The problem with newspaper is that it's not very absorbent. Unless you're changing it every couple of hours your piggies are going to be sitting in soggy, urine-soaked newspapers. And extended contact with their own urine can cause all kinds of illness and rash. Not to mention that newspaper...

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I think my mistake was giving in just once, making them think "If we just wheek enough mum will totally cave!" They did eat just a bit of the Oxbow today, though, so yay! In future, if I run out, should I just do without pellets rather than the cheap stuff...

My boys used to love their Oxbow pellets. They'd wheek for it every morning when they heard me coming out of the bedroom. Then, for about a week, I had them on ZuPreme pellets because my usual place ran out and even Petsmart didn't have any Oxbow. Now that they're back on Oxbow the boys refuse...

I think you need more leafy greens in your diet. As well, dandelions should be fed 2-4 times a week, so roughly every other day rather than daily. cucumber is watery, and not that great nutritionally. There's full detailed list at ...

My boys like aromatic herbs like basil, thyme, dill etc, although they can only be fed in restricted quantities (once or twice a week, I believe). If your piggies like herbs too what you can do is take small amount and chop it up with foods they don't like as much, like peppers. If that isn't...

Is oat hay okay for guinea pigs? I found an add on Kijiji for greenfeed oat hay with timothy mixed in. My current hay comes from a pet supply store, and is very good - a mix of timothy and other grasses - but it's kind of on the expensive side. Here is the advert, it's got pictures: Greenfeed...

Have you checked your local listings babygirlhagen? I know that around my area there are advertisements from farmers of hay for sale. It's cheaper, better for the environment (because it doesn't use gas being shipped), and often you get really good quality hay for a reasonable price. Just be...

Daily peppers are a good way to make sure they get their vitamin C. But you could try other vitamin C rich foods, too, if you have any. Where are you at, gpig4? Here a read of romaine lettuce cost lest than $4, and lasts my two boys an entire week, along with other veggies. You can piece out...

Thanks, I'll hold off on the pennywort then. Everything I can find says it's good for people, and one person says they feed it to their rabbits. But there is no info on guinea pigs, and it's not worth the risk.

The ethnic grocery store by my place carries Pennywort (Centella asiatica,) which is supposed to have vitamin C. If it's safe for guinea pigs, I can get lots of it pretty cheaply. It's not on the nutrition charts. Has anyone tried it/ got any information about it?

"Horse quality hay" is a phrase generally used to indicate that they hay is good quality. But the composition can vary widely, so I'd suggest you take a look and see what it's made up of before you decide.

Thanks for the thread! It's been very informative. I guess mowings wouldn't be too bad if they could be dried immediately. I don't know that I could do that fast enough though. We'll stick to picking grasses, and supervised grazing. The main reason I wanted to try making my own hay was just...

When the weather is good, which it has been this year, our grass grows rediculously fast. All my animals (well, herbivorous ones) really enjoy the fresh grass. I was wondering though, is there a way to make hay out of the grass clippings we get from mowing? Afterall, hay is just dried grass...