New and hope I am doing this right

[daisymom]

Hello I am all new to Guinea Pigs. I adopted mine yesterday, she was born on January 4th and left off in front of a local business in freezing cold with her mother and brother and sister. The owner wanted to keep the mother and sister and had an employee that kept the brother. My Daisy was being left out so I decided to adopt her. I built her a cage today 2x4 and found Oxbow feed today. I am allowing her unlimited Oxbow as she is young and according to the vet small. I have also printed off the sample diets for fruits and vegetables and also printed off the charts. I do have a few questions as I am all new to this. I have put Timothy Hay inside her hideaway, in all the corners of the cage and they are very big plies of hay is this ok? I am giving her romaine lettuce and some green peppers to total about 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup in the afternoon but how long do I leave the vegetable in the cage to eat and is this enough? She has never had anything but carrots so I wanted to get her use to other vegetables because I read on this forum that carrots are not that great. When should I begin to introduce fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, oranges) and how much of those items to vegetables should be included in the total 1 cup serving a day? Finally is it ok to put the mix in a feed bowl or should I just place it onto pf her hay? Sorry so long I may have more questions later.

[Pumpkin_RIP]

So far so good, but you may not want to put her hay in the corners of the cage. Most pigs like to pee & poo there so she may ruin her hay. You could get one of those hay things(i'm having a brain freeze & can't remeber what they're called) or just move it. You can introduce new foods anytime, but probably only one food at a time. She may not eat it right away, so just leave it in her food bowl to see if she gets used to it. The chart shows how much you should feed of each. Also, I would suggest giving her more than lettuce and green peppers. Hope that helps!

[SerpentineSylph]

I'll leave the nutrition tips to the other guys, but I just want to say that I am very impressed by how you have taken charge, acquired and put all the knowledge they on this forum to good use! Great job!

[Ly&Pigs]

I have put Timothy Hay inside her hideaway, in all the corners of the cage and they are very big plies of hay is this ok?

Big piles of hay are fine but I wouldn't put it inside her hidey. She will end up making a huge mess out of it.

but how long do I leave the vegetable in the cage to eat and is this enough?

A good couple hours or so or until you see the lettuce wilting. If she's just getting used to eating veggies, it's a good start. Just intro a new food or two every 2-3 days.

She has never had anything but carrots so I wanted to get her use to other vegetables because I read on this forum that carrots are not that great. When should I begin to introduce fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, oranges) and how much of those items to vegetables should be included in the total 1 cup serving a day? Finally is it ok to put the mix in a feed bowl or should I just place it onto pf her hay? Sorry so long I may have more questions later.

Carrots aren't very good nutritionally, more of a treat veggie. You can still give her a bit of carrot daily if she's eating the lettuce and peppers.

Fruits are high in sugars and should be fed sparingly. Maybe once or twice per week in very limited amounts. When you do start feeding them, it would be like one small strawberry or two blueberries/raspberries or one small slice of orange. But, I wouldn't worry about fruit right now, get her to eat the veggies she needs first.

You can place the veggies on the hay, on the floor of the cage, in a bowl, on a small plate, basically any way you want to.

[newpiggiemommy]

I think you did a lot of research before you posted and that is great. You are starting off as a wonderful piggy mommy!

My pigs LOVE to play in their hay. I put a huge pile of timothy hay in their cage every morning. I have 4 girls and sometimes it is difficult to find them because they are all hiding under the hay!!!

Besides the romaine lettuce and peppers you are already feeding you may want to introduce cilantro. Those three things are the base of my pigs diet then I add a few extras each feeding. I use cucumber, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, carrots (occasionally), parsley, kale, etc. as the normal extras.

Good Luck! Keep up the good work!