Menu and Hay

[AltarImage]

I'm going to be living in an apartment for college and was wondering about food storage and stuff like that.

1. What would be a good daily menu for two piggies? How many fruits and veggies daily? How much food pellets? I know that your supposed to have an enormous amount of hay, which I can take care of.

2. How long does a 25lb. box of hay last? 45lb box?

3. Which would be better a water dish or a water bottle?

If I think of any other questions that would go under this category I'll post them up.

Thanks to everyone who replies to this post.

EDIT: More Questions

4. What would be the best bedding? How much can you buy at a time and how long does each bag/package of bedding last?

[AltarImage]

Other questions I've thought of:

1. What's the best thing to hold food pellets in?

2. What's the best food pellets to buy?

[sophistacavy]

I think I'm going to live in an apartment for college too, much better to me than a dorm. Anyways:
4.) The best bedding would be either fleece (check out the bedding section of this forum) or carefresh, but since you're probably going to be on some sort of budget for college plus apartment rent (correct me if I'm wrong), the most economical bedding in my opinion is fleece, or a combo of aspen shavings and carefresh. With the fleece method, the largest expense will be the initial purchase of the fleece, and the underlayers. After that, you won't need to buy anything on a regular basis, just use the washing machine/dryer more often than usual. Some people on here can wash it all 1x a week, others say they have to do it 2x or even 3x a week. If you read the Fleece Project, you probably won't run into the problems of washing really often.

2b) The best pellets are either Oxbow's Cavy Cuisine(adult cavies) or Oxbow's Cavy Performance(not yet adult cavies), or Kleenmama's Hayloft brand timothy choice pellets(any lifestage).

1b) I have found that the best thing to hold food pellets in is an airtight food storage container. I currently use these: Storage Container Combo at Drs. Foster and Smith

I'm going to add more for you later, I have to go to bed soon. Good luck! You'll have some more info soon.

[Ly&Pigs]

1. What would be a good daily menu for two piggies? How many fruits and veggies daily? How much food pellets? I know that your supposed to have an enormous amount of hay, which I can take care of.

Read the nutrition charts sticky thread at the top of this forum and also the sample menu's thread.

You need a water bottle not a dish.

[aaronmeister]

I use fleece with a litter container made out of left-over cloroplast from the cage. In that container I use a generous layer of newspaper then carefresh. That is where I put their food dish and hay rack. I change the bedding once between a full clean.

I think fleece is the way to go in terms of budget and cleanliness.

I store the extra pellets in a large folgers coffee can in the freezer when not in use.

[alerz]

2. I bought a 25 pound box of hay in about November and I have a LOT left, at least half, and I give my two boars a heap each day, replenishing as necessary so that they have enough to play in/on. A lot of it is definitely wasted because they like to go to the bathroom on it, but they're so happy to be in/on the hay and it's so cheap in bulk that I have no problem giving excess.

4. I actually think the best bedding is fleece, economically and comfort-wise. It is quite cheap (JoAnn fabric always has something on sale and depending on the cage, you'll only need a couple of yards). The same piece of fleece will last you quite a while and the only expense is in laundry detergent and quarters if you have to pay for laundry like me. I went from buying a large package of Carefresh for something between $15-$20 at least every month to washing one load of laundry for my boys once a week at $1.50 per wash (I air dry everything to save money). That's only $6/month! Figure spending something like ~$30 to start with initially, including some towels/mattress pads for underneath the fleece, and then your costs go way down. Everyone who switches from Carefresh/shavings to fleece sees a remarkable difference in the overall "happiness" of their guinea pigs with popcorning and lounging about in open areas of the cage. It's great!

[auburnmare5]

I'm going to be living in an apartment for college and was wondering about food storage and stuff like that.

1. What would be a good daily menu for two piggies? How many fruits and veggies daily? How much food pellets? I know that your supposed to have an enormous amount of hay, which I can take care of.

2. How long does a 25lb. box of hay last? 45lb box?

3. Which would be better a water dish or a water bottle?

If I think of any other questions that would go under this category I'll post them up.

Thanks to everyone who replies to this post.

EDIT: More Questions

4. What would be the best bedding? How much can you buy at a time and how long does each bag/package of bedding last?

1. An average adult pig will need about 1/8 - 1/4 of a cup of good Timothy pellets each day. Use the nutirtion chart at the sticky threads on the top of the Diet and Nutrition Forum.
2.The amount of hay you go through depends on the number of pigs and how much hay they actually eat. For my one pig, I go through one 24 oz. bag of Timothy hay every month.
3. You will need a water bottle. The only reason you will need a dish, is when you want to catch the drips of the bottle etc... But NEVER use one as a main water source.
4. The best bedding that I have used is NEPCO KILN-DRIED PINE BEDDING. I bought a huge bag for $6.00. The next type of bedding that I am going to use would be Fleece. That would not be too expensive but, it only needs to be bought 2x or so per year. What ever you do DON'T USE CEDAR!

Other questions I've thought of:

1. What's the best thing to hold food pellets in?

2. What's the best food pellets to buy?

1. By holding food pellets in do you mean in the cage or storage?
* For in the cage, use a sturdy bowl that will not tip over so easily.
* For storage, you can just keep it in the bag, or in an air tight storage bin.
2. I use Kaytee but I am switching as soon as possible, they have some sort of CANCER causing ingredient. I am going to try Oxbow or KM's pellets. If SweetMeadow is available at my local petstore, I am going to try that. Don't use Hartz, it is the lowest quality pellet you can buy. You Mazurri- something. (It has a fe wnumbers at the end I can't remember)

[pigsforlife]

2. I use Kaytee but I am switching as soon as possible, they have some sort of CANCER causing ingredient. I am going to try Oxbow or KM's pellets. If SweetMeadow is available at my local petstore, I am going to try that. Don't use Hartz, it is the lowest quality pellet you can buy. You Mazurri- something. (It has a fe wnumbers at the end I can't remember)

The cancer causing chemical is called ethoxyquin and is found in most petstore pellets. The only acceptable brands of pellets are Mazurri 5664, KMs pellets and Oxbows Cavy Cuisine.

[auburnmare5]

I know. That is why I am switching. I would have switched sooner, but I'm going to use up the little bit that I have left.

[PigWooBus]

Ugh, that's horrible, I didn't know they actually put cancerous stuff in that food. I don't use it (I feed Oxbow) but still.. that's horrible. I hate pet stores. I used to shop in them a lot when I didn't know where else to go, and I would always start using something and find out it was bad and throw it away. Sometimes you can take it back. Auburnmare, that's what I would do... if you got the food at a place like Petsmart, take it back and tell them you're not pleased with it. They will refund your money. I'd switch food asap.