Nutrition Last Few Questions Before I Get My Piggies Regarding Nutrition/Diet

[Zuidy]

Hello everyone!

Well, I have been waiting for a long time to get some Piggies! I am getting 2 of them tomorrow.

So, here's the scoop:

I know all of the basic staples of Guinea Pig's diets. Water, of course, Hay, of course, Fruits and Veggies of course, store-bought diets of course........ here are my questions, though.

I know how much of the store bought food I need to give. This is 1/4 cup of food per Piggie per day. That is 1/2 cup of store bought food in all in a day.

I also know that unlimited water + fresh Timothy Hay should always be available.

So, what about Fruits and Veggies? A few questions I have had about Fruits + Veggies are:

#1: How many fruits/veggies in a day? I am currently using the chart that I found on this website for some help.

#2: How do I know if my Guinea Pig is happy when it comes to food and the like?

#3: About food in general......... how much does everybody else give their Guinea Pig?

#4: How can I tell if my Guinea Pigs are getting enough Vitamin C in their diet + how much Vitamin C per day should each Guinea Pig have?

#5: Another general food question......... Is it OK to give Guinea Pigs food in lumps, rather than throughout the entire day? For example, if I lay out the day's amount of all of the necessary foods in the morning, will the Guinea Pigs be OK? They won't eat it all at once?

#6: What is everybody's "blueprint" when it comes to food. As in, how do you go about feeding your Guinea Pigs? In other words, what is your plan as far as feeding goes and the like?

Any and all help 100% GREATLY appreciated. Please don't look down on me for asking all of these questions the day before I get my Guinea Pigs. I have sincerely studied the Guinea pigs for the past 2 months. I consider myself a....... how can I say........ Un-trained expert on Guinea Pigs? Haha.

So, any and all help greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[arionat799]

#1: I give her a bunch of lettuce (about 3-5 leaves/whatever the pieces are called lol) in the morning and 2 baby carrots. I give here 1 more of each before I go to bed/when I get home at night.

#2: Usually they just eat what they like, and don't eat what they do not like. Pretty simple, i know

#3: See #1


#4: Give 1 cup veggies per day. Best combination=lettuce, cilantro, and bell peppers. (I'm going to start giving that the day after tomorrow, I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow) I believe they need 25-50 mg Vitamin C per pig per day.

#5: Yes, that's what I do. But you should give another lump at night as well. I'm not sure if they will eat it all at once or not, but if they do it's okay b/c other than the lump you give at night, you gave them the vitamin C they need for that day and they shouldn't go hungry since you will be giving them unlimited hay. But if you do this you must give them another lump at night. Once again, this is what I do.

#6: Read the rest of the answers lol

Also, when I say give 1 cup veggies per day that includes fruit too but only give fruits according to the nutrition chart.

P.S. This took much longer to write than it does too read it

 

[2Julia112]

1. I recommend 1 cup of veggies per day and 1/4 cup of pellets per day, per pig (Oxbow Brand is my piggies favorite.)

Note: Some foods shouldn't be fed to piggies, listed here:(broken link removed)2. Whenever I open up a bag of carrots (which they love) my cavies popcorn all around and make a sweet little noise called "wheeking." They will also will refuse to eat things they dont like (like my picky pigs do) and gobble up the food they like.

3.Look at #1

4.25-50 mg Vitamin C per day. They mainly get it from veggies.

5.Yes, this is fine. As long as there are no rotten veggies.

6. Look at everything else!


Thanks,
Julia(broken link removed)

 

[Mrs_Ames]

I always give unlimited amount of pellets. I feed them veggies twice a day. I really don't measure them. I have 3 piggies, my baby doesn't really eat veggies yet. I say its probably 2 cups per serving. Only give fruit every so often, as a treat. Your piggie will let you know what they like and don't like...They won't eat it if they don't like it. My piggies love romaine lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, mint (every once in a while), turnip greens, parsley, bananas, apples, and strawberries.

 

[arionat799]

I always give unlimited amount of pellets. I feed them veggies twice a day. I really don't measure them. I have 3 piggies, my baby doesn't really eat veggies yet. I say its probably 2 cups per serving. Only give fruit every so often, as a treat. Your piggie will let you know what they like and don't like...They won't eat it if they don't like it. My piggies love romaine lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, mint (every once in a while), turnip greens, parsley, bananas, apples, and strawberries.

I'm not sure if you already know this (you probably do so if so, sorry ) but please keep in mind that the banana can constipate your pig. Thanks

 

[Mrs_Ames]

I'm not sure if you already know this (you probably do so if so, sorry ) but please keep in mind that the banana can constipate your pig. Thanks

Yeah I have heard that. My baby piggie LOVES bananas and let me tell ya, he is far from constipated!

 

[arionat799]

Yeah I have heard that. My baby piggie LOVES bananas and let me tell ya, he is far from constipated!

Hahahahahahaha okay just letting you know

 

[Fizzlepop40]

Give 1 cup veggies per day. Best combination=lettuce, cilantro, and bell peppers.

I agree. This is the best for your pigs. And, yes. At least one cup of veggies. I think you can have more than one cup a day, am I correct? But, variety is good, too! You can feed veggies other than just lettuce, cilantro, and bell peppers. I just gave my pigs their first cherry tomato slices today. (I just gave 1/4 of a slice to each, just in case they didn't like it.) Marble loves it, Twix won't touch it, so Marble ate Twix's share. lol

 

[sfrangu]

How much apples or grapes can I give my piggies?

 

[Zuidy]

How much apples or grapes can I give my piggies?

Give the Apples in slices, with the skin. I think I read you should give one slice about 2-4 times per week.

Also, for Grapes, about 1 every other day I believe? Not sure. I think that sounds right.

And, everyone, thanks for all of your replies!

 

[jacoby]

I give veggies twice a day. My boys love tomatoes, the little grape ones. Guinea lynx site has great info on diets. I never use iceberg lettuce. My boys love romaine and green leaf. also green peppers, cilanto. Wheat grass is also a favorite. For fruits they love blueberries and strawberries, They also love cukes sliced thin without the skin. I buy my pellets from keenamas hayloft. Of course always timothy hay and orchard grass hay.

 

[sfrangu]

I've read Guinea Lynx but it doesn't say quantities, just that chart. I think not too much apple for them only because of the sugar; after all, we don't want them to get diabetes, do we? Other than that, I feed them apples in slices with skin on, only one slice every other day. Maybe it's too much.

 

[arionat799]

Yes that is a little too much, even though the chart says 2-4x per week, just to be on the safe side, I'd only give a slice 1-2x per week

Also, I realized that it doesn't give quantities either...some have them (in the comments) but not very many all. I am going to post that in a reply on the discussion thread. I suggest you do too and others should as well so that people notice that it is an issue that needs to be adressed. (Not knowing how much to feed, we could be feeding too much!)

 

[arionat799]

Fizzlepop40:

I just wanted to point out that I didn't mean you should only give them that. (lettice,cilantro,bell peppers) I just meant that you should ad least give them that every day and add as you please

 

[sfrangu]

My piggies love romaine lettuce and green parsley. They didn't touch kale and collard greens and barely tasted cucumbers and cantaloupe. They also love grapes and apples. Kinda hard to find what they like, to give them various vegetables to eat.