Fresh Food Is it safe to rotate fresh produce?

[Umbra]

Hi guys! Not new to owning pigs, but new to being financially independent and owning pigs. I was wondering, is it okay to feed greens that are not "every day" greens every day for a week and then switch to a different one for a few weeks?

For instance: I have parsley on hand this wheek. Is it okay for me to feed that every day until the bunch is finished and then switch to another green next week? The reason I ask is because I find myself with some things I don't feed every day going bad if my husband and I also don't eat a lot of them. I want to give my pigs the best nutrition, but I also hate wasting food.

Some things I have on hand and feed every day/week:

1. Whatever safe lettuce I can find
2. Baby carrots
3. Bell peppers
4. Cilantro
5. Cucumber

Things my girls love that I'd like to rotate:

1. Parsley
2. Dandelion leaves
3. Broccoli
4. Spinach
5. Etc

What is the best way to handle things going bad? My store stocks huge bunches of parsley and large heads of broccoli and I can never seem to get through it all if I feed 2-4x a week

 

[bpatters]

The rotation is fine, but all those things you're rotating are very high in calcium and/or can cause gas. Only small amounts are recommended, so I'd suggest buying only the things that you and your family can finish off if the pigs don't.

 

[spy9doc]

The general answer to your question is "yes". However, one should never feed parsley or spinach on a regular basis. They have FAR too much calcium and you may be faced with your cavies forming stones.

We generally consider the dark leafy greens to be the healthiest......for us humans. However, they aren't appropriate for cavies except as treats. My boys get the same thing for most meals: spring mix, green beans, peppers, and red cabbage. In season they are also fed corn husks, celery leaves, red chard, baby arugula, etc. Things like carrots, kale, dandelion leaves, apple, melon, etc are reserved for treats. I'm fortunate that my boys really don't care for fruit. A few bites and they are done.

Always watch the calcium content of whatever you may feed them. There are some nutritional charts referenced here on the Forum. Here is just one of them: https://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html#chart

 

[Umbra]

Thank you both! I will definitely sparse out my use of high calcium foods. Worth mentioning, my piggies are pups

 

[Soecara]

What I do for my guinea pigs is I have the set foods I feed daily and 2 slots to rotate different foods.

Daily I feed two types of lettuce (usually oak leaf lettuce from the store and radicchio from my garden at the moment, but I will replace the radicchio with butter lettuce when my garden isn't doing so well, or another type of heirloom lettuce I grow), capsicums/bell peppers, and zucchini. For my two rotating slots I often feed things that are also okay daily like carrot and/or tomatoes.

However I sometimes substitute the carrot and/or tomato out for other things like beans/peas from my garden (peas only under developed or just the pod casing part to minimize choking risk) or bean/pea leaves from my garden, sweet potatoes, kohl rabi leaves from my garden (in moderation - may cause gas), asian brassicas (like bok choy, wom bok, etc., in moderation - may cause gas), cucumber (in moderation - may cause gas) or cucumber leaves from my garden, fennel leaves from my garden (caution high calcium), turnip or turnip leaves from my garden, zucchini or pumpkin leaves from my garden, etc.

Occasionally I will also give them a little bit extra with some corn husks, fresh grass (caution - don't give too much too fast, if they aren't used to it they can get gas from fresh grass, also make sure it hasn't been sprayed or treated with anything), or even corn leaves (from my garden), without those items counting as occupying one of the slots, or even given out outside of when they get their daily salad.

As your guinea pigs are young they do need extra calcium for their growing bones, however if you are feeding them young guinea pig pellets they already have that covered.