Preparing for Bonfire Night

[PigPog]

Bonfire night is drawing nearer and we should begin thinking about how to keep the guinea pigs safe and happy throughout the celebrations.

My guinea pigs live in a shed and every year I give them extra hay to hide under and I check on them throughout the evening. We let our fireworks off at the other end of the garden.

Guinea pigs living outside might be best brought into the house for the evening where they can't see or hear the fireworks. If you cannot bring them into the house, consider putting a light covering over the front of the hutch to keep it dark, and also give them extra hay to snuggle under. Make sure your covering allows for air flow into the hutch and remove it again when the fireworks have stopped for the night.

If your hutch is outside in the garden, temporarily place it backed against your house wall for extra safety.

If your family is going to be letting fireworks off in your garden, then put the guinea pigs inside the house with hay, food and water until you have finished. Let fireworks off as far from your house or shed as you can so as not to alarm the animals.

Guinea pigs brought into the house should ideally be kept away from windows and doors to minimise noise.

If anyone has any other hints and tips, please post them here!

[lisa]

If they are in a shed you could put blankets up at the window and put a light on to minimise the flashing.

Put a radio on to drown out the noise of the fireworks or just take the edge off them.

I give my piggy's lots of things to eat to take their mind off of the noise, whilst they are munching they don't seem to mind ;D

If you do decide to keep your pigs in for the duration of the fire works remember not to put them near a radiator and try to prevent them from getting too warm as the shock of going back into the cold could harm them.

[lisajaneh]

;D Excellent thread Kate,
We have started to leave the radio on in the shed so they have constant noise, and hopefully this will cover a large part of the noise from fireworks.

[eppingstrider]

My piggies cage is under a rooflight and near the glass door, so I cover the cage with a duvet to muffle sound as well as minimise the flashes. having the radio on is another good idea.

I cant put them the run upstairs because the pub opposite hosts the village display!

For those of you not in the UK - November the 5th is remembered for the anniversary of the day a man called Guy Fawkes and his band of men had a go at blowing up the Houses of Parliament because they thought the government was rubbish.

Any excuse for a party at this dull time of year really. There is a theory that the reason it became quite such a party was to turn people away from celebrating heathen festivals such as Halloween....... Now we just celebrate the commerce of both!