Diet Am I not feeding my guinea pigs enough veggies every day?

ZebraKisses · Mar 14, 2017

Hi!

Before I get started on veggies, I just want to tell you my piggies complete diet.
They get unlimited water (fresh from a local spring system with untreated and really good water, you always have to wait in line!)
They get 1/2 of cup of pellets (1/8 cup for each piggy, I have four)
Unlimited Western Timothy Hay (from Oxbow) and every Sunday and Wednesday they get a small amount of Botanical hay with the Timothy hay (also from Oxbow)
They get an Oxbow vitamin C treat everyday

Now for veggies! Here is a weekly list:

Sunday- in morning they get cilantro (each getting about 7 pieces, they free-feed
At about 5ish p.m. they each get one medium/large leaf of romaine lettuce, cucumber, 1/8th of a bell pepper, and about 1/8th of an apple
At about 8ish p.m. I give them an Oxbow vitamin C treat
Monday- at 6:30 a.m. they get 5 pieces of parsley (they are pretty big pieces)
At 5ish p.m., they get one medium/large leaf of red leaf lettuce, carrot (about 8 small cut pieces), and 1/8th of a bell pepper
At 8ish p.m., they get an Oxbow vitamin C treat

Tuesday- The same as Sunday, but without any apple.

Wednesday- The same as Monday. But I give them a little bit of cherry tomatoes with their dinner, but they really dont eat all of it (they each get one)

Thursday- Same as Sunday, but without apple

Friday- Same as Monday

Saturday- The same as sunday, without apples

Now here I would switch and put the red leaf veggie list schedule on sunday with apple instead of on monday, and romaine on monday, and so forth...

So my question is... are my piggies getting enough veggies? I did my research but I'm still a little suspect I'm not giving enough.. I know you are supposed to give them at least a cup of veggies per day, so is this about a cup? I haven't really measured so... haha

Anyways, if I'm missing something, could you please give veggie suggestions? That would be awesome!
Thanks for reading, hope you answer

bpatters · Mar 14, 2017

Gosh, that's complicated. Is there any particular reason you're doing it that way?

They need bell pepper every day -- it's the best source of vitamin C for them, and like people, they can't make their own.

If they're adults, they're getting too many herbs -- cilantro and parsley. Herbs are generally high in calcium, and should only be used as an occasional treat for adult pigs.

I find it much easier to buy whatever veggies seem the freshest, and feed them until they're gone. I waste less stuff that way, and my pigs have never complained.

I split veggies into 2-3 servings per day. They get red or green leaf lettuce, carrots, English cucumber, radicchio, belgian endive, bell pepper, and tomato, or some subset of those, pretty much every day.

ZebraKisses · Mar 15, 2017

Its also very hard to get good veggies for piggies, my local grocers dont have much selection!

lunarminx · Mar 15, 2017

ZebraKisses said:
Its also very hard to get good veggies for piggies, my local grocers dont have much selection!

You can make it simple with just leafy green lettuce and bell pepper then add in a slice of cucumber for one of the feedings and a baby carrot at the other. You can switch out veggies so they don't get bored but keep the lettuce and bell pepper the normal. I also buy the plastic containers of baby lettuce or a herb blend for a switch up.

I measure mine with the larger plastic storage bowls, mine is a 4 cup and I measured another cup and it came to the top. I have 5 pigs.

CavyTV · Mar 15, 2017

I think it'd be much easier on you if you stuck with the same veggies everyday (adding different ones occasionally for variety). My pigs get a large leaf of green leaf lettuce each and 5-9 pieces of celery stalk/leaves for breakfast. Sometimes I add things like bell pepper, corn husk, tomato, or carrots, depending on what we have. At 5 pm they get 10-15 regular carrot slices to share, or a baby carrot each. At 8 pm, they get 1/8 of a bell pepper each. 2-4 times a month they get a bit of apple or banana. It's not much, but the pigs don't care. As long as they have carrot and apple, they're happy. I've been trying to figure out what other veggies can be fed daily, and so far I've only heard about endive, so I'm probaby gonna try that out. As for the veggies you feed now, it seems like plenty. However, it is a good idea to measure their food. You can do this with a measuring cup (1 cup per pig per day) or a kitchen scale (10% of their body weight daily), which you should have. You do feed WAY TOO MUCH parsley and cilantro. My boys don't even get that stuff anymore because of the calcium. If your pigs are under 6 months, it's fine. If not, then limit it to one sprig per pig 2-3 times a week. If you only have a few pigs who are younger than 6 months, then take them out everyday and feed them 2-4 sprigs of parsley or cilantro. Don't feed the whole herd. All of that calcium can cause bladder stones, which will put them and your wallet at risk.

ZebraKisses · Mar 15, 2017

I had no idea i was feeding too many herbs. All the websites that I have read say you can fedd your piggies cilantro everyday and parsley 2-4 times a week, so thanks everyone! My girls are only 8-10 months old, so I don't think the extra calcium effected them too much.

Thanks everyone for the responses!

Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Diet Am I not feeding my guinea pigs enough veggies every day?

ZebraKisses

Member

bpatters

Moderator

ZebraKisses

Member

lunarminx

Well-known Member

CavyTV

Well-known Member

ZebraKisses

Member

Similar threads

Share this Page

Newest members

Online statistics

Key Resources

Members online