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Diet How much bell pepper should a guinea pig have a day?

Thunder

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I am wondering how much pepper a guinea pig should have each day. Also, I was wondering if it mattered what kind of pepper. I heard that a green pepper only has slightly less sugar than yellow, red or, orange.
 

MaiaBex

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I feed mine about 1/8 of a pepper each. (Or 1 to 1-1/2 mini pepper each; depends on what I have.) What I've heard is that green and yellow are better for daily feeding because they have less sugar and more vitamin c, while orange and red should be more occasional because of higher sugar levels.

(Just to be clear for random readers... we're talking bell/sweet peppers here. Not hot peppers.)

(Side note: it would be interesting to know if anyone has done a study on the sugar/vitamin c levels of the heirloom varieties of bell peppers... Not that I find purple or chocolate peppers often, but now I'm curious as to the nutritional value for my fur babies. Just in case I do find them sometime.)
 

bpatters

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I don't think there's enough sugar in any of them to cause significant problems. Maybe if you only fed red, and in very large chunks, but not otherwise.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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I feed mine about 1/8 of a pepper each. (Or 1 to 1-1/2 mini pepper each; depends on what I have.) What I've heard is that green and yellow are better for daily feeding because they have less sugar and more vitamin c, while orange and red should be more occasional because of higher sugar levels.

(Just to be clear for random readers... we're talking bell/sweet peppers here. Not hot peppers.)

(Side note: it would be interesting to know if anyone has done a study on the sugar/vitamin c levels of the heirloom varieties of bell peppers... Not that I find purple or chocolate peppers often, but now I'm curious as to the nutritional value for my fur babies. Just in case I do find them sometime.)


I did see a study done not so long ago, about the vitamin C content in bell peppers. I didn't see anything about sugar content, but I was surprised to learn that yellow peppers have the highest vitamin c content, followed by orange, red and lastly green.

And do you think I can find that study now? Nooooooo.


I lied. Here it is!
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._Pepper_Capsicum_annuum_L_by_Titration_Method
 

Thunder

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So, I can feed a different color pepper each week. However, if it is red give them a smaller amount.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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So, I can feed a different color pepper each week. However, if it is red give them a smaller amount.


I buy two bell peppers each week, of varying colours. I don't buy green because I have been told they can be very gassy, and having just gone through two horrible episodes of bloat with Scooter I don't want to induce any more with Leo or Simon.
 

Thunder

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Ok, thank you.
 

MaiaBex

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I did see a study done not so long ago, about the vitamin C content in bell peppers. I didn't see anything about sugar content, but I was surprised to learn that yellow peppers have the highest vitamin c content, followed by orange, red and lastly green.

I was going off my memory of what I've read, but I just checked the chart on GuineaLynx... yep. Orange isn't listed, but vitamin c high-low goes yellow-red-green. (Sugar is yellow-unknown, red slightly higher than green.) My memory messed up a little... thanks for catching me, GPP! :cool:

(Double-checked my other bookmarked sites to see if I could figure out where my memory was pulling from... Guinea Pig Manual says green/yellow okay daily, orange/red okay a few times weekly. So that's probably where my mix-up started.)
 

Artista

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If you feed kms pellets or oxbow that has stabilized vit c then I don't worry about how much. There have been times mine goes on strike with any color or had belly issues so no veggie days. I get the minis and chop it up. If it's untouched then no worries since she finishes her 2 tbsp of kms pellets a day.
As for color, I don't worry about it anymore. I don't give fruits except strawberries or raspberries which are very low sugar so getting some from peppers doesn't hurt.
 

spy9doc

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I've had cavies go on strike and not eat their peppers. At that point, out comes the liquid Vit. C until they change their minds again.

Currently, my new little boys are absolutely MAD for peppers and eat all the peppers on their salad before their greens. They are fed veggies once a day around 5-6pm and it is a huge plate! Their consumption is about three rounds at the plate, sometimes with a nap and zoomies between rounds. They eventually finish the plate and are usually ready for bed about that time. I call it going into their "food coma".

To more directly answer your question, I don't worry about how much pepper they consume since it is so good for them. I generally buy the mini peppers and we eat the red in our salad and the boys get the yellow and orange.
 
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