Keeping guinea pigs cool in hot weather

[Ellie]

Does anyone have any good tips to share on keeping guinea pigs cool in hot weather? (London is due to hit 31 degrees C tomorrow so seems like a good time to talk about this!)

I've got two long-haired guinea pigs, and I was wondering if anyone knows whether trimming their fur would help to keep them cool - or would it just cause problems?

For anyone else having similar worries, I'd also recommend these granite tiles I found in the pet shop (they are really meant for chinchillas, but the guineas don't know that) that you can put in the corner on the floor of the cage or hutch. The material keeps cool very well so the guineas can lie on them to cool down, though any ceramic tiles would probably do just as well - I have seen guinea pigs lying on top of their ceramic food bowls in previous hot summers!

[canadiancritter]

I am not sure about giving them a hair cut, but a good way of keep almost anyone cool is to take a bunch of water bottles freezer them, wrap them in a towel and give it to them... and because you froze multiple bottles you can change them out often to keep it cold.