Vegetables Salad/Veggie Questions - preparing, putting together?

[sdpiggylvr]

I'm heading to the grocery store today, and I feel like I've hit a creative dead-end for veggies. Perhaps you could answer the following questions to help me:

What are some staple veggies that you can pretty much buy each time you go?

What are some veggies that you can feed often that are good sources of vit. C?

What do you think of those bagged lettuce mixes? Are they helpful when putting together your pigs' veggies, or are they just plain expensive?

Do you have any suggestions/tips for me as to how to put together my pigs' veggies?

How do you make up your pigs' salads?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[xoLauraox09]

The staple veggies are lettuce, cilantro and pepper.

I feed pepper daily and sometimes I feed kale.

My pigs love the lettuce mixes but I don't buy them often because they are expensive.

I have two plates that I use for the piggies. I put their veg on that and they eat away.

 

[Kipsie]

Staple veggies are romaine, butterhead lettuce (I haven't seen these in stores, but people say these exist), cilantro, (not very much, because if you buy a lot, it'll go bad in a week or so), any other type of lettuce besides iceburg like red leaf (I hear some pigs dont like these), green beans (not a lot because they have two beans a day and a lot will go bad soon), different types of bell peppers each week, and some other stuff...

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/diet-nutrition/24770-sample-veggie-menus.html

Sample menus are there. I read through all of them for ideas. They range from strawberries to curly kale to corn husk to blackberries, to melon (the hard skin part).

Peppers are fed for vitamin C with pellets and lettuce.

I really like the bagged Romaine at Walmart. It's $2.69 in South Florida, and has enough to last a week if you portion it out and don't give into the pig's begging, like I do sometimes. It's brand is... "Dandy" and it's from a farm in north Florida in a red and blue and clear bag. You may or may not find it in Cali. I think the amount in the bag is the same or more than a whole head of Romaine.

I tie my lettuce leaves in rubberbands. One bunch for monday, and so on. I just keep my other veggies unorganized, but that will change soon.

My menus are very scheduled, actually.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Green beans are not a daily staple.

Daily staples would include a variety of lettuces (any but iceburg and can include spring mixes but don't get ones that have spinach or chard in them), cilantro, bell pepper and zucchini.

Good rotating veggies high in C are kale in small amounts, kiwi (1/4 of a kiwi per pig twice a week as it's a fruit) and broccoli florets (one per pig 1-2 times a week).

 

[Pig.Piggie]

Great questions I was wondering the same thing.

Would carrots also be on the list?

When you say the bagged salads are ok what about the purple cabbage(?) stuff? (Is it cabbage? Forgive me, I am not sure)

 

[lissie]

Cabbage is very gassy. You should not feed them.

My pigs like organic spring mix from costco. I mix those up with romaine, red leaf or green leaf.

 

[couchon]

Are the little kiwi seeds at all a problem for the pigs?

Is there a disadvantage to feeding small pieces of tomato instead of cherry tomato?

 

[Justyn890]

we have a wegmans near by and they sell loose leaf spring mix by the pound. It is much cheaper then individual bags. I add a large handful to every meal for a fast and easy leaf variety they eat everything out of it.

 

[Molly75]

For now I'm buying green leaf lettuce, belgain endive, green pepper and carrots as a constant/daily meal. I found that my 2 pigs will go through a whole head of green leaf lettuce before it goes bad, so that is less expensive than bag salad/lettuce.

However, my pigs have only just started eating veggies. I'm using the color coded chart here on the board. I printed that out (color ink printer) and it's on my fridge right next to my grocery list. I put a star next to the veggies they love. I intend to put an x or "no" next to the ones that I tried enough times to determine I shouldn't waste my money any longer.

 

[mekat]

Nothing earth shattering here. Daily I feed - Green leaf lettuce, one small baby carrot per pig, green peppers; These daily offerings are pretty much inhaled. I also sometimes offer daily cilantro and cherry tomatoes but they nibble and don't eat very much of this so I think I may drop this from their diet for a week or two and try again later (they are young piggies). Occasionally I will throw in one seedless grape per pig every other day but only if I happen to have it on hand for human consumption, I won't buy grapes just for them. When I do feed grapes they inhale them and the wheeking noises for salads with a grape in it seems to be louder. I did feed parsley on occasion but have dropped that from the diet completely. They weren't that crazy about it and it isn't supposed to be feed very often anyway.

I don't know if it is my imagination so maybe someone can confirm or refute this.... I used to feed Romaine lettuce but one week the store was out and I came home with green leaf lettuce instead. I seem to get an extra one to two days worth of salads out of the green leaf lettuce and it appears to me to stay fresher then the Romaine lettuce. So is it just my imagination? I also notice that the green peppers stay good for a decent amount of time as well which is good since I only have two pigs so I really don't use up the veggies very quickly.

 

[mekat]

Sorry, I didn't answer everything before I had to attend to the dogs I'm dog sitting and my son. I wash and cut one green pepper up at a time and that lasts about 3-4 days (I have 2 pigs) when that runs out I cut up the next one. Everything else I rinse and shred by hand daily but it really only takes me two minute max to do so. I just worry that if I introduce too much moisture during storage or cut too far in advance the veggies will spoil too quickly since I only have the two piggies to feed. My veggies generally last 7-9 days the one exception was the time I bought zucchini but I won't feed it anymore because of the poor reception from the pigs and how quickly it went bad. I use those really cheap paper plates for the salad, the ones that have no special coating or print just paper. Each pig gets their own plate. The plates get thrown out with the poop when I muck out their cage.

 

[magik]

I also had a question.I have a skinny pig and being his diet is the same as guinea pigs I was wondering about the watermelon.Is it only the rind he can have or the whole thing?Today I handed him a small piece and he loved it but didnt give him rind and now not too sure if he could have had this.

 

[chris d]

I am wondering about feeding our piggie cole slaw? He seems to like that. Also, why is fruit not good?

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I am wondering about feeding our piggie cole slaw? He seems to like that. Also, why is fruit not good?

A tiny bit of cabbage or other cruciferous veggies are ok occasionally but not more than once or twice a week in very small amounts because they are gassy.

Fruits are ok as long as you keep the portions very small and limit them to no more than twice a week due to sugar content. Fruits aren't good daily due to high sugar and many are also acidic. They can cause obesity and can contribute to diseases like diabetes.

Are the little kiwi seeds at all a problem for the pigs?

Is there a disadvantage to feeding small pieces of tomato instead of cherry tomato?

No and no. Just keep the amount of regular tomato equivalent to that of a cherry/grape tomato.

I was wondering about the watermelon.Is it only the rind he can have or the whole thing?

A small bit of fruit is ok with the rind but all fruits need to fed in moderation as I stated earlier in this post. Basically you want no more than about a 1" cube of watermelon and I don't count the rind in that portion but keep the rind down to a small piece.