cats or birds of prey around ( cue for setting up a turned on hose pipe beforehand with a decent trigger jet nozzle on it ) ..
Mating , put the male in with the female for a week and then remove him to a pen at the side or in between two females so they can all see & hear each other.
Pregnant females look like nine inch long 150 watt light bulbs from about six days before they give birth ( Farrow ? )
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Thanks Clodhopper. I have no intention of breeding them so need to find 2 females or one of each and get the male 'done'