Summer Piggies

[CavyLuver4Life]

Well, we haven't been able to get another piggy just yet. Alot of family problems have come up and my grandmother died of cancer about a week ago. . . But I was wondering about piggies and keeping cool in the summer. I hear alot of people put frozen waterbottles in cages to help keep the piggy cool. Is that safe? It's going to be around 101 degrees this friday so I need to know what I should do. He's no longer in my room because it gets so hot back there but in the living where it's cool. It still seems like it may not be enough. He doesn't even sleep in his cardboard house we put in his cage he just sleeps ontop of it because it's cooler which is convienient for him since we made a little makeshitf hay bale for him and he can reach it without tearing the thing off. But I'm getting off topic. . . Advice please!

[Pennsylvania Pigger]

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, CavyLuver. That's so hard.

I'd like to hear people's suggestions on this, too. I was thinking of maybe filling a rubber water bottle with cold water and tucking it under the fleece bedding so they can sleep on it. I've heard of people giving them bricks to lounge on, since they usually stay pretty cool, and giving them ice in a dish.

[CavyLuver4Life]

Thanks Pennsylvania Pigger. I wasn't exactly close to her but I still loved her, heck she was my grandma. But we're all doing better now.

I can only imagine what Ed would do with ice in a dish. . . lol the little home wrecker knocks everything over.

[Foggycreek]

You can certainly freeze water bottles and put them into the cage. Some people wrap them into a towel--this helps with condensation.

You can have a fan going as well, just don't let it blow directly on the pig.

I would take out any plastic pigloos--they can be like little ovens!

Oh, I forgot to mention that you can freeze melon rinds and give them as cool treats!

[Pennsylvania Pigger]

Mmm, an excuse to eat more watermellon this summer! Twist my arm.

[guineapiggoddess]

My guinea pigs will usually find there own ways of keeping cool! But I've never heard of the ice bottle thing... I guess I could try it when it gets really hot tjis summer! I like getting advice!

[Baccalla]

I usually put bottles of frozen water in the cage with them. Last summer in the late evening it was very hot and I didn't have any water frozen. I searched around in the freezer for something else and I came upon some frozen bananas (I freeze them in their skins). I tossed one in Piglet's(guinea pig) cage and one in my dwarf hamsters cage. In the morning I got quite a chuckle when I looked in on Princess's (dwarf hamster) cage. She tried to drag the banana underneath the platform where her food goes and hide it where she sleeps. Of course it only got wedged halfway but it was quite an effort. I wouldn't recommend the frozen banana though because it melted and made a mess.

[Foggycreek]

Not to mention that all that sugar could cause problems with their digestive systems.

[Baccalla]

None of the animals ate the bananas. I believe I said that I had left the skins on. Evidently the story about my darling dwarf hamster trying to drag a banana was not as cute as I thought it was.

[Foggycreek]

Ha!

You realize, don't you, that guinea pigs' teeth are strong enough to eat through wood? Do you think a banana peel would stop them?