I’m new to having guinea pigs and I’m not sure what veggies to feed with mazuri pellets. I read that the best Ca ratio is 1.33.1. Does anyone else go by that? What can I feed them to achieve that ratio?
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@MaiaBex is spot on!I'm not familiar with mazuri pellets, and Amazon didn't list the ingredients/percentages/etc, so I can't really say. Personally, I don't worry about the ratios too much; I just try to make sure that I'm going with pellets that have a good amount of fiber, not too much calcium, and few "junk fillers" (like added sugars).
Veggies... my Tannim gets greens (salad mix from the grocery store) and yellow bell pepper daily, with other veggies rotated in at random as I have them. I know there are posts on here with links to veggie lists (what's good, what's bad, feeding frequency, etc), and there are other sites that have good info too. (I have GuineaPigCorner, GuineaPigManual, and GuineaLynx bookmarked.)
This is a good place to get info... Welcome to the forum, and best wishes to you and your piggy(s)!
I've always given my boys a slice of pepper (colour varies depending on their mood that week lol.) and I've always sliced it lengthwise, roughly 1 1/2 to two inches in thickness. They tend to gobble it in about 5-7 minutes. Yellow peppers are highest in vitamin C, followed by orange, red and then green containing the lowest.
If you can't find green leaf, you can use red leaf and I've also used endive lettuce as an alternative. I'm sure there are others, but I've not used them. Romaine can produce excess urinary calcium and should be avoided.
I give mine around the same amount as Guinea Pig Papa, too---I think he described it better than I could have It's not bad for them at all to have more than two tablespoons; it's good for them! The only thing to be aware of is red and orange bell peppers are higher in sugar, so you don't want to give them just those kind constantly. My piggies eat yellow and green every day, and every other week or so I get them red or orange as a treat to mix in.
Oranges are also a good source of vitamin c, but they're very high in sugar so they only have them as treats. They used to be my piggies favorite treat, but now they're on strike with them for some reason lol
I've had green leaf be a pain to find before, too. You can use red leaf or butter head as an alternative--- I didn't know about endive myself, I'll have to remember that!
Guinea pigs should have a cup of veggies and greens every day, so that's the easiest way to measure what you're giving them. ( One cup that's both greens and veggies; not 1 cup of veggies plus 1 cup of greens ) hope this helps!
@Guinea Pig Papa, is the endive you mentioned the same as escarole? If yes, my piggies love it but it is very hard to find in my area. So far, I've found them in a few farmers markets occasionally so they are considered as a treat. Sometimes I get confused when I see the word endive as I also buy belgium endive for the piggies and they are totally different vegetables.
I'm lucky in that I have never not been able to get red or green leaf lettuce. They have all gotten it as an occasional treat but really no more than that.@Guinea Pig Papa You mentioned that you've given your boys Belgium Endive, can you tell me how often you've fed it? My girls love it and would probably eat it everyday if given to them. I was feeding it often, but then I noticed how high the calcium content was, and I just stopped it altogether. I wonder if giving them a small leaf every few days would be too much? It's very difficult to find in my area. There's only one natural food market that carries it. Trader Joe has it but it isn't the organic variety.
I use hartz from chewy.com.
@Guinea Pig Papa You mentioned that you've given your boys Belgium Endive, can you tell me how often you've fed it? My girls love it and would probably eat it everyday if given to them. I was feeding it often, but then I noticed how high the calcium content was, and I just stopped it altogether. I wonder if giving them a small leaf every few days would be too much? It's very difficult to find in my area. There's only one natural food market that carries it. Trader Joe has it but it isn't the organic variety.