Fresh Food Confirming Daily Diet is Safe for Piggies

You didn't say how many pigs you are feeding. each pig should get one cup of veggies (measured until you are use to it) a day. An eighth of a pepper each a day for vitamin C, too much romaine can give stones for some pigs, try green or red leaf lettuce if possible, a baby carrot, some cucumber.

Here is what I do for my six pigs each morning and night. I have a 3 cup plastic tupperware bowl, I throw in 3 mini peppers broken in half, I cut 6 slices of cucumber about 1/4 inch thick and cut them in half, and take 6 baby carrots and place all in the bowl, I fill the rest with lettuce if I buy as the baby lettuce mix or as a herb mix. if its leaf lettuce I give each a big leaf or two small leaves. The same at night. Mine get a snack at about 2 pm, small piece of apple or cherry tomato, or something I have. About 9pm they get a greenbean, snappea or lately some dandelion leaves. When we have con on the cob, i give inner husks and silks but that is like hay, it doesn't replace the veggies for me. They may get watermelon pieces, berries, pear but the fruit I mainly give is apples as I eat them more.

lunarminx said:

You didn't say how many pigs you are feeding. each pig should get one cup of veggies (measured until you are use to it) a day. An eighth of a pepper each a day for vitamin C, too much romaine can give stones for some pigs, try green or red leaf lettuce if possible, a baby carrot, some cucumber.

Here is what I do for my six pigs each morning and night. I have a 3 cup plastic tupperware bowl, I throw in 3 mini peppers broken in half, I cut 6 slices of cucumber about 1/4 inch thick and cut them in half, and take 6 baby carrots and place all in the bowl, I fill the rest with lettuce if I buy as the baby lettuce mix or as a herb mix. if its leaf lettuce I give each a big leaf or two small leaves. The same at night. Mine get a snack at about 2 pm, small piece of apple or cherry tomato, or something I have. About 9pm they get a greenbean, snappea or lately some dandelion leaves. When we have con on the cob, i give inner husks and silks but that is like hay, it doesn't replace the veggies for me. They may get watermelon pieces, berries, pear but the fruit I mainly give is apples as I eat them more.

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I am feeding 2 pigs in separate cages. One is about 3 years old and one is 2 months, both boys.

You are giving the pigs unlimited hay 24/7, they need it, its 80% of their diet. The baby can have up to 1/2 cup of pellets and the adult an 1/8. you can feed the baby adult food but its too rich to feed the adult the baby food.
Give the 2 month old a sprig or 2 of parsley a day for the extra calcium he needs. Make sure the hay is for adults along with the pellets and with the parsley the baby will be fine. With the veggies, if splitting to twice a day, measure a 1/2 a cup for each. Why are they separated?

lunarminx said:

You are giving the pigs unlimited hay 24/7, they need it, its 80% of their diet. The baby can have up to 1/2 cup of pellets and the adult an 1/8. you can feed the baby adult food but its too rich to feed the adult the baby food.
Give the 2 month old a sprig or 2 of parsley a day for the extra calcium he needs. Make sure the hay is for adults along with the pellets and with the parsley the baby will be fine. With the veggies, if splitting to twice a day, measure a 1/2 a cup for each. Why are they separated?

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My mother refuses to house them together. Also, the baby(Patrick) is super friendly and nice, but the older one(Nutmeg), is kinda standoffish and grumpy. He will freeze if you even make eye contact with him. We adopted him last year in November from a student of my mothers who then left Michigan. Patrick we got from the humane society on May first at 3 months old.Both GUINEAS have a hay feeder with unlimited Timothy hay. They both have a giant water bottle and 1 cup food dishes. I give them both a cup of veggies every morning, usually with the previously listed veggies, and I might give then some fruit as a snack. Patrick has a small pellet bowl I made for him that holds exactly 1/4 of a cup of pellets. Nutmeg has a giant pellet bowl that holds about 2.5 cups. Both bowls are only refilled when they look low. My mother is the one in charge, you have no idea the convincing it took to allow me to even give them morning veggies, let along hay. Apparently my mother kept Guinea pigs when she was a child, and the only thing she fed them was store brand Guinea food and water. Therefore, she thinks she knows everything there is to know about Guinea pigs, and just buys them any old brand of "Guinea pig food".Sorry for the long explanation, I just wanted to give you some background information.

I'm sorry your mom feels that way. They're herd animals, and are MUCH happier with a buddy.

bpatters said:

I'm sorry your mom feels that way. They're herd animals, and are MUCH happier with a buddy.

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We tried putting them together. This happens

https://youtu.be/ERIwu3NXT1E

So what's wrong with that? It's perfectly normal guinea pig behavior. But I'd take out that divider between the cages -- that's just an invitation for them to get in each other's faces.

See https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html on how to introduce guinea pigs.

I feed my 2 piggies a bowl full of veggies (not one each), this is varied each time and the bowl is overflowing to feed 2 piggies. Most of it ends up on the floor anyway. I feed them twice a day around 12 hours apart. They have unlimited hay and a bowl of pellets, which they just usually snack on. They do like (demand) their veggies and one piggy will squeak at me around feeding time, the other will stand on his hind legs watching once he knows food is coming.

They get leaves, radicchio or lettuce, with either peppers (usually green), carrots or celery. Today they tried watermelon and this will now be added to their likes list, but as a treat.

Welcome to the forums!

You need to introduce them in neutral territory for a couple of hours before placing them in a thoroughly cleaned out cage (see bpatters link for detailed instructions). The behavior in the video is also normal and they shouldn't be separated for it. As long as they don't have full on fights with blood drawn or one completely prevents the other from eating then you should keep them together but don't just pop them into a cage together because they will definitely fight if you just randomly place a pig in another pigs territory, they need to establish dominance first in a neutral place and then make a territory together in a neutral cleaned cage.

Just make sure there are two water bottles and two places to eat hay and pellets (They really do need unlimited hay). Make sure all hideys have two exits because all this will help limit the amount of bickering. Another thing to note is that the midwest cage is technically too small for two boars. If you have two midwest cages consider connecting them together to make up for the lack of space since boars need more room than sows. I would also remove the divider as bpatters suggested, it just makes it harder for them to run around at full tilt. The exercise is good for their health and makes them happier.

I would also recommend, since your mother is in charge, that you encourage her to come to these forums to ask questions and read our answers. She might be more inclined to take advice from fellow adults who have a lot of experience. Also get her to thoroughly read the care and medical guides on www.guinealynx.info this website is one of the most well respected sources of care and medical information for guinea pigs on the Internet (which includes a diet section). Maybe if she reads this information from a reliable source she might be more inclined to adjust the pigs care standards . Maybe let her read this topic you posted as well? We'd be happy to help and advice in any way we can.

Also, here is a handy veggie chart where you can see how much to feed when, make sure to scroll down to the second post beneath it for additional information:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List

bpatters said:

So what's wrong with that? It's perfectly normal guinea pig behavior. But I'd take out that divider between the cages -- that's just an invitation for them to get in each other's faces.

See https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html on how to introduce guinea pigs.

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Thank you you very much for the link, but like I said. My mother is in charge of the pigs. I clean them, feed them, pet them, clean their cages, and do everything else, but she has the final say in anything, and she doesn't want them together. Unless one of you wants to try to convince her otherwise, they stay in separate cages in seperate rooms :sad:. And the divider isn't between their cages. I moved nutmeg to Patrick's snack bAr area. She has even threatened to give them away if I don't stop badgering her :'(.

Omnytrix said:

Thank you you very much for the link, but like I said. My mother is in charge of the pigs. I clean them, feed them, pet them, clean their cages, and do everything else, but she has the final say in anything, and she doesn't want them together. Unless one of you wants to try to convince her otherwise, they stay in separate cages in seperate rooms :sad:. And the divider isn't between their cages. I moved nutmeg to Patrick's snack bAr area.

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They really shouldn't be kept apart without a good reason (and this reason is extremely rare to occur). Guinea pigs are herd animals (both in the wild and domesticated, it's in their DNA if you will) and they often become depressed from the loneliness and boredom. Human interaction is not a substitute for having a buddy that they can fully engage with and they will never be truly fulfilled without having those interactions.

When they are bored and lonely they don't play as much and might start chewing the bars all of which affects their physical health and well being as well as emotionally. I don't know where she got the idea from that they should be kept separate but it's wrong. You will find that the vast majority of reputable places will highly recommend keeping pigs in pairs or more (reputable places do not include pet stores or cat & dog vets). Guinea pig rescues won't adopt out single pigs if the home they go to have no other pigs, they will only adopt out pairs because it's THAT important. The Humane Society and the RSPCA also recommend companionship for pigs. Here is some further information:

https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/2982433.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/companionship.html
https://cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm

I hope that knowing so many places do not recommend keeping pigs on their own will encourage your mother to reconsider. It really does make a huge difference to their well being and happiness and I can't see any reason why you would keep them separated. Let us know what she says

I am wills sister and our Guinea pig nutmeg is about full grown and if we put Patrick who is a baby with nutmeg and nutmeg dies when Patrick is still in the same cage Patrick will be very sad and it could hurt Patrick and Patrick might want to go with nutmeg if nutmeg dies. We used to have 2 girl Guinea pigs names squeakers and sparkles and when sparkles died squeakers was very upset and very sad she was so depressed and she kept looking for sparkles. Then about a year later squeakers died. So I think that we should not put our 2 Guinea pigs together because of that reason.

She told me just now in no uncertain terms that if I tried to put them together again, she'd take them back to the humane society. Then she started droning on and on about how her GUINEAS won best in show or whatever in 4H and how they lived in a dog kennel and were in great condition and yada yada yada.

Omnytrix said:

I am wills sister and our Guinea pig nutmeg is about full grown and if we put Patrick who is a baby with nutmeg and nutmeg dies when Patrick is still in the same cage Patrick will be very sad and it could hurt Patrick and Patrick might want to go with nutmeg if nutmeg dies. We used to have 2 girl Guinea pigs names squeakers and sparkles and when sparkles died squeakers was very upset and very sad she was so depressed and she kept looking for sparkles. Then about a year later squeakers died. So I think that we should not put our 2 Guinea pigs together because of that reason.

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Yes they grief and become depressed when they lose a friend but that isn't a good reason not to give them one. It just highlights how important companionship is to guinea pigs, how deep their bonds are. To put it in an analogy, it would be the same thing as if one of your friends or family members died. Would you be sad? Of course... Would you have rather not have had them in your life? Of course you would have wanted them in your life. While they are alive you will be happier, less lonely, have bonds and connections. Sure you won't experience the pain of losing someone you love but that doesn't mean you should be condemned to never have friendship and love in your life. That would be really depressing and lonely existence would it not? It's the same for guinea pigs, denying them that love and happiness so they won't eventually experience the grief of loss is not fair on them and it reduces their quality of life.

As for the problem of having a solo pig after the other pig dies there are some solutions. The best one is to adopt another pig. Of course this presents the problem of being in a cycle of forever owning two guinea pigs but once you get to the point of not wanting to own guinea pigs any more you could just consider adopting out the remaining pig to someone who already owns a pig so the pig still has companionship and you will no longer have the responsibility to care for them and be in this cycle of adopting pigs to maintain the status quo.

Companionship is extremely important and the reasons you gave while I understand how difficult that was (I'm truly sorry for your loss) it's not considering the well being of the pigs. It's exactly like my analogy, it's important to their happiness and well being to have someone of their own species to talk to and play with. Their lifespan is between 5 to 7 years and even up to 9. That's a much longer time to be miserable and lonely than they would be griefing before you get them another friend. It's better for them to have that companionship for 5+ years and then grief for a while than it is to deny them companionship for all those years. Just like it wouldn't be fair to deny you your family and friends because you'd be upset in many years to come when they pass away. It's not fair to the pigs to be forced in isolation if there's no good reason for it, the reason you gave is not one of them I'm sorry to say. Not saying that to be harsh just trying to explain why companionship is still important to them and shouldn't be discounted.

Omnytrix said:

She told me just now in no uncertain terms that if I tried to put them together again, she'd take them back to the humane society. Then she started droning on and on about how her GUINEAS won best in show or whatever in 4H and how they lived in a dog kennel and were in great condition and yada yada yada.

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I'm not really sure how best in show has anything to do with their emotional well being? Of course they won't 'die' from being kept on their own. Some pigs actually can't be kept with any guinea pigs at all because they're to aggressive (this is the very rare occurrence I spoke of) and they will still be okay. But this rare occurrence is not the case in your situation.

To fully care for an animal is not just about providing it with the basic necessities to survive but to also give it a fulfilling happy life and the more steps you can take to improve their lives the better. To use another analogy (I know, I know) it's like if you were to live in a nice looking but locked room on your own but you still got enough decent food to live by and the room gets periodically cleaned and sometimes a cat visits you to give you attention (the cat being the 'human' for guinea pigs).

Sure you'd still be alive and not necessarily super unhealthy or anything but would you be happy like that? I'm sure the cat would give you a momentary distraction but what about all the other hours of the day when you're alone in the room staring at four walls. Wouldn't you rather have another person there with you? To really care for an animal you also need to provide them with the mental happiness they need not just good food and a nice room to live in. It's the difference between surviving in that room alone and living a full happy live in that room together with a friend. If that makes sense?

I'm not entirely sure why your mom is so adamantly against these recommendations. It kind of sounds like she might feel a little bit attacked like we're saying she's not caring for the pigs properly but it's not about that at all. I'm just sharing care information and hope she will take that on board. From what I can tell you all take really good care for your pigs otherwise this is just another thing you can do for your pigs to make things even BETTER for them especially since I don't see a reason not to since you already got the two pigs ready to introduce . I just hope your mother will think it over and will reconsider since it really would make the pigs so much happier. Why would you not want them to be happier if you can make them happier, you know?

I'm not sure I understand your reasoning, @Omnytrix. The pig would be lonely if its cage mate died, so your mom is going to make it be lonely all its life?

I'm sorry your pigs have to live this way. Do please spend as much time as you can with them, and give them plenty of attention. Maybe your mom will change her mind later.

Like I said, my sister posted her two cents about the Guinea pigs. I believe they should be housed together as bros. my mother on the other hand does not. She even called the humane society today to ask about surrendering my beloved Patrick.

Omnytrix said:

Like I said, my sister posted her two cents about the Guinea pigs. I believe they should be housed together as bros. my mother on the other hand does not. She even called the humane society today to ask about surrendering my beloved Patrick.

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That seems really mean and manipulative. Why would she do that? You didn't do anything wrong aside from wanting to give your pigs better care. I'm so sorry your mom is doing this to you and the pigs

I'm sorry too. Until we got Patrick, I was blind to what a Guinea pig really needs. Now I'm simply trying to give them both a better life, and I'm being punished for it. I'd take them to my dads house, but he despises all rodents. I'm gonna try the introduction tomorrow when she's gone. Maybe if I can show her they can get along she'll listen to me.