Diet New GP owner, need some help about this.

markojen13 · Oct 17, 2012

I bought pair of GP last day..

IceCreamSandwich and Honeycomb
I've done some research about their diet and found out about unlimited hay which is a big part of their diet. And my problem now is in my location its hard to find seller of hays, I try to search through other places like out of the country and found some but can't handle the delivery charge.
Through my research, i found about some grass that can be fed to GPs as a alternatives for hay
so i look around our backyard and see this

a vast grass field with so many different grasses

.
But i don't have any knowledge what kind of grass to pick so i harvest two common grass

the first one is very common so i pick it and the other one is the grass that my cat loves to chow every morning so i tried it.
My GPs loved both of the grass...
Please help identify those grasses... the only leaf that i know which grow at my backyard is the Water Cress and the Camote Tops..
As of now my GPs diet is 70% Grass 10% veggies 20% GPs Pellet.

Here's my GP with my cat who loves rodents not as a food.

I also have Hamsters... wanna know if they can share cages..

pinky · Oct 17, 2012

markojen13 said:
I bought pair of GP last day.. View attachment 35716 IceCreamSandwich and Honeycomb
I've done some research about their diet and found out about unlimited hay which is a big part of their diet. And my problem now is in my location its hard to find seller of hays, I try to search through other places like out of the country and found some but can't handle the delivery charge.
Through my research, i found about some grass that can be fed to GPs as a alternatives for hay
so i look around our backyard and see this View attachment 35717 a vast grass field with so many different grasses .
But i don't have any knowledge what kind of grass to pick so i harvest two common grass
View attachment 35718 View attachment 35719 the first one is very common so i pick it and the other one is the grass that my cat loves to chow every morning so i tried it.
My GPs loved both of the grass...
Please help identify those grasses... the only leaf that i know which grow at my backyard is the Water Cress and the Camote Tops..
As of now my GPs diet is 70% Grass 10% veggies 20% GPs Pellet.

Here's my GP with my cat who loves rodents not as a food. View attachment 35720

I also have Hamsters... wanna know if they can share cages..

I'm not sure about the grass but hamsters and guinea pigs can't be housed together for two reasons: Their nutritional needs are different and hamsters are very territorial and can kill a guinea pig.

markojen13 · Oct 17, 2012

found out that the first grass is a bermuda grass...

ZenMama · Oct 17, 2012

I don't know what to tell you about grass. Where do you live? Your guinea pigs are very cute, and they match your cat! What is your cats name? How old are the guinea pigs?

bpatters · Oct 17, 2012

We are not grass experts. Where you live, there will be some government office that supports agriculture in your area, and they should be able to either identify the grasses for you, or tell you who can. When you find out, post back here, and we'll tell you whether they are acceptable for guinea pigs. Bermuda grass is an acceptable grass hay, but is not terribly nutritious. Don't skimp on the vegetables for your pigs.

Hamsters and guinea pigs cannot be housed together.

Your diet needs to be 75% hay, 20% veggies, and 5% pellets.

LithiumRiot · Oct 17, 2012

Your piggy is very cute :3

I know nothing about grass. But good luck with it all!

What veggies do you feed your pigs? And curious about the cage. Looks like you have them in a basket in the first picture but im sure that was just for transporting them

markojen13 · Oct 17, 2012

ZenMama said:
I don't know what to tell you about grass. Where do you live? Your guinea pigs are very cute, and they match your cat! What is your cats name? How old are the guinea pigs?

I'm from philippines.. there's a lot of bermuda Grass and blue grass on my backyard, already identified them...
so i got the hay covered

Zeejan my Cat loves to be with other animals like dogs and rodents so no problem for my piggies

as you can see, i have a very awesome cat as well as my Dog although my dog is a little bit jealous because of
the new Pets..

the breeder said they're 3 months old...

markojen13 · Oct 17, 2012

LithiumRiot said:
Your piggy is very cute :3

I know nothing about grass. But good luck with it all!

What veggies do you feed your pigs? And curious about the cage. Looks like you have them in a basket in the first picture but im sure that was just for transporting them

I fed them some cabbage and the water cress i got at the backyard.. i put them to that basket while i'm preparing their new cage... i think its big enough for them.

bpatters · Oct 17, 2012

From a private message to me from @markojen13:

already identified some grass on my backyard including the bermuda and bluegrass... i think a could make my self some unlimited hay from them.

the veggies i fed them are cabbage and some water cress i got from backyard
still thinking for good source for vitamin c, planning to buy some apples later.

Adult pigs need a cup or more of vegetables every day. Younger pigs get less than that, but at three months, yours should be getting at least a half a cup per day per pig.

Cabbage (or another else in the brassica family, such as broccoli and cauliflower) should not be fed daily, or even often. They're gas producing, and gas in a guinea pig can lead to bloat, which is a medical emergency. Fruit is too high in sugar to be fed more often than a couple of times a week, and just a small chunk, then.

A good basic diet for your pigs should include lettuce and bell peppers -- the peppers will take care of the vitamin C requirement. You can feed romaine, but if you notice white spots where their urine has dried, switch them to another lettuce. Don't feed iceberg -- it's nutritionally useless.

Other good vegetables are a slice of tomato, a small piece of carrot, summer squash, chopped celery or celery leaves, green beans, corn husks and silks (and an occasional piece of cob -- the corn is too sweet), and herbs such as dill, cilantro, basil, parsley, etc. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...y-nutrition-charts-poisonous-plants-list.html for what you can feed and how often.

markojen13 · Oct 17, 2012

bpatters said:
From a private message to me from @markojen13 :

Adult pigs need a cup or more of vegetables every day. Younger pigs get less than that, but at three months, yours should be getting at least a half a cup per day per pig.

Cabbage (or another else in the brassica family, such as broccoli and cauliflower) should not be fed daily, or even often. They're gas producing, and gas in a guinea pig can lead to bloat, which is a medical emergency. Fruit is too high in sugar to be fed more often than a couple of times a week, and just a small chunk, then.

A good basic diet for your pigs should include lettuce and bell peppers -- the peppers will take care of the vitamin C requirement. You can feed romaine, but if you notice white spots where their urine has dried, switch them to another lettuce. Don't feed iceberg -- it's nutritionally useless.

Other good vegetables are a slice of tomato, a small piece of carrot, summer squash, chopped celery or celery leaves, green beans, corn husks and silks (and an occasional piece of cob -- the corn is too sweet), and herbs such as dill, cilantro, basil, parsley, etc. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...y-nutrition-charts-poisonous-plants-list.html for what you can feed and how often.

thanks for this.. so my diet will be 75% grass/hay 25% veggies 5% pellets.. if I'm not wrong the pellet mix i bought already has a Vitamin C.. so its ok if i don't give them peppers?

bpatters · Oct 17, 2012

I wouldn't depend on pellets to give them all the vitamin C they need. And if you're feeding a pellet mix, you need to take everything out of it except the pellets. Seeds, nuts, colored bits, etc. are no good for them.

Look through the chart at that link I gave you -- you can find other vegetables that are high in vitamin C. Just don't overdo the fruits to get it.

Just out of curiosity, what's the problem with giving them peppers?

Cavylier · Oct 19, 2012

Here is a blog written about one of the members on here from the Philippines. You might check that out and see what veggies she feeds her pigs as they will be available in your country, no doubt.

Pellet mixes are not good for guinea pigs - they can choke on seeds and the coloured bits are very high in preservatives and artificial colours (which is not good for them at all). Try giving them the plain pellets.
Also, the Vitamin C in pellets can get destroyed by incorrect storage and other factors so you never know how much they are actually getting.

Try going through all of the chart that @bpatters gave you and find other vegetables having a high Vitamin C content. However, bell pepper has the highest amount of vitamin C in the whole list so you would have to add together multiple vegetables to be able to replace it completely.

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Diet New GP owner, need some help about this.

markojen13

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pinky

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