Regarding my Pigs vegetable diet.

[Fay]

I was just wondering if this would be too much vegetables for my 3 guinea pigs and if I should make some changes:

I usually give them half of a large crop of endive or one small crop a day.

Next to that I give them two of the following vegetables, varies almost everyday.

Half a cucumber, Chicory, About 6/8 Cherry Tomatoes, green and yellow peppers, Occasionally a red one. A small package of baby corn, Mixed salads with no Iceburg lettuce, A small package that contains one baby brocolli and one baby cauliflower (Looks cute when they eat it but I only give those about once every two weeks), 2 green beans each, Each 1 or 2 brussels sprouts, Few Rasp/Strawberries, Quarter of a Zucchini, Each a carrot and occasionally a small Apple.

I do give other vegetables and fruits but a lot less often then the onces I mentioned above.

Do you think I give too much or is it enough? You think they get enough nutritions from this diet?

[ljm0104]

Your diet sounds good. Also make sure you always have fresh hay and pellets available all the time.

[TheQueen]

Guinea pigs should get approximately one cup of fresh veggies a day, and it looks to me like you have about that much. Lots of variety, too! However, I have one suggestion. You say you give them endive, and then the other veggies. Why don't you try other green leaves instead of endive everyday? Pigs love romaine, green leaf, swiss chard, etc. But other than that, I think you're doing good!

[Cavyslavesteph]

Have you thought about feeding cilantro? It's a veggie that can be fed everyday and most pigs love it. My girl Sally won't touch another veggie until she gets her cilantro first. Just a suggestion as it is a great everyday veggie. Also, you are lucky your pigs will eat zucchini. It's an everyday food too, but try as I might, I can't get my girls to touch the stuff!

[Fay]

Originally Posted by ljm0104

Your diet sounds good. Also make sure you always have fresh hay and pellets available all the time.

Of course I give them Hay and Pellets, my question was more regarding the vegetables.

Guinea pigs should get approximately one cup of fresh veggies a day, and it looks to me like you have about that much. Lots of variety, too! However, I have one suggestion. You say you give them endive, and then the other veggies. Why don't you try other green leaves instead of endive everyday? Pigs love romaine, green leaf, swiss chard, etc. But other than that, I think you're doing good!

Have you thought about feeding cilantro? It's a veggie that can be fed everyday and most pigs love it. My girl Sally won't touch another veggie until she gets her cilantro first. Just a suggestion as it is a great everyday veggie. Also, you are lucky your pigs will eat zucchini. It's an everyday food too, but try as I might, I can't get my girls to touch the stuff!

We don't have a large supermarket near by so the variety of vegetables are limited. They don't have romaine, swiss chard, cilantro etc. They only have fresh endive or iceburg crops and since they aren't allowed to have iceburg I stick with endive and it's their favorite too, I don't give them endive everyday but almost everyday. I do often give them those bags of mixed salads which they love. I do variate a lot with the other vegetables but with endive I can be guaranteed they eat enough and since it's one of their favorite vegetables and they are allowed to have it everyday I figured why not. As for Zucchini, They aren't too fond of it either but if you give bit by bit they manage to eat about a quarter with the three of them.

[Ly&Pigs]

I usually give them half of a large crop of endive or one small crop a day.

Next to that I give them two of the following vegetables, varies almost everyday.

Half a cucumber, Chicory, About 6/8 Cherry Tomatoes, green and yellow peppers, Occasionally a red one. A small package of baby corn, Mixed salads with no Iceburg lettuce, A small package that contains one baby brocolli and one baby cauliflower (Looks cute when they eat it but I only give those about once every two weeks), 2 green beans each, Each 1 or 2 brussels sprouts, Few Rasp/Strawberries, Quarter of a Zucchini, Each a carrot and occasionally a small Apple.

I don't know how often you feed the baby corn or the cherry tomatoes but I would not feed more than one cherry tomato per pig per day. As fas as the baby corn, it's not something you really want to feed at all. If you can get regular sized corn on the cob, you can give that; husk, silk and all once per week.

You can actually up broccoli to twice a week, one floret/piece per pig. It's a great source of Vitamin C. I would keep the cauliflower the way it is.

How often do you feed 1/2 a cucumber? I usually give my girls two 1/4" slices each every 2 or 3 days. Cucumber has a lot of water content in it, is very, very low in C and contains Oxalic acid.

[Fay]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

I don't know how often you feed the baby corn or the cherry tomatoes but I would not feed more than one cherry tomato per pig per day. As fas as the baby corn, it's not something you really want to feed at all. If you can get regular sized corn on the cob, you can give that; husk, silk and all once per week.

You can actually up broccoli to twice a week, one floret/piece per pig. It's a great source of Vitamin C. I would keep the cauliflower the way it is.

How often do you feed 1/2 a cucumber? I usually give my girls two 1/4" slices each every 2 or 3 days. Cucumber has a lot of water content in it, is very, very low in C and contains Oxalic acid.

I feed the baby corn about once every 1 or 2 weeks, They love it, I also give regular sized but they like the baby corn better. As for cherry tomatoes I give about once a week. I will also start giving them more broccoli.

I feed half a cucumber about 2 or 3 times a week, it's for the three of them so it's usually gone in a second. It's a great way to make sure they drink enough. I always look at who is drinking. It's usually Battlestar or Leia. Wookiee has never been a big drinker so it's great to make sure she gets the fluids she needs.

Battlestar and Leia demonstrating their drinking techniques:

[ktgoodaim]

Originally Posted by Fay

It's usually Battlestar or Leia. Wookiee has never been a big drinker so it's great to make sure she gets the fluids she needs.

I love the names of your piggies! Why didn't I think of those??? I don't think Godiva drinks enough either...guess I need to go get some cukes, huh?

[fairysari]

Fay, I've found its really hard to tell exactly what you're getting when you don't know exactly how often or what amounts are being fed. But, chances are, with such a wide variety, your pigs are probably doing great.

However, if you're interested in getting their diet down to a science, and make sure it is perfect, you might find the GL diet excel calculator helpful: http://www.guinealynx.info/calculator.xls

Weighing the food makes it much more accurate. I did it for a while until I felt like I had the hang of it. I might do another week or so of measuring again soon just to refresh my memory of what the amounts look like.

[JarBax]

Just a quick mention about the courgette/zuccini - it has taken about a year for my girls to eat their courgette! I tried it on and off for that length of time. It would always be left on the plate!

However, ridiculous as it may sound, the turning point came when I offered it in a different shape! I had tried for ages offering it in a single large chunk, tried it diced and sliced - but for some reason, once I started quartering the large slice (making a cross through the length of the courgette), it's still not the first to go - but it's never left! Hooray!

Now to work out how to re-introduce the coriander (cilantro)!