Vegetables: Just romaine lettuce ok?

[couchon]

rjramer06, baby carrots are treated with a chlorine solutions. Some people feel that it's OK, since they eat them themselves, but I, personally, don't feel comfortable feeding them to my pigs. That's why I am trying to find out if pre-cut lettuce is the same way.

[JD In Van]

Originally Posted by couchon

rjramer06, baby carrots are treated with a chlorine solutions. Some people feel that it's OK, since they eat them themselves, but I, personally, don't feel comfortable feeding them to my pigs. That's why I am trying to find out if pre-cut lettuce is the same way.

Chlorine gasses out with 24 hours of oxgen exposure

If you don't want your piggies drinking water with chlorine in it you can just set it out in a bucket over night and let it gas out as well. (My mother who's chlorine sensitive does this with her water when wever chlorine's in the system and fish keepers have been doing this for eons for their fish tank water).

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by couchon

Earlier, the OP mentioned buying pre-packaged lettuce. I heard that baby carrots, for example, are washed in some sort of a chemical solution. Is the same true for pre-cut, pre-washed lettuce, or is it just washed with water?

Pre-packaged lettuces, carrots, etc. all need to be washed before feeding anyway so if they are washed with a solution, most of that solution should be washed away when you wash the veggies before feeding.

Originally Posted by rjramer06

I buy the baby carrots that are pre-cut/packaged. Are they a bad thing to feed to guinea pigs?

Carrots in general aren't very nutritious and are more a treat type veggie. They are high in oxalic acid. Since I only have two girls these days, I ditched carrots a long time ago, the girls now only get them as a very rare treat. When I did feed carrots to my herd regularly, I got either the bags of shredded carrots or carrot chips.

Ly - Thank you for that info! I think I may be overfeeding my guys a bit, so I will stick to the rule of 2 big/3-4 small leaves of lettuce.

That's not really a hard and fast rule. I feed that amount of lettuce because I feed a large variety of veggies. If you aren't feeding very many types of veggies, you need to work on increasing variety.

[rjramer06]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

Pre-packaged lettuces, carrots, etc. all need to be washed before feeding anyway so if they are washed with a solution, most of that solution should be washed away when you wash the veggies before feeding.

Carrots in general aren't very nutritious and are more a treat type veggie. They are high in oxalic acid. Since I only have two girls these days, I ditched carrots a long time ago, the girls now only get them as a very rare treat. When I did feed carrots to my herd regularly, I got either the bags of shredded carrots or carrot chips.

That's not really a hard and fast rule. I feed that amount of lettuce because I feed a large variety of veggies. If you aren't feeding very many types of veggies, you need to work on increasing variety.

I will probably ditch carrots as well. I know the chart had said an everyday food, so I am still trying to go by what the chart says (which I've heard needs updated) and what other gp experts like you say. It's all a bit confusing.

I'm heading to the store tonight to see what all I can find (again). I'm taking a list of some veggies off of the Nutrition Chart with me. I've had issues with the white pee, so I'm trying to watch veggies that the chart says are high in Calcium. I will be trying to give as much as a variety as possible (within a reasonable budget... $2 for 1 yellow pepper, and 3 pigs = too expensive).

If anyone has just a general list of the "good, everyday" veggies that they use and could share, I'd love some more insight. It's good to see what other people are giving to their piggies.

[Duffinvt]

I'd also like a short list of veggies I can feed every day. Also outdoor forage foods. Thanks in advance.

[Ly&Pigs]

Anything in yellow on the charts is what can be fed daily with the exceptions of fruits and swiss chard (high in oxalates). Carrots can be fed daily (in my personal opinion carrots are better fed every 2-3 days or not at all) but no more than 1 small/medium baby carrot or equivalent of regular carrot.

The charts are being redone but it's a slow process. I work on them as I have time.

[Dustbunny]

This may sound silly, but have you considered growing your own. Seeds are inexpensive and leaf lettuces are easy to grow in a pot indoors. It will stay fresh and you only need to pick what your going to use. You could even use a little bit of their poop to fertilize the soil.