Fresh Food All out of Veggies!

Are your guinea pigs under 6 months of age? If so, you can feed them what you have on hand until Tuesday. If they're over 6 months, you'd want to limit the high calcium ones you've listed. Cucumbers can cause gas so limit that, too. I don't feed kale or spinach to my adult guinea pigs due to the high calcium content. Stone formation is something that concerns me so I feed them veggies that are listed as feeding every day. I limit carrots to one baby carrot a day.

The most important thing is vitamin C. The red pepper can be spread out decently over the next few days since it has the highest amount of vitamin C (and the highest amount of sugar, be careful). So that should go a long way. Do you have an untreated yard with grass by chance? If you do you can go pick some good looking grass and wash it really good, pat it dry it, and give it to your pigs. Give them a little more hay than usual. Kale, chard and spinach are not good lettuces (high in calcium if I remember correctly). I just know they aren't very good for guinea pigs, so I am not sure I would even bother giving that to them. A little piece of carrot today or tomorrow is fine though. Cucumbers will make them bloated too if you give them too much. Moderation is key. Give them plenty of hay and their usual pellets (which should have some nutrition they need), some vitamin C each day and although they may not be happy about it, they should be OK until Tuesday.

My piggies are 1.5 years old. how much cucumber is bad for them?

piggy_mom said:

My piggies are 1.5 years old. how much cucumber is bad for them?

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I don't mine cucumbers at all. I'd limit them to a small slice a couple of time a week if you offer them at all. I'd cut out the kale and spinach and give no more than a baby carrot per day. The tomato, bell peppers and chard are fine. Other good choices are red and green leaf lettuce, romaine, radicchio, cilantro, escarole, endive. Stone surgery is very expensive so preventing stones is better than treating for them.

My girls get half of a paper thin wheel of cucumber each once or twice a week. Why is it always the ones that are bad for them that are their favourites? Parsley, spinach, kale, cucumber and cilantro. All my girls favourites, none of which they can have regularly. Go figure!

My pigs get a slice of cucumber each, every meal, and it doesn't cause any problems for them. It's the first thing Bubbles grabs and runs with! Guess all pigs are different.

You could persevere with the tomatoes. Maybe they'll give them a go in the absence of other veg. Ditto the fresh grass proposition. They'll probably love it.

When u guys talk about bell peppers or red peppers do u mean capsicum ? Perhaps a pic ? Sorry to hijack but I'm in Australia and cook my head everytime I hear bellpepper

Bell pepper and capsicum are the same thing.

Also hate to hijack but this is on the same line. We've gotten hammered this month with medical bills so money is tight. I've been dropping at least $25 a week on veg just for the 4 pigs and one small rabbit. Lettuces keep getting more and more expensive. What would be the cheapest way to give them what they need? I don't want to jip them or risk their health but if there's a cheaper way to meet their needs I need it for the month.

I'm not sure where everyone is going shopping, but whole foods sells lettuce heads (green leaf, red leaf, butter, red butter, escarole) for $1.99 each. Not too bad price wise If you have a 99cent only store near you, they typically sell bell peppers (2-3 for $1), and often fresh lettuces (butter is most commonly found) only a buck a piece!

My local stores sell lettuces (red, green, butter) for 2.69 a pound and a head is usually over a pound. Green peppers are $1 each so pepper alone run me $7 a week. I can get nice lettuces at Aldi's but it's 4 mini heads for $2 and that's only enough to last me a day, maybe day and 1/2. I'll be honest,I didn't even look at who,e foods because they are usually the most expensive in the area. I can get romaine cheaper but they don't love the white part that makes up the lower third of the head and my boys need less calcium.

Talk to the produce managers at the stores near you. They generally prep lettuce in the back before putting it on display, and some of it inevitably gets loose. They also pull lettuce from display that's gotten smushed on has a few outer leaves that are going bad. They might save some of that for you if you agree to pick it up on a regular schedule.

bpatters said:

Talk to the produce managers at the stores near you. They generally prep lettuce in the back before putting it on display, and some of it inevitably gets loose. They also pull lettuce from display that's gotten smushed on has a few outer leaves that are going bad. They might save some of that for you if you agree to pick it up on a regular schedule.

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Awesome idea bpatters! I'll talk to them about it.

@Barbaremudge yep it works get a box of cos lettuce every second day from my grocer with a smile ...