My Quest

[Feather_n_Coca]

As most know I am new to the Guinea Pig owner family. I did buy some books and so some research to make sure that I was up to the task of owning this type of animal. I have had ferrets, dogs, cats, hamsters, fish & birds. So I got my first Piggie (Coca) and then along came Feather.

Of course I had to have the correct cage and as I am a cheap skate by nature, I looked to my favorite place: eBay. I love Ebay. They have everything under the sun except: HAY. (or if they did I could not find it). Anyways, after recieving lots of helpful hints from the members of this forum and from reading thru countless posts about feeds and hay. I determined that I need to step up my feed quality.

So I called Oxbow and get the name of a Vet here in SA....This vet is one of the vets that the SA Zoo uses for its animals and he treats (accourding to Terry who works there) about 75% exotics. Terry clued me on the whole "Hay thing" I found that there is more Hay for Guinea Pigs then there is Colors in the rainbow...Ok not really...but almost. I queried her about the type of feed pellets -timothy hay based or alfalfa based-she explained the merits of both.

Then we discussed that we live in this huge wonderful city of San Antonio where evidently there isnt a farm for miles, and I am not a native Texan so therefore I dont see me driving the Hill Country looking for some poor unspecting farmer out mowing his fields....so we talked about how to get me hay. I decided on 3 types: Timothy Grass, Orchard Grass & Alfalfa Grass. Mostly becuase they were the easiest for me to find. I bet we spent 30 minutes on the phone today discussing the merits of Hay. Me. Talking about Hay with a perfect stranger. Now mind you I am not snooty person, I am the daughter of a pig farmer in Tennessee, but I was and still am the indoorsy type.

The ferrets didnt need hay, neither does the hamster, nor the bird (just make him even more nerotic) and I dont think the fish would appreciate it either. The dog would just pee on it. So here I am talking about how to obtain Hay, not just any Hay....High quality Hay. So my quest starts. I start w/ feedstores here in SA...wouldnt you know they actaully have them. So I start up the ole tractor (just kidding) and head on over to LockHill Feeds.

There I am introduced to the hay department. Good lord. There was so much Hay I thought I was in a field somewhere. Well I ended up w/ the above mentoined hay types and drove home to show my little darlings how much they mean to me. So I opened each package and put small mounds of each type all around the cage to see which they prefered (not as if I would know the difference later anyways). I want you to know, they looked at me and turned around and scurried off. Little ingrates!

So here I am now, with feelings hurt wondering where I went wrong. I just knew that my little pigges would jump for joy at all the new hay I had foraged for them....Nope. Ohh well. I guess I will keep up the work...I wonder how orchard grass tastes w/ my morning cereal?

[seagirl96]

That is too funny! Perhaps they are not ingrates but have never seen hay before? It happens. Maybe tomorrow or the next day they will love it. Didn't they even want to play in it? I believe that cornflakes and orchard grass are a good combination. Everyone needs more fiber, right? Let us know if your little princesses/princes decide to like what you bought.

[Piggersrule]

Now that I am some what done laughing over your post I have to say, give your piggies time. They may never have had good quality hay before and may not know enough to eat it. Keep offering it to them, they may just come around and eat you out of house and home with the hay. If all else fails, you could invent some recipes for using hay seriously though, instead of buckwheat pancakes, you can make haycakes

[Jennicat]

Also, small point of haysnobbery, alfalfa isn't a grass, it's a legume, and because of all the calcium, is really the best hay for young pigs and pregnant moms. Otherwise it's pretty high in calcium for a regular diet for piggies.

[Ly&Pigs]

Ditto to what Jennicat stated about Alfalfa.

They do sell hay on ebay. There are some different sellers. There is Farmer Dave's, but it seems kind of expensive on the shipping depending on where you live. I've found KM's to be cheaper for me than what Farmer Dave wants. Here is one of FD's auctions for timothy- eBay: 5 Lb. PREMIUM Timothy "HAY-IN-A-BOX" From FARMER DAVE (item 180130789826 end time Jun-18-07 20:34:51 PDT)

If you go to the main ebay page and type in timothy hay in the search box and use all categories, you will get several listings.

Don't give up on your pigs eating it and make sure to provide unlimited amounts of the timothy and orchard. If they are under 6 months, they can have some alfalfa in addition. If they've never had it before, they don't realize how yummy it is.

[Piggersrule]

Wow, I just looked at Farmer Daves Ebay auctions and he lives only about 30-40 minutes from me. I think I might know where that farm is. My sister lives out that way.

[Ly&Pigs]

His hay looks good and I've heard some good reviews from people who've tried it.

[envisionary333]

Feather_n_Coca: LOL! Sorry, no advice. That's all I wanted to say.

[this_lil_piggy]

I'll admit that Kleenmama's bluegrass hay smells so darn good I've been tempted to try it HA Ever since she told me it smells like a nice cup of hot tea I've been wondering..............