Diet New Guinea pigs- advice on diet?

[Fancyfoxling]

Hello everyone,

We are getting 2 guinea pigs tonight from a family who can no longer take care of them. We have been doing some research for the last week or so on this forum and wanted to make sure we had everything straight. First let me tell you a little more about them. They are two females, one around 3 years old and the other around 2 years. They are currently being fed on Small Pet Select Second Cut Timothy Hay and Pellets bought from amazon. They get carrots and romaine lettuce daily.

We would like to wean them off having so many carrots daily and start introducing new veggies to their diet. We've picked up some bell pepper because I read they are supposed to have an 1/8th of one daily for vitamin C, I believe. Does that just depend on which pellets we decide to feed? I think I read somewhere that some pellets have it already. Regardless, what veggies should we introduce to them first? I've heard the less water content the better for first veggies.

My next question is about the pellets. I was having trouble with old posts and such on this forum when trying to find which pellets to buy. My local feed store sells (broken link removed) in large bags at a reasonable price. Would this be a suitable pellet?

Finally, their cage situation is good. They have a 2x4 C&C cage with a 2x2 upper level. Do you have any tips for keeping the hay a little less of a mess? I've seen different rack set ups or the fabric bags being used to contain it before. Also, I've read conflicting opinions on how to store hay. Some say air tight containers and some say containers with holes so that no mold grows.

Thank you for reading this far if you have already
~Rae

 

[bpatters]

Welcome! And thank you for taking these little guys in.

Here's some recommended reading for new pig owners:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/113176-Information-for-new-guinea-pig-owners
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/107827-What-NOT-to-do-for-your-guinea-pigs!
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/105287-How-to-teach-a-guinea-pig-to-eat-vegetables

The water content of the vegetables is insignificant. What you want to avoid are gas-producing veggies, such as cucumber and broccoli, in anything except small amounts until you know how your pigs react to them. I'd start with bell pepper because it's high in vitamin C. Introduce a new one every few days, because you want to monitor for any possible tummy upsets.

Mazuri pellets may be ok, but there are two that are much better. KMS Hayloft pellets, sold only online, are the freshest you can find. Oxbow is also good. Those are really the only two that we recommend.

If you can find a local farmer with timothy or another suitable hay (orchard, meadow, blue, brome), that's by far the cheapest way to get hay. Next is to order it in 40-50 pound boxes from some place like Small Pet Select, American Pet Diner, or KMS Hayloft. Some places will order large boxes of Oxbow hay for you as well.

By FAR the most expensive way to buy it is in smaller bags from pet or feed stores. It's usually very poor quality, dry, and costs at least double and probably triple any other hay you can find.

You definitely don't want to store hay in air tight containers, and I wouldn't take any other advice from any place that recommended that. All the hay suppliers will tell you to store so that there's air circulation. I keep mine in a large cardboard box that I've punctured with large holes all around.

They're gonna make a mess with the hay no matter what you do. They love running through it and hiding in it, and I finally just threw all the hay racks and put in piles. You can make a "kitchen" area with a shallow pan and put the hay in that. It'll contain a lot of it, but not all.

Enjoy your piggies! We'd love to see pictures.