Daily diet

[sanford8916]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and was hoping to get some help. We are picking up our two guinea pigs tomorrow night. I have been doing alot of reading on this site and have found lots of helpful information that I didn't know before. I was hoping that someone could post a daily list of what you feed your guinea pigs and how much of each thing. This would be very helpful until we get the hang of their diet and make sure they get enough vit C daily. I know they need to always have hay avalible and I believe that becasue our are only 1 month that they should also have alfalfa too, or is that instead of hay for the first 6 months. I will post picture of there C & C cage as soon as I can. And of course I will post pictures of them too. Thanks so much for any help! Heather

[sweetjay6891]

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...on-charts.html




Hope this helps! I know it did with me!

[this_lil_piggy]

Daily I feed lettuce (romaine, green leaf, or read leaf--don't feed iceburg), red and green bell peppers, cilantro, baby carrot per pig.
Every other day I feed a slice of fruit--strawberry, apple, a very occasional orange.

Each day I add in extra things for variety from Ly's list (link in post above).
My pigs love green beans, corn husks and silks, cranberries, for starters.

You can feed your pigs regular grass hay (bermuda, timothy, orchard/bluegrass etc) and supplement their calcium with veggies if you don't want to fool with the alflafa hay. Brocolli, kale, parsley, alfalfa sprouts are good calcium rich veggies.

[OSUCavies]

Oxbow Pet Products | Welcome


My piggie eats her pellets every day, too. On top of her veggies and her timothy hay, of course. She loves these pellets and they're healthy!

[JBarton]

Since the weather has gotten cooler, my three girls begun to eat and drink less. They are fine and sassy and full of energy so I assume that they are healthy. Is it just the change in the temp or what?

[Himino]

I give my pigs a variety of things. They get unlimited Oxbow pellets, unlimited hay and water. They also get about a cup of veggies each daily, (Romaine, and red leaf lettuce, green pepers, cilantro, and carrots) is the usual mix. I might throw in some extra things here and there. I also feed them fruit, bannana's, strawberry, apple, orange, about 3 times a week. (Not all of them usually just one.)

[sanford8916]

Thank you guys. This is all been very helpful information. We get our pggies tonight. My daughter is still thinking of the names. I am almost done with their cage, just need to cut the coloplast and put the stuff in the cage. It will be interesting to see the cats and dogs reaction is to them, don't worry they have a top on their cage, kitties can only window shop!

[Himino]

Congrats! I hope you and your family love them! If you can we would love to see some pictures of your new additions.

[Mummy]

With babies it's easiest to feed them a high-quality alfalfa pellet, such as Oxbow, or KM. Be sure they have unlimited timothy or other grass hay.

Also, with babies that small be sure you have high enough sides on your coroplast that their heads can't get stuck!

[sanford8916]

When we get home with them tonight, I will take pictures and post them. I made sure to make the sides 8inch high instead of just 6, that should be high enough, right?

[sanford8916]

Are orange peppers ok for them?

[Terekins]

Yup, orange peppers are fine. My guys love any kind of pepper, but I believe green peppers are nutritionally the best (more vitamin C). Take care,
Tere

[this_lil_piggy]

I think red, orange, and yellow peppers are actually higher in vit c, but they are also higher in sugar. Green peppers have less vit c, but less sugar as well. I usually give more green pepper slices, and then just give a few red and orange slices with it so that they don't get too much sugar.
I wish I could find somewhere here that sells orange peppers at a reasonable price. I get 3 green peppers for around .50, and red peppers for either .49 or .99 each depending on if I find them on clearance or not. But I have never seen orange peppers for less than 1.99 each. A little too expensive for me to offer them more than an occasional treat, having 7 pigs.

[DragonMom25]

Ok, do I have this right? I am still new and struggling on the feeding guide.

The most important thing is to feed pellets (oxbow timothy pellets) about 1/3 cup per pig (they dont finish it all in one day). Free feed timothy hay or other grass hay, but timothy is the best. Then you feed fresh vegetables for vitamin C.

I am feeding very often to tame the piggies, I got to pet Murry today as he rubbed me. Do I feed one cup greens a day per pig, or is it one cup per meal and 2 meals a day?

Help I am confused, I don't want them to get the runs because they had too much greens, since they love them!

Currently I am feeding 4 meals of 1 leaf of green romane lettuce and 6-10 sprigs of cilantro at each meal and a special once a day. Specials include 2 pieces of green pepers each (size of my last pinky joint), a piece of carrot about 1/4 inch of 1/2 inch diameter each, bits of cucumber peels, tiny bits of apple, or blueberries only one of the specials each day. That is for 2 Cavies, about 3/4 cup a meal. So is 3 cups a day of Vegetables for 2 pigs the right amount? Or should I adjust it up or down? I think I have the type right, but correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks, not trying to hijack, this seemed relivant to the original purpose of the post.

[suzilovespiggie]

It's a cup per pig. I feed twice a day.
Greens in the A.M. Veggies and some fruit (every couple of days) in the P.M. I alternate parsley, various letteces, collard greens, kale, cilantro. I also feed tomatos, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, all peppers. I have a wonderful natural food store that has the best produce with the best prices. I go get fresh every other day after work. They will eat all veggies but not one of them will eat green or yellow squash. Silly piggies.

[this_lil_piggy]

You could actually adjust the amount of pellets down. Pellets aren't vital to their diet. The standard is more like 1/8th cup-1/4th cup per day per pig, so you could actually save some of them from being dumped out by reducing the amount you give them.

The standard is 1 cup veggies per day per pig, preferably broken into 2 or more feedings. A cup and half or two cups of veggies per pig per day isn't going to hurt anything. It would take much more than that to give them problems, unless you are feeding them a majority of really 'watery' veggies like celery and cucumbers. I actually feed probably around 2 cups per pig per day myself, because I don't offer pellets every day (my pigs don't care much for them).
It sounds like you are doing just fine to me

[SoCalCavies]

Originally Posted by sanford8916

Thank you guys. This is all been very helpful information. We get our piggies tonight. My daughter is still thinking of the names. I am almost done with their cage, just need to cut the coloplast and put the stuff in the cage.

It is so nice to see a "newbee" care so much before you get your pets!!! I love to read things like this. Warms my heart... Oh and remember, pigs love to look around, so I'm not sure why you're making the coroplast sides so high, but mine are only 3" high and it's plenty to keep the bedding & hay inside. Just an FYI.

I agree - great info is posted here! I know I had a lot of anxiety about what/when/how much to feed when I first got my piggies, too. Just keep referring back to that awesome food chart Ly made:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...tml#post254730

That saved me so much time, too!

I feed my 3 boars a small bit of fruit every morning. (Examples; 3 green grapes WITHOUT seeds each, or 1/3 piece of apple each, or 1 big strawberry each, or a couple blueberries each, a quarter-size banana now and then, or watermelon WITH the rind.)

Then, because I work fulltime, when I come home around 6pm, I let them out for their "run time" and give them 1 small carrot. (I leave the peels on though. I don't buy the mini-ones you see already cut in the stores. They don't seem to have as much taste as the real carrots. It just takes a little more effort, that's all.) I also give them either a 1/3 of a beet (they love them, but they stain), or celery, or an inch of cucumber (the whole thing, not just the peel), or an herb. Things like that. (I would feed them wheatgrass everyday if I could! I think that's their favorite, but I can't seem to grow the stuff myself.)

Then, after about 3 hours, I put them to bed (a.k.a. back in their houses). Each gets a full plate of mixed veggies. (Lettuces, cilantro, dandelion greens, etc. Usually 4 different things each.) I would say it works out to be a good 2 cups per pig. They devour every bit! Then they attack their hay like there's no tomorrow. They love digging in it, so I don't use hay racks.

So far, it's really worked. But I change what I give them every night. (I literally do a "menu" every Sunday before I go to the local veggie store.) The funny part is, mine used to be so picky! Now they eat everything. So, if you find a finicky pig, just be patient & keep offering it.

Just hang in there & keep refining what you do... It's a lot to take in all at once! I still wonder sometimes if I'm doing the right thing, too!

Hey 'lil piggie -- You think $1.99 is expensive? Our orange peppers are 4.99!!!!! Yikes! (Of course mine won't eat the green ones! ha ha)

JBarton -- Same thing has happened with my three boars. None of them are hardly drinking any water now that winter has come. I think it's ok though. They get a LOT of water thru their veggies. Do you weigh them weekly?

[Percy's Mom]

Originally Posted by Terekins

Yup, orange peppers are fine. My guys love any kind of pepper, but I believe green peppers are nutritionally the best (more vitamin C). Take care,
Tere

Actually, red peppers have the highest vitamin C, but they also are higher in sugar than the other colors. After the red bell peppers, orange, yellow, and then green have the highest amount of C. They're all very good choices to provide vitamin C to your pigs though.

[sanford8916]

Thanks Amy. The piggies are so cute. I knew everyone said that they need unlimited supply of hay, how can such a little thing eat so much? I keep putting it in there and they keep eating. They love the lettuce, carrots, peppers and tomatoes, no one seemed to want the grapes today. They follow each other everywhere, so sweet. I am glad we got two at the sametime. I love the cute little noises that they make. Again, thank you everyone for your help.

[SoCalCavies]

Originally Posted by sanford8916

Thanks Amy. The piggies are so cute. I knew everyone said that they need unlimited supply of hay, how can such a little thing eat so much? I keep putting it in there and they keep eating. I am glad we got two at the sametime. I love the cute little noises that they make.

[FONT=Century Gothic]VERY WELCOME!!!

Oh they are soooo cute! I'm even getting pictures of mine printed on my checks now! (ha ha)

I think they eat a lot of hay for the same reason bunnies do - their stomachs can't store food. That's why they poop so much... and can die so quickly, once sick.

"They" say that you see even more behavior if you have more than 2! (HINT, HINT! LOL!)[/FONT]