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Diet Recommended serving for baby piggies

Shiramoto

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Hello everyone!

I will be adopting my first pair of guinea pigs in a week. My boys are 1.5 months old and 2 months old respectively.

According to their current owner, she mentioned that I have to feed them unlimited hay and 1/8 cup of pellets while giving them vegetables on a 2-3 days/week basis.

However I read on forums that vegetables can be given daily so I am a little confused.

One more thing, since they are below 6 months old. Which of the below choices is more proper when feeding them?
1) unlimited Alfalfa Hay & 1/8 cups of Alfalfa Pellets
2) mixed Alfalfa Hay and Timothy Hay & 1/8 cups of Alfalfa Pellets
3) unlimited Alfalfa Hay & 1/8 cups of Timothy Pellets

I understand it is a necessity for young gps to feed on Alfalfa to strengthen their bones but I worry about giving them too much. I've heard of owners feeding unlimited Timothy Hay but not Alfalfa Hay so that also concerned me.

Looking forward to all of your constructive opinions and replies!!
 

lissie

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If you are feeding alfalfa pellets, you do not need to feed alfalfa hay. For up to 6 months, you can feed unlimited pellets.

Guinea pigs of all ages need unlimited grass hay (timothy is a type of grass hay) to wear down their teeth and help with their digestive system.

Veggies should be given everyday, one cup per pig per day.

See this page for more details on diets.
https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html
 

Shiramoto

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wow lissie!!

Thank you so much for your quick reply; You're my life savior!!
 

Soecara

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None of the options above are ideal. You choices for feeding a guinea pig who is under 6 months of age are more like this
1) Unlimited Timothy hay & unlimited alfalfa pellets
2) Unlimited Timothy hay mixed with Alfalfa (roughly 70% timothy to 30% alfalfa) & unlimited timothy pellets
3) Unlimited Timothy hay & timothy pellets (pellets can be limited if they are housed in the same cage as another older guinea pig) & high calcium vegetable added to the diet (such as a couple sprigs of parsley every day)

Where ever I say Timothy hay you can substitute the timothy for any other grass hay, which is more important for people with allergies, such as bluegrass or orchard grass. The third option is popular when you have a cage with guinea pigs of different ages, as you can take the baby out separately and feed them the high calcium vegetable on their own so that only the young ones are getting the extra calcium.

Guinea pigs should be fed vegetables every day, roughly 1 cup of vegetables per adult guinea pig is the ideal amount. The vegetables that should be included every day are about 1/8th of a large bell pepper per guinea pig (for a low sugar low calcium way of providing vitamin C) and a leaf or two of either red leaf, green leaf, or butter lettuce. Other vegetables that are okay to be given daily include one cherry tomato, zucchini, carrot in moderation (think about 1 inch of middle of a carrot per guinea pig), and radicchio.
 

Shiramoto

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Hi Soecara!

Thank you for taking the time to write me a reply! I really appreciate the information and I will definitely heed your advices :)
 

Shiramoto

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Noted and thanks once again <3
 

Shiramoto

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