Do You Let Your Guinea Pigs Have Outdoor Time?

I guess that would work if you have the yard for it. And as long as it's not too warm (out here they'd probably still suffer heat stroke unless I did that at 5am).

I think mine are spoiled like that too. They'd much rather run around the house.

The picture of the pen you posted is actually a very flimsy pen, I've had one before. My thoughts on pens are, if you're using a pen because you are right there but have piggies that might run off (i.e., not the senile piggies that I rarely take outside), that's okay. But a lot of people use them to leave piggies unattended. I know of too many cases where hawks got to them or even a neighbors dog or even their own dog that they thought was locked away. My cages are bigger than those pens anyway, so I'm not letting them outside for exercise purposes. Harnesses work well for taking cats outside, but they don't work as nicely with guinea pigs. Guinea pigs aren't a good shape for harnesses, plus their behaviorial patterns do not lend them to be walked easily. They won't get any exercise with the harness like a dog would (I'm not even sure a cat would really exercise with a harness on?). You can get heat exhaustion in 20 minutes. That's why I only take mine out at dawn or dusk. And that's another reason they rarely if ever get any outdoor time. I'm not generally going to wake up extra early just to let them play outside. Spraying them with water would be bad for their health. I suppose if someone wasn't going to watch the pigs and for some reason they had to be outside for a moment, the frozen water bottle for them to lay next to might help though. I'm not sure if it's actually good for them to get outside. Most of my guinea pigs don't even enjoy it. But I've had a few that did (mostly seniors). So I would take them outside and watch them slowly walk around and graze. But I couldn't do anything but be out there watching them.

My cages are too large to easily move them outside, but I do sometimes use a fencing I have for letting them have some fun outside. Although, not all of mine enjoy it enough to make it worth the trouble. I will sometimes bring in some grass or even rose petals for them though like you say.

Yeah, I've tried some of those guinea pig leashes before. They don't really work because they can get right out anyway. But it's easy enough to contain them with fencing, it's the hawks you have to worry about.

Yeah, that's how I am usually. I'm too afraid that something will go wrong. With my rabbits especially I won't even take them outside for photos since I know how fast they run. I did finally take the 13 year old rabbit outside the other day though to brush him since he's shedding. And he is probably slow enough now that if I took photos outside it would be okay. I used to take him outside when we first got him, but then I realized how dangerous our yard really is with the spots in the fence where pets could easily leave. And the hawks.

Haha, that sounds like my pigs. They are so spoiled that they love the carpeted floors. I actually use rugs instead of actual carpet, but it's the same type of feel to it. I've got two girls I'm fostering right now that are just so cute. They have long hair so their little mop butts are so hilarious as the hair is just flowing on them as they run around.

Mine love the carpet and tile areas of our house. I have finches out on the balcony and they love that area though, except once when a hawk landed on top of their cage they looked pretty scared even though it is totally hawk/predator proof.