Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register

is there any such thing as too many greens?

b94new
  • Post hidden due to user being banned.

daftscotslass

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 25, 2005
Posts
3,071
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
3,071
I would ease off on the celery, grapes and carrots. Possibly the tomatoes too. Introduce a greater variety of veggies such as coriander (cilantro) and romaine lettuce.

I don't know what you mean by c. greens.
 
b94new
  • Post hidden due to user being banned.

Percy's Mom

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 10, 2005
Posts
7,501
Joined
May 10, 2005
Messages
7,501
I think that was supposed to mean 1 cup of greens. Raddichio and romaine are fine. You might also want to rotate in green or red leaf lettuce, endive, and chicory. A lot of the darker greens are high in calcium and can contribute to stones in your pig. The carrots have quite a bit of vitamin A and oxalic acid in them which combines with the calcium to create stones. Alfalfa is also quite high in calcium along with other nutrients, but it does not wear the teeth down the way a grass hay will. It's fine that they have it now, but they need unlimited grass hay (timothy, bluegrass, orchard, etc) constantly.

Based on your list, I would recommend no more than 1 grape tomato per pig daily, 1 baby carrot per pig daily, cut the grapes to a couple times a week (Fruit is really high in sugar, and pigs are susceptible to diabetes.), celery maybe 2-3 times per week (It has almost no nutrition that they need.), the lettuces the way you are already feeding them, and like daft suggested, add in some cilantro. I'm assuming the pepper strips you said are sweet bell peppers. They are an excellent source of vitamin C for your pigs, the red being the highest and can be fed daily, but you might want to limit them to 1 of the 2 feedings because they also have quite a bit of sugar.

You mentioned a dry pellet mix. What are you feeding? The pellets should be pellets ONLY, no seeds, nuts, or other bits. The extras are low in nutrition, high in fat, and pigs can easily choke on them.
 

aqh88

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Posts
2,966
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Messages
2,966
Alfalfa should wear their teeth down just like grass hay. In fact I would think it would wear their teeth down even better being stemmier, tougher, and overall harder to chew. However even young pigs shouldn't have unlimited alfalfa and no grass hay. Alfalfa is so rich in nutrients that it can cause them to grow too fast and I know at least in horses it can cause bone deformities in younger animals because they grow faster than their body can actually lay down the calcium for their bones. There are several other more complicated problems that can arise from feeding straight alfalfa to grazing animals. It's also as I mentioned stemmier and has caused injuries to guinea pigs so best limited to several handfuls a day and preferably spread in a thin layer on the ground or confined to a hayrack to keep them from digging in it and poking themselves.

As for greens if your feeding a balanced amount then the only issue with too many is that vegetables don't have much fiber. Pigs need fiber to keep their digestive tract moving and if they eat lots of low fiber veggies they won't eat enough high fiber hay. I agree with others that what your feeding needs adjusted some. Grapes are a fruit and not the healthiest fruit so personally I would only feed them once a month and usually mine only get them every few months because there are so much better fruits to give them. All fruits should be limited to only a few times a week in small amounts because of the high sugar content. You will also be better off limiting the celery and adding more lettuces, cilantro, swiss chard, and other less watery vegetables. Celery doesn't have much nutritional value. Have you read the diet page on GL, https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html?
 
b94new
  • Post hidden due to user being banned.

muffin

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 30, 2005
Posts
918
Joined
Sep 30, 2005
Messages
918
Yikes, I feed mine red, yellow and green pepper strips twice a day with their veggies! I thought they could have about 1/4 of a pepper between them per day? I have two pigs, 5 and a half months old, how much bell pepper should they get each day, and is it red pepper that has the most sugar?:guilty:
 

aqh88

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Posts
2,966
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Messages
2,966
I've always heard about 1/4th of a pepper per pig per day to be the average. Usually I slice up a whole pepper and divide it amongst my 9 along with their lettuces. This is the first time I've heard of sugar being a concern for peppers.
 

Rachy1412

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Posts
967
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
967
oh... If the pepper is big I feed 1/2th of one to two pigs or if the pepper is small I give two pigs a whole pepper! They all hate green peppers so I mainly feed red and yellow.
 

Percy's Mom

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 10, 2005
Posts
7,501
Joined
May 10, 2005
Messages
7,501
About 1/4 of a pepper per pig per day is fine. I was suggesting pepper at only one feeding since she did not specify how much was being fed of the pepper strips.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

kinny
Replies
13
Views
667
bpatters
bpatters
DreamsInPink
Replies
7
Views
657
Guinea Pig Papa
Guinea Pig Papa
glim
Replies
2
Views
307
4boipigs
4boipigs
helpmeporfavor
Replies
2
Views
347
helpmeporfavor
helpmeporfavor
Top