Swede/rutabaga/turnip

[jabberwock]

Is it OK for guinea pigs to eat the vegetable that I know of as a swede, my Scottish mother-in-law calls a turnip and my American friend calls a rutabaga?

[cookie_gal]

Yes certainy, mine enjoy swede when I remember to pick some up.

[TheQueen]

Yes, they can have turnips, but only occassionally, perhaps once or twice per week. I usually only give them to my pigs once or twice a month, actually. They're very high in sugar and oxalic acids and don't have a lot of vitamin C.

[Rachy1412]

I feed SWEDE on a daily basis. Swede and turnips are two very different things, they look alike but are not the same.

[TheQueen]

Originally Posted by Rachy1412

I feed SWEDE on a daily basis. Swede and turnips are two very different things, they look alike but are not the same.

Oh, I forgot to add that turnips and rutabagas are also different things. They're both root vegetables, but are a bit different. I'm in the US and have both turnips and rutabagas. I've never heard of swede though, so I don't know anything about that. I'm also not sure on the nutritional content of rutabagas, but I'm pretty sure it's similar to that of turnips, so again, feed sparingly.

[jabberwock]

Swede is the usual English name for rutabaga. But in Scotland they are sometimes known as turnips (or neeps) - at least by my husband's family (though it's in Wikipedia too). They were the original carved vegetable for Halloween and are the neeps in neeps and tatties.