I might finally get a pig!(long)

[Ly&Pigs]

There is a lady on gl who is from Finland I think. Her name is Zalida or Zalinda or something close to that, can't think of the exact name right now. You can either go to gl and find her or I can email her through the gl mailer for you and find out what pellets she is feeding. Let me know ok.

Edit: Followup. Her name is Zalida and she is in Finland and I emailed her asking for a recommendation for a good food for piggies there. Will let you know when she emails me back.

[laura220]

That's great! Thanks!!

[Zalida]

Here I am, yay!

I sent an email for you ly&pigs, but then I thought that I can write here too.

So, Laura, in my opinion we have a very bad situation in Finland what comes to pellets. Breeders prefer Altromin or Bello but I think they both are bad.

If you ask this pellet thing from breeders you'll get the answer: Altromin.
Lots of owners use Altromin and think it's very good, but there's lots a reasons why I don't think the same. Altromin contains animal products and I'm very careful what comes to that. In Altromin there is also a wrong calcium-phosphorus ratio (too much phosphorus). You can find more information from Altromin here:
http://www.altromin.de/cgi-bin/diets2.cgi

So what I use? I used to purchase Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine from UK, but I found it very expensive because of the shipping fees and it always ended up too soon.
Now I use horse pellets called Bailey's working horse & pony cubes. Normally there's something "wrong" in horse pellets so they are not proper for piggies but I searched and searched and searched and found this pellet where I can't find anything bad. They're advertising this pellets "grain-free", although there IS grain products in it but the (timothy) hay is the main ingredient.
So here's the ingredients in finnish:

[font=Tahoma, Verdana]Raaka-aineet: heinäjauhe, kaurarehu, mikronisoitu vehnä, vehnärehu, melassi, soijaöljy, vitamiinit ja mineraalit[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana]raakaproteiini 11,5% raakarasva 3,0% raakakuitu 16% hehkutusjäännös 7,5% kalsium 0,7% fosfori 0,35% kalium 1,0% magnesium 0,3% rikki 0,25% mangaani 60mg/kg
rauta 100mg/kg kupari 35mg/kg sinkki 90mg/kg koboltti 1,5mg/kg jodi 1,5mg/kg seleeni 0,35mg/kg A-vitamiini 10,000 KY/kg D3-vitamiini 1,500 KY/kg E-vitamiini 100KY/kg
[/font]

And here's in english:

[font=Tahoma]Ingredients: Grass Meal, Oatfeed, Micronised Wheat, Wheatfeed, Molasses, Soya Oil, Vitamins and Minerals [/font]

http://www.zalida.net/marsusivusto/baileyssisalto.jpg

But, if you have only a one or two guinea pigs, you probably don't need a 25kg of pellets, and then I recommend this pellet called Bunny Schlemmerwiese Basis. It doesn't contain any animals products and the calcium-phosphorus ratio is correct 2:1. You can find more information here:
http://www.symppis.fi/index.html?lan...d=38421.500000

In this link you can find information and ingredients too: http://www.marsut.net/ainekset.html

In Finland there's a never-ending fight going on what comes to proper feeding of guinea pigs, there's as many opinions as there is owners. But these opinions above are mine I think you should feed the best pellets you can get or no pellets at all.

I hope this helped.

ps. you can find a good quality of hay from Finland if you do a little search. If you live in Helsinki, I recommend Kalevankadun eläinkauppa, they normally have a good quality of hay. You can also call to the stables and ask if they can sell you a bale, it's much cheaper than to buy it from pet stores.

[laura220]

No, I live in Tampere.

Where can I buy that Bunny Schlemmerwiese Basis? Should I just check the local pet stores and ask around?

I'm still looking for hay.

Thanks for the info!

[Zalida]

You can order Bunny Schlemmerwiese Basis from www.symppis.com or ask it from

* MUSTI & MIRRI: Kuokkamaantie 2, puh. 03-317 4060 (http://www.saunalahti.fi/~musmir)

* MUSTI & MIRRI: Väinölänkatu 14, puh. 03-253 4640 (http://www.saunalahti.fi/~musmir)

* LEMMIKKI JUTTU, SUUPAN ELÄINTARVIKE: Suupantie 2, puh. 03-266 2525

Those pet stores sell Symppis-products and if they don't have those pellets at the moment, I'm sure they can order some for you.

[laura220]

Okay great, I'll try to find them.

I just went out and after checking 5 stores I finally found grey grids in a store called Hong Kong. One package holds 30 grids for about 29 euros so I bought two.

Those connectors are awful! I broke one trying to get it on. I'm not finished yet because I don't have any zip ties so I only made part of the base.

And the space I have for the cage is just one inch too small. I'll have to over lap the two middle grids and use lots of zip ties..or should I overlap the first and second grid..Gotta think about that.

[Ly&Pigs]

Zalida, Welcome to cavy cages and thanks so much for all your help.

[laura220]

Hey, has anyone ever thought to use lamanated cardboard if they can't find coroplast?..just and idea..

I did plan a 1x4 loft over the 2x4 but I've downsized so it'll be a 1x3. I can't wait to have it finished!

[laura220]

I checked what kind of hay they have at the grocery store. One bag looked pretty nice. It smellt fresh and it was mostly green though it did have a bit of brown. Is this okay to feed the pigs?

[Ly&Pigs]

If you can pick out most of the brown bits, it will be ok. You can use linoleum or a plastic tablecloth or plastic shower curtain if you can't find corrogated plastic (coroplast). I don't think lamenated cardboard would do as well.

[Slap Maxwell]

What brand is it?

[laura220]

I THINK it's Best Friends 'Woody'.

Can I feed bell peppers of any color daily?

[Slap Maxwell]

Yes, bell peppers are great everyday. I will look up the hay.

<EDIT> Couldn't find anything about the hay. Use your good judgement about quality.

[laura220]

Good, I've got lots of bell peppers.

I'll check some pet stores for some better quality hay then.

[Slap Maxwell]

See if you can find a farm store where they sell horse supplies. They sell it by the bale and it is really cheap. Or did you already say you couldn't store one? Sorry.