Our guinea pigs can suffer terribly during summer, or in any conditions where heat is not controlled to their needs.
Keeping guinea pigs means we need to be always switched on to the climate and environmental conditions – even if you don’t feel particularly hot, a guinea pig has his own threshold when it comes to heat and humidity tolerance and if that’s ignored, the consequences are dire.
Heat stroke in a guinea pig can and will happen in conditions that we don’t consider extreme: obviously, keeping them in the sun without adequate shade and air circulation is a huge no-no: no matter what the temperature is.
Even indoor heat stress is a risk, particularity if air circulation isn’t ideal and if your guinea pig is kept in a warm room with heating and/or direct sunlight. Sunlight is of course healthy, but the dose needs to be controlled, measured and monitored.
Winter months can present heat risks as well!
Excessively heated houses or putting your guinea pigs too close to a heater is absolutely dangerous – sensible thinking and common sense is all it takes to keep them both healthy and warm during winter without overdoing the heat exposure.
