Diet Hay! Pellets/mix and veggies help

[mummabearbelci]

After doing a lot of research and comparing prices and nutrition on everything, it is very clear the diet of a guinea pig should be HAY (80percent) and pellets and veggies make up the rest. Now where I am from the only hay I can get is oaten which with my research is a hay guinea pigs can eat without the added calcium or being lucerne based!

so will be giving piggies tons and tons of hay as thats what they should be also eating. With the pellets the best ones I can find in my price range and local are the http://www.lauckemills.com.au/rabbit2.html as they are the only ones with added VitC (will be giving 1/8 cup each as recommended) however they is also this mix and I have been given mix opinions on whether pellets are better then mix as this mix has less protein so wouldnt that be better? http://www.lauckemills.com.au/rabbit3.html Both have the VitC so can u guys help me, these are the only ones with the VitC and in my price range. I have also noted that Vetafarm pellets are made from similar things also so that has helped me pick these two options from the plain pellets from the petshops and not getting any plain rabbit ones.

And veggies, now I have done so much research and really guinea pigs do not find these in the wild as they come from woolies (farms) and would it be okay to feed them HAY (80%), pellets 1/8cup each, water, veggies 3-4times a week and grass and plants they can eat on the days without the veggies for veggies are very expensive. I will be growing my own herbs they can eat, grasses and might try veggies like baby carrots and capsicum since they are every day veggies piggies can have.!

 

[sallyvh]

Unfortunately neither of those pellets are good for adult pigs (over 6 months). They are both lucerne (alfalfa) based which has too much calcium. The website also doesn't list the calcium content of the pellets, which means it is generally much to high. You want to find a pellet that is timothy hay based or consider feeding pelletless.

Veggies should be an everyday item at 1 cup per pig per day. Leaf lettuce and green peppers (capsicum) are good every day staples. Some other good items to throw in are tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, radicchio, and a little bit of carrot. With adult pigs you want to avoid frequent feedings of high calcium veggies and whatch out for herbs as they are typically very high in calcium.

 

[Soecara]

The only pellets in Australia I would feed to adult guinea pigs are Oxbow. The only way I have found to get Oxbow pellets is to ask my vet to order them in.

Now onto veggies, saying that guinea pigs wouldn't eat them in the wild is a ridiculous statement as our pet guinea pigs are far removed from their wild ancestors. Even wild guinea pigs would eat a range of non-grass edibles which would give them necessary vitamins and variety in their diet.

Feeding two guinea pigs veggies everyday is actually not that expensive, one large green capsicum should last three or four days, two heads of what woolworth sells as "fancy" lettuce (red/green oak leaf and butter) should last a week or so, those should be your staple vegetables. Woolworths also frequently has vegetables reduced if they have too much in stock or if the produce has been sitting around a bit too long, I check the produce section for reduced veggies every time I go shopping (I also keep an eye out for a reduced rack which they sometimes put in other sections of the store). There is also a relatively new product line called "the odd bunch" where they sell vegetables not up to the regular size/shape standards, for a usually lower cost (make sure to check the comparable regular veg to compare price, sometimes if the regular ones are on special they can be cheaper then the odd bunch). Also consider maybe getting into gardening vegetables, now would be a good time to plant capsicums and stores like K-mart have seedling trays of them for sale.

Every night I feed my guinea pigs capsicum, two different lettuces (either butter, oak leaf or one of the heirloom varieties from my garden) and then three or four "other" vegies which varies day-to-day, to get an idea of what you can feed and how often you can feed it check out this page https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List

 

[mummabearbelci]

I am just going by what the breeders also tell me, they say a lot of the stuff I have been saying to do is the fluffy stuff that forums say to do, so the information I am providing is from a breeder of 30yrs is all.

 

[pinky]

I am just going by what the breeders also tell me, they say a lot of the stuff I have been saying to do is the fluffy stuff that forums say to do, so the information I am providing is from a breeder of 30yrs is all.

This site and www.guinealynx.com are probably the two most trusted guinea pigs sites. I'd even check here to be sure that what a vet tells me is correct. I wouldn't trust anything a breeder tells me.

 

[mummabearbelci]

thanks Ill have a look