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Where do guinea pigs hibernate?
Deciding whether to hibernate your beloved guinea pigs outdoors or indoors in a warm house is an important consideration for any pet owner. Both options have pros and cons that should be carefully considered to make the best choice for the animals' health and well-being.
Outdoor housing
Pros
- Natural environment: Guinea pigs are naturally outdoor animals. Outdoor housing provides them with a more natural environment.
- Exercise: outdoors they have more space to run around and explore.
- Fresh air and sunlight: outdoor animals get fresh air and sunlight, which is important for their health.
Cons
- Cold: in winter you need to make sure your guinea pigs are protected from the cold. This may require the use of insulated hutches or heated shelters.
- Predator protection: outdoors guinea pigs are vulnerable to predators. You need to make sure the outdoor area is safe to keep your animals out of harm's way.
- Maintenance: keeping them outside requires more effort in terms of cleaning and maintaining the enclosures.
Keeping them inside
Pro
- Temperature control: inside you can better control the temperature and ensure that your guinea pigs are warm enough. You should offer temperatures between 18°C and 22°C.
- Protection from extremes: inside your animals are protected from extreme weather conditions such as cold, heat and storms.
- Safety: keeping them inside protects your guinea pigs from predators such as birds of prey or cats.
- Social interaction: you can more easily maintain social interaction with your guinea pigs when they are indoors.
Cons
- Space requirements: you need enough space in the house to set up a species-appropriate habitat.
- Cleaning: keeping them inside requires regular cleaning as odor and droppings can accumulate. Increased susceptibility to respiratory infections due to dry heating air.
Conclusion
The decision depends on individual circumstances and preferences. If there is enough space and resources, guinea pigs can be kept indoors, providing them with a safe and cozy environment. Hibernating outside is more natural, but requires more effort to protect them from the elements and predators. It is important to ensure that, regardless of choice, guinea pigs have a species-appropriate home and are adequately protected from weather conditions.
The right diet
Guinea pigs' diets should be based primarily on hay and can be effectively optimized by adding dried herbs such as "TinyHerbs Fitness" and "TinyHerbs Fruit" in addition to seasonal fresh vegetables such as fennel, carrots and iceberg lettuce.
Grain feeds that are rich in starch do not meet the nutritional needs of these animals. If guinea pigs are fed a one-sided diet of grains and lack sufficient hay, this can lead to inadequate food intake, where the chewing process is also not sufficiently intense. This chewing process is crucial for the physiological wear of the teeth and should not be done primarily by gnawing on "substitute objects". A diet without sufficient hay can lead to imbalances in the calcium-phosphate ratio and, as a result, excessively long teeth.
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