They can develop hypothermia or pneumonia and can die within a matter of days if exposed to excessive cold. Unlike rats and mice, who seem to be able to survive in all conditions, guinea pigs are very sensitive to changing habitat conditions. Rather, this is an emergency response to extreme conditions. But this should not be considered a healthy response, like it is in the case of hibernation. This will mean more time sleeping and less eating. When temperatures do start to drop, your guinea pig may respond by becoming less active. At night, they can manage slightly cooler temperatures, but they will begin to feel the chill if they’re in temperatures below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius). Guinea pigs thrive in moderately warm temperatures between 65 and 73 degrees Fahrenheit (18-23 degrees Celsius). What Temperatures Should Guinea Pig Habitats Be? This is why it is extremely important to keep your guinea pig’s habitat at the right temperature, because they have few strategies to cope with extremely cold conditions. Well, evolution takes generations of breeding for desirable characteristics to emerge, so guinea pigs have not developed the ability to hibernate for extended periods, even in the cold. When they were imported to Europe by the Spanish from the 16th century as pets, guinea pigs were kept in fairly cushy surroundings, so domestic guinea pigs have no more need to hibernate than their wild cousins.īut what about guinea pigs that are kept in cold climates? They’re popular as pets around the world, including where temperatures drop below freezing. The wild ancestors of the guinea pigs live in warm climates in South America where food is plentiful for most of the year, so there was never an evolutionary necessity to develop the ability to hibernate. Bears are known to hibernate of course, and many small mammals not all that dissimilar from guinea pigs also hibernate, including squirrels, chipmunks, dormice, hamsters, hedgehogs, and bats. When they emerge from hibernation, these animals tend to be on the skinny side, but they are more or less unscathed by the physical and mental stress of hibernation. They will either eat more than usual before hibernating and then go into hibernation with extra fat stores, or they’ll gather food to eat during the hibernation period, like squirrels do. This is a response to situations of scarcity or very bad weather, so it usually happens in the winter when there isn’t as much food around and it’s too cold and snowy to walk long distances in search of it.Īnimals that live in conditions with periods of scarcity have evolved the ability to significantly reduce their metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature to conserve energy. Hibernation is when certain animals enter an energy-conserving mode, which will leave them to sleep or remain mostly dormant for weeks or even months. This is not as far from reality as it might seem. Many of us learned about hibernation by watching Yogi Bear stock up on picnic baskets and then tuck himself in for a long winter nap, only to wake up at the start of spring to make trouble again. Finally, we’ll look at some medical conditions that can affect guinea pig sleep. We’ll also look at how much sleep your guinea pigs need, and what factors might cause them to sleep more in certain circumstances.
Read on as we take a closer look at what hibernation is and why it’s something your guinea pig should never be doing. So, if your furry friend does start sleeping for extended periods of time, this is probably a sign that something is wrong. In fact, guinea pigs don’t need much sleep at all and usually only sleep for about four hours a day. But guinea pigs do not hibernate in the wild, and they also shouldn’t be hibernating in captivity. Hibernation is often characterized as sleeping for the winter, and many small mammals, such as squirrels and chipmunks, do hibernate. One question we get a lot is whether guinea pigs hibernate. But guinea pigs aren’t as common as pets like dogs and cats, so it’s natural to have questions about what is “normal” for your guinea pig.
Guinea pigs make fantastic pets - they’re cute, furry, affectionate, and relatively easy to look after for new pet owners.
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