Diet Going mostly pellet free

How old are your guinea pigs?

And what exactly do they eat? What kind of hay? What pellets are you feeding? What veggies and how many of each? Is your water hard?

Would your mom rather pay for pellets or for vet visits? If the pigs wind up with bladder stones, that's where you're headed. And good pellets aren't that expensive. I just bought a year's worth from KMS Hayloft for about $45 including shipping -- that's less than $4 a month.

@bpatters My dad is cheap he gets very bad walmart pellets for like 5 bucks. They get unlimited timothy hay, the veggies they get are bell peppers, every other day a baby carrot. I don't know if my water is hard....... Oh and my guinea pigs are about a year and a half

You can't make $4 a month doing chores and buy a better pellet?

I'd go pelletless rather than feed anything I could buy at Walmart, but you'll wind up spending more on veggies than you would if you fed a good quality pellet. If you go pelletless, you need to feed a wide variety of vegetables, especially those with color. Every day, mine get red or green leaf lettuce, a chunk of carrot, bell pepper, tomato, radicchio, belgian endive, summer squash, and green beans.

bpatters said:

You can't make $4 a month doing chores and buy a better pellet?

I'd go pelletless rather than feed anything I could buy at Walmart, but you'll wind up spending more on veggies than you would if you fed a good quality pellet. If you go pelletless, you need to feed a wide variety of vegetables, especially those with color. Every day, mine get red or green leaf lettuce, a chunk of carrot, bell pepper, tomato, radicchio, belgian endive, summer squash, and green beans.

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I am slowly in the process of convincing my dad to get a 50lb bag of kms timothy pellets.... If he doesn't get them then I will probably decrease the amount of their current pellets and increase their amount of veggies....

Those white spots are probably high calcium buildup.
You really should switch those pellets to either KMS or oxbow. (KMS is a bit better) Because those pellets you are feeding probably contain alfalfa and your guinea pigs are way to old for that.
And water is actually important. Because some waters contain a lot of calcium. And as piggie owners we try cutting down as much calcium as possible. So I would recommend distilled water. It contains a lot less minerals and stuff.
I wouldn't even just lower their pellet intake and add more veggies. I would take the pellets away if I could not get anything better. \
Here are some links you may find helpful
https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List

https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...s-weekly-veg-fruit-menu?highlight=veggie+menu

Hope I helped!

@Beatrix187 My parents probably wouldn't buy distilled water. How do you tell if your water is hard??

See if you can show your parents how much pellets are per day, and then compare that to the daily cost of the veggies that bpatters mentioned for pelletless stone pigs.

Going off the prices of bell pepper here (as an example) one large pepper is about a dollar, so if you're feeding a quarter of a pepper daily (between two pigs), it's 25 cents. Using @bpatters numbers, KMS pellets fed appropriately at 1/8 cup per pig per day are 12.5 cents a day. I wouldn't use bell pepper to persuade your parents, because you don't want them to stop buying them for you, but look up prices of some of the other veggies that bpatters mentioned, and do the math for them. Veggies are expensive and cold hard numbers might open their eyes to your argument better.

And if they don't want to pay for the pellets and you don't have the money right now, consider seeing if they would work out a payment plan so even if you don't have $45 right now, you could pay them $5/month or something until you've paid them back? You could even offer to pay a small amount of interest on the loan, like you would in the real world. There must be some way for you to get $5/month.

Guinepig said:

I am slowly in the process of convincing my dad to get a 50lb bag of kms timothy pellets

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If you only have a pair of pigs you don't want to order 50lbs of pellets. It would take them much longer than a year to finish them and the shelf life of the vitamin C in KMS pellets is only guaranteed for 225 days.

PandaPiggle said:

See if you can show your parents how much pellets are per day, and then compare the cost of the daily cost of the veggies that bpatters mentioned for pelletless stone pigs.

Going off the prices of bell pepper here (as an example) one large pepper is about a dollar, so if you're feeding a quarter of a pepper daily (between two pigs), it's 25 cents. Using @bpatters numbers, KMS pellets fed appropriately at 1/8 cup per pig per day are 12.5 cents a day. I wouldn't use bell pepper to persuade your parents, because you don't want them to stop buying them for you, but look up prices of some of the other veggies that bpatters mentioned, and do the math for them. Veggies are expensive and cold hard numbers might open their eyes to your argument better.

And if they don't want to pay for the pellets and you don't have the money right now, consider seeing if they would work out a payment plan so even if you don't have $45 right now, you could pay them $5/month or something until you've paid them back? You could even offer to pay a small amount of interest on the loan, like you would in the real world. There must be some way for you to get $5/month.

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The last time I got money from my parents was when I helped move a couple of couches out to the dumpster.... And it was only 20 dollars.

sallyvh said:

If you only have a pair of pigs you don't want to order 50lbs of pellets. It would take them much longer than a year to finish them and the shelf life of the vitamin C in KMS pellets is only guaranteed for 225 days.

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I have three adult boars.

Beatrix187 said:

So I would recommend distilled water.

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You do NOT want distilled water. You want water that has been demineralized by reverse osmosis. Distilled water can drain your body of electrolytes, which is something you don't want.

You should be able to find demineralized water in 1 or 2 gallon jugs at your grocery store.

Guinepig said:

@Beatrix187 My parents probably wouldn't buy distilled water. How do you tell if your water is hard??

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Well, you can ask your parents. They will probably know. And I have well water which is hard water. It usually does not have a very good taste. And distilled water is very cheap. About 1.00 for a gallon around here. And that gallon lasts a long time! We don't even drink our hard water. We just buy big gallons of purified water. But for the pigs and our fish tank we just buy distilled water And remember this will be a lot cheaper in the long run if your piggies get stones!

sallyvh said:

You do NOT want distilled water. You want water that has been demineralized by reverse osmosis. Distilled water can drain your body of electrolytes, which is something you don't want.

You should be able to find demineralized water in 1 or 2 gallon jugs at your grocery store.

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I don't think my parents would buy my guinea pigs water when their is tap water that I could use..

Guinepig said:

I have three adult boars.

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Even with 3 pigs it would take you a year and a few months to finish the bag. I would opt for the 25lbs instead.

sallyvh said:

You do NOT want distilled water. You want water that has been demineralized by reverse osmosis. Distilled water can drain your body of electrolytes, which is something you don't want.

You should be able to find demineralized water in 1 or 2 gallon jugs at your grocery store.

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Ok, good to know. Better make a switch!

Guinepig said:

I don't think my parents would buy my guinea pigs water when their is tap water that I could use..

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Well if you drink your tap water it probably isn't well water.Well water is usually in more suburban areas. But still I think I agree with @sallyvh that you should get demineralized water. You may not exactly know how many minerals and calcium is in that water.

And you will lower the risk of bladder stones. Which can require a lot of expensive surgery.

Beatrix187 said:

And you will lower the risk of bladder stones. Which can require a lot of expensive surgery.

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I have been using the whole vet thing in all my guinea pig arguments. right now my parents are talking about the pellets.

Guinepig said:

The last time I got money from my parents was when I helped move a couple of couches out to the dumpster.... And it was only 20 dollars.

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Well $20 is almost halfway there! Maybe the money doesn't have to come from your parents? When I was a teen (which was only a few years ago) I made money by babysitting, house-sitting and pet-sitting for family friends and neighbors. I had friends who mowed lawns, or you could also consider if you have any arts and crafts skill that could get you a little money? Unless your parents are opposed to you making money, there should be some way to earn $5/month.