Diet What are good quality pellets and hay for young guinea pig?

[Craftymelli7]

My Mom will be getting a new young guinea pig sometime soon. She ordered all the c and c cage setup. But I want to make sure when she picks out her guinea pig we start it on good healthy pellets. Are there any specifics I need to know for picking out healthy and good quality pellets to start a young guinea pig on? What types of hay are good for young guinea pigs too? What requirements should we look for in good quality hay?

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

For good quality hay, there should be no bugs, plenty of stems, and about 50/50 yellow/green mix. If you are getting a younger pig, you may want to mix in alfalfa hay with timothy. Pigs should ALWAYS have hay,along with water as that is Timothy is what my piggies eat, along with a little bit of oat hay. As for pellets, I used this for my little piggies
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/oxbow-essentials-young-guinea-pig-food Made for young pigs specifically, this contains the extra nutrition young pigs need. If you are unsure what you can and cannot feed your pig, you can look here https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List Also, please refrain from buying the VITACRAFT crunch sticks, they contain WAYYYYYYYYY too much sugar.

 

[Craftymelli7]

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it!

 

[Soecara]

Just for clarification young guinea pigs need an additional source of calcium for their growing bones that older guinea pigs should not have. This extra calcium can come from either young guinea pig pellets (Oxbow is a good high quality brand), or alfalfa hay mixed in with their grass hay, or a higher calcium vegetable added into their diet. You only need to pick one of these three options.

Most owners who have guinea pigs of mixed ages in the cage tend to go with the high calcium vegetable option, simply because it is significantly easier to ensure the younger one is getting it while the older ones do not. You can either take the younger one out of the cage and hand feed it to them, or take the older ones out while the younger one eats the high calcium veg if the younger one won't eat outside the cage.

 

[Craftymelli7]

Thank you for explaining that to me. I will be sure to follow that! Good to know!

 

[bpatters]

Actually, the hay should be green with no yellow mixed in. The greener, the better, although it should be well dried. It should be timothy or another long strand grass hay (timothy, blue, meadow, brome), but young pigs and nursing sows may be supplemented with alfalfa.

You can get better quality hay for much less money online than in a pet store. If you're lucky enough to live where good hay is harvested, a bale is a bargain even if you have to give a lot of it away.

The only pellets this forum recommends for people in the U.S. are Oxbow and KMS Hayloft. Both are available from Amazon, Oxbow is at pet stores, and KMS Hayloft is online.

They should get alfalfa pellets (or another calcium source) until they're six months old, then switch them to a lower calcium pellet.

Your mom should be aware that guinea pigs are herd animals, so she needs at least one more. They do MUCH better with another of their own kind. I hope she's not buying a pig -- there are hundreds of pigs in need of good homes in shelters and rescues, and she won't be participating in the horrible breeding and distribution chain the pet stores use. If she does get another, she needs to turn them both over and compare their private parts before putting them together -- guinea pigs get missexed all. the. time.

Here's some recommended reading for new pig owners: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/113176-Information-for-new-guinea-pig-owners

 

[Craftymelli7]

Thanks for the clarifications on good pellets and hay! My mom has had guinea pigs when I was a kid but so much has changed since then. So I want to make sure that we are up to date on everything.