I must be new here.

Cute pigs.

Welcome to the forums, Mike! I don't want to be the guy who assaults your first post with a metric ton of questions and advice, but...well, that's exactly what I'm doing now, isn't it lol

The first thing that caught my eye (besides your adorable pigs) was the pellets. I see an awful lot of colored treat pellets...without getting into too much detail, that type of thing really isn't very good for your pigs. Pellets should be just that - hay-based pellets, no dried fruits or colored marshmallow bits like kids' cereal. lol KMS Hayloft has really good pellets for around $10 for a 10 pound bag.

Of course, more important than pellets is an unlimited supply of grass hay. For pigs under 6 months of age, alfalfa hay is recommended because it's a good source of calcium. But after 6 months, it's usually advised to switch over to timothy or orchard grass hay, because too much calcium can lead to stones. For now, since your piggies are so young, I would recommend both alfalfa-based pellets and alfalfa hay from KMS Hayloft, and when they turn 6 months old, switch over to timothy hay and timothy-based pellets.

One more thing...the cage. It looks like you have one of those pre-made store-bought cages. Long story short, piggies need a lot more room than most people realize. The most common type of cage you'll see here is called C&C - Cubes and Coroplast. "Cubes" refers to metal grids, 14x14 inches with 9x9 grid holes to form the outer wall, and an inner tray of Coroplast, basically a trade name for corrugated plastic. You can buy full C&C cage kits from this site, or find Coroplast at any sign store and grids at various other stores. The recommended size for two guinea pigs is 2x4 of those metal grids, which comes out to around 10 and a half square feet...probably twice the size of whatever cage you have now.

Anyway...sorry for the wall of text I just threw at you, but remember I'm not scolding you; I'm just helping you figure out what's best for your pigs. And frankly, if I don't say all this stuff, the next person in this thread will. lol

Not a problem. =D

The cage is store bought. I plan on making a nice one in May. Coroplast isn't the easiest thing to come by in my area, and I am having a hard time finding an alternative.

The pellets we use have dried vegetables and a very small portion of fruit (no mashmallows, etc). While I know this isn't optimal, it is a very high-quality feed that I have seen recommended, because it provides a large portion of the nutrients and vitamins that they need. This is important for now, because being so fresh from the store, they seem reluctant to eat anything other than hay or the pellets (which I posted about in the diet forum).

The feed is called Tropical Carnival Gourmet Guinea Pig feed. They make a lot of "higher end" feed for various critters. From the packaging, there are no added sugars or dyes. The pellets are timothy hay and alfalfa hay.

Here is the "guaranteed analysis" of the nutrients per bowl.
Crude Protein (min) 15.5%
Crude Fat (min) 5.5%
Crude Fiber (max) 6.0%
Moisture (max) 12.5%
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) 220mg/kg
Vitamin A (min) 600 IU/100g
Total Bacillus Species (min) 75,000 CFU/g

Of course, I know that just because it is "gourmet" does not equate to being the best. But after doing some researching, talking to a friend who is a vet, and reading up about it, I determined that for now this is the healthiest I can give them until they really warm up to fresh veggies.

Right now they have a hay loft thing with timothy hay (not pictured). I plan on getting some alfalfa this weekend and mixing it in, but their feed already provides some alfalfa so I don't want to overdue it.

Oh yeah, you made that other thread too.

I dunno if you saw the replies in that one, but I'll restate some points here. Frankly, you can't trust what most of the internet says on stuff like this, and even some vets. And I was kidding about the marshmallows. lol I highly recommend KMS Hayloft pellets...at the bare minimum, from a cost perspective, your Tropical Carnival stuff is $11 for a 5 pound bag...you get 10 pounds for the same price, with much higher quality pellets from KMS.

Good to hear you plan on making a nice cage. A small cage isn't going to kill your pigs or anything; my older pig lived in a small store cage for 4 years before we adopted her. Out of curiosity, where are you located that you have a hard time finding cage material?

Southern Indiana. There is a sign-o-rama relatively close, but they didn't seem enthused about selling any when I called. I haven't checked Home Depot. I've considered making flooring out of untreated plywood and covering it with something, but I can't quite decide what would be best.

Mastershroom said:

Frankly, you can't trust what most of the internet says on stuff like this, and even some vets

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I feel the need to point out that this site exists on the internet.

I would much prefer to buy the less expensive stuff. I stand by my purchase, because I know that they are getting the nutrients they require until they warm up to fresh vegetables. At that point, I will be glad to ditch it for the plain-jane pellets.

I'm sure some people will shake their head at my decision to buy this feed. All I will say is, if you haven't used the brand before, then I think it isn't wise to judge. My vet friend didn't explicitly recommend this brand, but she told me what the piggies needed, and when I called her from the store and broke down what this feed has in it, she gave it her blessing. The girl at petsmart, herself an owner of 4 guinea pigs, told me about the standard pellet feed. I asked about some of the more expensive ones, and she broke them all down. Most of them she said were trash and not worth buying. She said this one they used in store sometimes (they rotate apparently), and the pigs always do real well with it.

I understand that the idea of dried vegetables in feed might seem ridiculous, as they should be fed fresh stuff. And that is true, they should be fed fresh stuff. But we've only had them a few days, and so far they aren't at all interested in any fruit or vegetable. I'd rather them get those nutrients through this feed than not at all until they are ready to take on fresh food.

The way I look at it is this: We humans often take multivitamins. It is certainly better for us to get those nutrients from fresh, unprocessed food. However, if that option isn't available, it is certainly better to get what you need from a multivitamin than not at all. Until they are ready to eat fresh stuff, it is better for them to get their daily allowance of nutrients from this feed than not at all.

My dogs name is luna You have very loverly piggies

You're from Southern Indiana? Me too!
Welcome to the forum, Mike. Your piggies are ADORABLE. And I love their names. (Clever spin on Lucyfur. I love it. ;] )

Hi Mike. Welcome to the forums. Your piggies are adorable. If you go here The C&C Cages for Guinea Pigs Store and check it out they have (under supplies) an area search to help find the supplies needed to build a cage. This is the store that is associated with the site, and I actually bought a cage from them ago few weeks ago. You don't have to buy a cage from them but the search engine is handy in helping find the coroplast and other such stuff .

As far as getting them to eat their veggies, it was recommended to me that you grate new veggies over their pellets or grate and mix to get them used to them. I only had to do once with mine and they took to green pepper after one try. Keep trying with the veggies is the best way to get them to nibble and taste, it will happen just will take time.

Again welcome to the forum. Lots of great info on here and good people.

Hi, welcome! You'll be great pet owners and I'm glad you found this site! Good luck in your future pig-ventures!

Welcome, CHeck out ebay, they sell complete kits of coroplast and cubes for about a hundred dollars for all (2x4). Ingredients in the food is what you should look at not just what you posted. Your piggies are awesome by the way.

Out of curiosity - what veggies are you trying? My piggies love lettuce, parsley and peppers - all colors! I know that different pigs love different veggies but this is what works for mine. I never would have thought to try parsley if foggycreek hadn't suggested it to me. They love carrots too but those are a treat more than daily food - you might try grating a carrot in with the other veggies to get them to try it as kananaka suggested.

Again, thanks for the replies!

schavarry said:

Out of curiosity - what veggies are you trying? My piggies love lettuce, parsley and peppers - all colors! I know that different pigs love different veggies but this is what works for mine. I never would have thought to try parsley if foggycreek hadn't suggested it to me. They love carrots too but those are a treat more than daily food - you might try grating a carrot in with the other veggies to get them to try it as kananaka suggested.

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I've dried red bell pepper and broccoli so far. And I've tried giving a seedless grape as a treat.

Welcome! I'm new here as well

Welcome! What sweet piggies! Lucyfur is such a cute name.

Hey Mike - did you tell Sign-a-rama that the coroplast was for a guinea pig cage? When I called mine they were rather perplexed by the request but were all for selling me a sheet. I paid $25 for a 9ft sheet & they told me to tell all my friends! And, seriously, they are making like $15 off each sheet at that price.

acemartini said:

Hey Mike - did you tell Sign-a-rama that the coroplast was for a guinea pig cage? When I called mine they were rather perplexed by the request but were all for selling me a sheet. I paid $25 for a 9ft sheet & they told me to tell all my friends! And, seriously, they are making like $15 off each sheet at that price.

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It may have just been the person I talked to. I can't do anything till May, so I'll check back then.

mgrey said:

It may have just been the person I talked to. I can't do anything till May, so I'll check back then.

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Why must you wait until May?

schavarry said:

Why must you wait until May?

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I'm on a fixed budget. In May I will be able to afford an upgrade in their cage.