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Cage Cage location. Ideal or not ideal?

Onlyinred

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I'd rather not go into detail about anything outside of my question.This way i can keep my post short. My focus is not on how i can improve the situation (unless i mention so), rather it's on wether these problems are important enough to reconsider adopting guinea pigs .

My sister wants to give away her guinea pig. Being as how I feel that it is not getting the proper treatment it should be getting, I think this is a good idea.

However, before that happens , I wanted to ask a few questions . I may or may not adopt the guinea pig myself based on the answers I am given.

If I adopt this guinea pig (let's call her "Jill"), I would also adopt another guinea pig to keep her company.
Because of that, I'd try to make a cage roughly 30 by 50 (about 10sq feet)for them to live in. Currently, the only area in my house for that sized cage would be in my room.That being the case ,I have a few issues I'd like to ask.

1) guinea pigs (I've been told)are social animals, being in my room will limit their interactions with the rest of my family. Perhaps completely. Can guinea pigs live (happily) like that? I suppose I should note that for the week or so that I had Jill in my room, i'd say her mood improved. Towards the end of the week, she even started wheeking again when I came near her or ruffled a bag of food).

2) the area I would place the cage is right under a (closed)window and opposite a door that leads to the hallway. Though the window is closed and the hallway is usually warm, I'm concerned about drafts and heat from the sun .Do you have any ideas as to how to lessen drafts and sun heat?(aside from finding a new place,which isn't possible right now, is there another way to improve on the situation? )

3) I keep a cold room. I'm most comfortable with the a.c on. I haven't measured how cold it is in my room (yet), but I'm willing to bet it's colder than guinea pigs would like. Is there a way to blunt the cold so that it doesn't make the guinea pigs uncomfortable?

Thank you for reading. I tried keeping it as short as possible. Please feel free to respond if you have any insight on the matter.
 

bpatters

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Guinea pigs like cold better than heat, unless they're the skinny kind. They're just little balls of fat and fur, and their original home was in the Andes mountains. If you can tolerate the temperature in your room, your pigs will probably love it.

You might need to get a reflective shade for the window if it gets truly hot where the sun shines in. Can you put a thermometer there and see how hot it actually does get? I wouldn't worry about the drafts unless you've got an AC blowing directly on them, or an unsealed window where winter blasts can come in.

The pigs would be probably be happier living with the rest of the family (more people to beg from!), but they'll do ok in your room.
 

Onlyinred

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Wow. So glad I posted. These answers really helped me out guys. And thanks also for replying so quickly.
 

Fay

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Yeah you definitely want to make sure to check the temperature that it won't get too hot. Guinea pigs are prone to heat stress/stroke starting at 80F, at 85F they could easily die.
 
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